Internationalisation of higher education: Conceptualization, typology and issues

Given the strong worldwide trend of internationalisation of higher education, what implications can be drawn from the ongoing progress for research development, policy improvement and practical innovation in higher education? Based on international literature, this chapter will review and discuss the complicated nature of higher education internationalisation and propose a conceptualization matrix to capture its major characteristics. A typology of higher education development will also be proposed to illustrate how internationalisation is related to the future directions and scenarios of higher education development in Hong Kong and beyond. It is hoped that both the development typology and conceptualization matrix can help policy makers, educators, researchers, social leaders and change agents to understand the related issues of internationalisation of higher education in a wider context. Taking Hong Kong as a case in the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region, this chapter will also introduce the key features of the book composed of three parts with ten chapters which provide comprehensive studies with quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence and diverse perspectives to analyse and review the key issues and challenges in different aspects of the internationalisation of higher education. It aims to draw implications and recommendations for future developments in both Hong Kong and international communities.