Internationalisation in higher education

The EAIE Barometer offers a comprehensive insight into the current situation of the internationalisation of higher education in Europe. With 2817 individual respondents from 46 countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the survey provides indications of the vitality of the sector. The observations are interesting for the work of higher education professionals as well as Movetia as they deliver insights into internationalisation practice, current key topics, new tendencies and potentials. The report focuses primarily on the perspective of professionals directly involved in the field of internationalisation. 6 key areas were addressed.

(1) Respondents’ perception of their role
In terms of satisfaction, a high level of satisfaction with the job and the sense of purpose of the work was reported in general. However, the level of satisfaction decreased amongst those who identify as academic staff and those with longer experience in the field. As for the sense of purpose, 99% respondents from Switzerland indicated to be satisfied or very satisfied. However, when it comes to the satisfaction with the training and professional development opportunities offered by the institution, the highest significant rates of dissatisfaction were reported by respondents from Hungary and Poland (46% each) and Italy (53%), followed by Norway and Switzerland (42% each). 

Two questions were also dedicated to the international character of the respondents, focusing on the number of international experiences in the educational or professional field. In terms of education experience, Switzerland (94%) had next to Germany (91%) the largest percentages of respondents with at least one international experience. 

(2) Respondents’ perception of their institution
A comparison of previous EAIE Barometers revealed that the organisation of responsibility for internationalisation in a single central office with one centralised team has decreased. Half of the respondents indicated that it tends to be a combination of central and decentral teams. Moreover, the views around leadership and goal achievement were divided. On the one hand, more than a third of the respondents were not satisfied with the way that responsibilities for internationalisation are organised in their institution and were not fully confident in their leadership. On the other hand, the majority of respondents believed that the goals set by their institution for internationalisation were clear and achievable. However, especially Northern European countries did not perceive the internationalisation goals of their organisation as sufficiently clear, including Denmark (41%), Switzerland (27%), Italy and Norway (26% each).  

The main drivers to establish a successful set of goals for internationalisation were a clear strategy, motivating and effective institutional leadership and a strong support amongst administrative and academic staff. 

(3) Perception about budget
Compared to the concerns about insufficient funding for internationalisation registered in the former EAIE Barometers, the data from this edition pointed to a relatively positive picture with more than 70% being at least satisfied with the budget size. When it comes to dissatisfaction with the budget size, respondents working at research universities were more likely to express their concerns compared to professionals from other types of institutions and organisations. 

(4) National and European-level dynamics
When it comes to being drivers of the institutions’ aims for internationalisation, a majority of respondents see national (58%) and authorities on the European-level (53%) as either highly influential or influential. However, a comparison with the former EAIE barometer points to a slight decrease of influence. Further analysis was also made on the influence of the European-funded programmes, whereby data from Switzerland and the United Kingdom was omitted, given that these countries do not participate in the Erasmus+ programme.

(5) Perception of impact of internationalisation
In this section, the respondents were asked how they perceive the conversation about impact of internationalisation in their institution/organisation. 63% of the respondents indicated that there was some level of urgency to advance the debate on the impact of internationalisation at their institution. 47% reported significant pressure in their roles to demonstrate the impact. The most common sources of pressure were the institutional leadership, followed by national governments and higher education authorities. However, only 3% from Austria and 2% from Switzerland perceived their employers as source of pressure compared to the typical range from 10% to 30% for other countries. 

(6) Topics of interest regarding internationalisation
The aim of this section was to get an insight into the hot topics of internationalisation from the perspective of the professionals and their institution’s engagement. The three topics most frequently selected from a predefined list were student/stall well-being, digitalisation of administrative tasks and inclusion and diversity. As for the interest of Switzerland, 35% of the Swiss respondents were interested in virtual internationalisation activities such as COIL-projects or virtual exchanges (EHEA average:  28%), as well as 25% in crisis preparedness and management (EHEA average: 17%). 

To conclude, the current EAIE Barometer indicates an optimistic spirit for developments in the internationalisation of the EHEA with professionals invested in their work, progress in the key activities as well as opportunities to improve practice. The analysis shows the importance of investigating their interests and aspirations as well as the observed challenges.