Internationalization plays an increasingly important role in many universities today. Not only do institutions engage in efforts to inject an international component into the curriculum and to expand study abroad, but also undertake more complex partnerships and forms of cross-border education, in some cases with significant risk. The expanding scope of internationalization raises questions as to how such initiatives fit within the institution's mission and overall strategy. This qualitative case study examined how a large, public, research-extensive, land-grant university framed various forms of internationalization and who was involved in these decisions. This study also considered how this institution approached the opportunity to open a branch campus relative to other strategic international decisions. Administrators at this university understood internationalization to be important for a land-grant institution in today's global world. Traditional forms of internationalization, such as study abroad, tended to have more bottom-up participation, whereas larger, cross-unit initiatives evidenced significant senior leadership involvement. The findings highlight the critical role of leadership in furthering a strategic international agenda. Ensuring sustainability of strategic international initiatives was also important. In addition, the study revealed the institution approached the opportunity to open an international branch campus differently than many other initiatives, in a nearly confidential manner. Although the institution did not proceed with the international branch campus, the institution's approach to that opportunity raised questions about whom leaders involve in such decisions and when. The institution's leadership emphasized creating a "global presence," which many understood to imply raising rankings and creating an international brand. This focus on international image and ratings versus more traditional internationalization and capacity building calls into question the tie of such efforts to institutional mission and the implications for global higher education more generally.
Read
