TY - JOUR
T1 - Developing a manageable system of internationalization indicators for universities in Asia
AU - Watabe, Yuki
AU - Ota, Hiroshi
N1 - Funding Information:
It is more than three decades since the internationalization of higher education (HE) began to be discussed at the national level in many countries as an important aspect of the response to challenges and needs brought by globalization (; ). In Asian countries, the creation of world-class universities and improvement of their institutions in terms of global/world university rankings are often included in the agenda for university internationalization, and governments have adopted strategic policies to achieve such goals. Project 211, Project 985, and Double First-Class University in China (; ) and Brain Korea 21 and World Class University Project in Korea are typical examples (). Pre-determined numerical key performance indicators (KPIs) linked to governments' internationalization initiatives have also become prevalent as such policy measures have increased (). Taking the case of Japan as an example, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) has been promoting the internationalization of HE through competitive grant projects, including Global 30 (2009–2013), Go Global Japan (2012–2016), and the Top Global University Project (TGU) (2014–2023), since 2009. Influenced by these grant projects, the internationalization strategies and efforts of the selected universities are converging due to the frameworks, goals, and targets stipulated by MEXT even from the application stage (). In particular, TGU demanded that applicant universities establish 18 main numeric targets, along with subordinate targets, and these numeric targets have become KPIs. MEXT believe that they can thus increase transparency and fulfill the need for accountability for such large grants allocated to a small number of universities (). However, the problem is that achieving the KPIs has often become the end purpose or goal in and of itself at the selected universities (). In the above-mentioned Chinese and Korean governments' initiatives, global ranking indicators, e.g. Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and academic journal indexes, e.g. Science Citation Index, are KPIs and entail the same problem (). Numerical targets should rather be considered as a means or a guide to achieving the vision and goals for the university's internationalization. Moreover, the government has determined the KPIs in a top-down way without prior agreement with universities. Thus, in a sense, universities have begun to lose the ownership of their own internationalization strategies and efforts. Furthermore, there does not appear to be much freedom for universities to devise their own, unique ways to promote internationalization. In turn, there is a growing need for a set of internationalization indicators that reflect institutional perspectives about its assessment.
Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and the editors at International Journal of Comparative Education and Development for their insightful feedback and useful suggestions.Funding: This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP16H03785.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Purpose: This study aims to construct a system of indicators for measuring the internationalization of universities allowing comparative self-assessment by universities in Asia. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the aforementioned research purpose, the authors conducted three surveys and held an expert roundtable discussion. Two surveys were conducted, one in Japan and the other in Asia, to identify important indicators for measuring the internationalization of universities. Additionally, a survey of experts was conducted to identify effective indicators for benchmarking internationalization among universities in Asia. An analysis of each survey was examined during the roundtable discussion, and a system of internationalization indicators was constructed. Findings: The three survey results showed similarities and differences between the relative importance accorded to 53 internationalization indicators by universities in Japan and in other Asian countries, as well as in the experts' perspectives on the effectiveness of each indicator for benchmarking. An analysis of those surveys resulted in 24 core internationalization indicators categorized into six key dimensions of university internationalization. Originality/value: This study proposed a system of internationalization indicators based on an analysis of empirical research targeting universities in Asia. The resulting system reflects not only the opinions of academic experts but also the perspectives of its potential users, administrators in Asian universities. It consists of six internationalization dimensions with a manageable number of indicators, 24. These include both quantitative indicators and checklists of internationalization activities which can be used as quantitative or qualitative indicators.
AB - Purpose: This study aims to construct a system of indicators for measuring the internationalization of universities allowing comparative self-assessment by universities in Asia. Design/methodology/approach: To achieve the aforementioned research purpose, the authors conducted three surveys and held an expert roundtable discussion. Two surveys were conducted, one in Japan and the other in Asia, to identify important indicators for measuring the internationalization of universities. Additionally, a survey of experts was conducted to identify effective indicators for benchmarking internationalization among universities in Asia. An analysis of each survey was examined during the roundtable discussion, and a system of internationalization indicators was constructed. Findings: The three survey results showed similarities and differences between the relative importance accorded to 53 internationalization indicators by universities in Japan and in other Asian countries, as well as in the experts' perspectives on the effectiveness of each indicator for benchmarking. An analysis of those surveys resulted in 24 core internationalization indicators categorized into six key dimensions of university internationalization. Originality/value: This study proposed a system of internationalization indicators based on an analysis of empirical research targeting universities in Asia. The resulting system reflects not only the opinions of academic experts but also the perspectives of its potential users, administrators in Asian universities. It consists of six internationalization dimensions with a manageable number of indicators, 24. These include both quantitative indicators and checklists of internationalization activities which can be used as quantitative or qualitative indicators.
KW - Internationalization assessment
KW - Internationalization indicators
KW - Internationalization of universities
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U2 - 10.1108/IJCED-11-2020-0081
DO - 10.1108/IJCED-11-2020-0081
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106158973
SN - 2396-7404
VL - 23
SP - 81
EP - 103
JO - International Journal of Comparative Education and Development
JF - International Journal of Comparative Education and Development
IS - 2
ER -