It's a matter of culture : investigating the role of university culture in the internationalization of higher education

The world is growing smaller. Technological advancements have eased the flow of travel, communication, and commerce worldwide. These changes have blurred borders: individuals are able to travel more quickly and affordably, communicate instantly across wide distances, and collaborate with diverse groups. This has not only changed how we live and do business, but also how we engage in higher education: students are increasingly studying abroad, universities are actively internationalizing their curricula and international research partnerships are commonplace in academia. These activities exemplify a change process that is occurring around the world – the internationalization of higher education. Often positive outcomes are associated with this process, such as the fostering of global citizenship and intercultural competence. However, internationalization has also been found to present numerous implementation challenges and to spark critical responses from university stakeholders. This dissertation explores the culture dimension of the internationalization process to capture how university stakeholders – students, scholars, and administrators – perceive and experience these changes to university life. These stakeholders become our cultural guides and through their stories, we travel to higher education institutions in the Asia Pacific, North America, and Western Europe, discovering the various ways university culture shapes the internationalization process and their experiences.