Strategic management of internationalization in higher education institutions: the lens of international office professionals

2023-01-01
Bulut Şahin, Betül
Emil, Serap
Okur, Seda
Seggie, Fatma Nevra
The need for strategic planning of the internationalization process in universities is inevitable. The key stakeholders in higher education institutions (HEIs) are expected to be involved in the strategy-making process. It is argued that international office professionals (IPs) are one of these key stakeholders and need to be part of strategy development. The study aims to explore IPs’ conceptualization of internationalization, their needs, and roles in the universities, as well as their perceptions of strategic planning, management, and institutionalization of internationalization in European and Turkish universities. In this qualitative research, 23 semi-structured interviews with IPs showed that they are not sufficiently involved in the strategy-making process and could not contribute to this with their expertise as expected. This non-involvement observed in both settings has led them to imitate quantitative global strategies similar to that of universities, like increasing the number of international students. Moreover, the comparative analysis showed that European universities utilize more democratic and participatory decision-making than Turkish universities, which have little or no participation of IPs in decision-making in internationalization.
Tertiary Education and Management

Suggestions

Conflicting Perspectives on the Internationalization of Higher Education: Evidence from the Turkish Case
Bulut Şahin, Betül; Kondakçı, Yaşar (2022-09-01)
The internationalization of higher education (IHE) has become a key policy issue for governments, a research field for scholars, a strategic priority for universities, and a career orientation for administrative staff. Yet, with recent social, political, and economic trends heavily embellished by globalization and neoliberalism, the term IHE has resulted in conflicting perspectives. Although there are numerous analyses on IHE, these analyses seldom focus on conflicts among different constituencies of the un...
Vision and Strategic Planning of University Governance
Köksal, Gülser (2017-11-14)
This chapter describes the participative and iterative strategic planning process that was used in Middle East Technical University (METU), as a “good practice” for other institutions of higher education in two major stages: (1) preparation of the strategic plan and (2) its deployment to all organizational units via a catch-ball approach. Both stages are iterative as they involve consecutive phases of collection, evaluation, sharing, and alignment of findings along with strategies, first among different str...
The common foreign and security policy : the European Union's quest for being a coherent and effective actor in global politics
Kaya, Taylan Özgür; Bağcı, Hüseyin; Department of International Relations (2004)
The objective of this thesis is to evaluate European States̕ efforts to develop a coherent and effective foreign and security policy in the context of historical evolution of the CFSP. In this thesis, European States̕ efforts to develop a coherent and effective foreign and security policy will be evaluated in three international political contexts. First period is Post World War II Period, second one is Post-Cold War Period and third one is Post September 11 Period. In the context of Post World War II perio...
Vision and strategic planning of university governance: the case of Middle East Technical University
Köksal, Gülser; İlkuçan, Altan (IGI Global, 2019-01-01)
This chapter describes the participative and iterative strategic planning process that was used in Middle East Technical University (METU), as a “good practice” for other institutions of higher education in twomajor stages: (1) preparation of the strategic plan and (2) its deployment to all organizational units via a catch-ball approach. Both stages are iterative as they involve consecutive phases of collection, evaluation,sharing, and alignment of findings along with strategies, first among different strat...
The Challenges of Internationalization from Foreign and Local Students' Perspectives: The Case of Management School
Kondakçı, Yaşar; Yildirim, ALİ (2008-12-01)
The Purpose of this qualitative case study is to discern the issues pertaining to different dimensions of internationalization from the perspectives of both foreign and local students. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 foreign, and 13 local students. The results show that there is a dissonance between policy makers and implementers, and the students themselves on "what a truly international higher education organization" in fact is. Moreover, the results suggest that asymmetrical aims of loc...
Citation Formats
B. Bulut Şahin, S. Emil, S. Okur, and F. N. Seggie, “Strategic management of internationalization in higher education institutions: the lens of international office professionals,” Tertiary Education and Management, pp. 0–0, 2023, Accessed: 00, 2023. [Online]. Available: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85149446071&origin=inward.