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The internationalization of academic staff at European Higher Education Institutions.
ETER analytical report now available on-line.
Internationalisation of higher education plays a key role in ensuring that Europe becomes a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy. Internationalisation encompasses short-term and/or long-term mobility of students and staff, strategic partnerships on education, research and innovation, curriculum development, shared or joint programme offers, intercultural understanding and social engagement, knowledge creation and application, global positioning, increased reputation, visibility and competitiveness.
This report, based on unique data from the European Tertiary Education Register, provides evidence on the proportion of international academic staff based on nationality from 19 countries and more than 1,500 European higher education institutions. It is a first step in addressing the impact of internationalisation on teaching and educational activities.
At the country level, the report shows that internationalisation of academic staff is much more widespread in Western and Northern Europe, while Southern European countries display lower proportions of foreign academic staff, with a gradual increase in the recent years. The medium of instruction (mainly English), national investment in research and the presence of highly-reputed international universities may be associated to the extent of internationalisation of academic staff.
At the institutional level,  Higher Education Institutions in Western Europe, particularly in the UK, Switzerland and the Netherlands, and in Northern Europe, particularly in Denmark and Finland, have the highest numbers of foreign academic staff. While about 200 European higher education institutions count more than 200 foreign academic staff, top-reputed international universities have a number of foreign academic staff that can be measured in thousands.
In terms of institutional characteristics,  PhD-awarding universities attract more foreign academic staff compared to other types of institutions, while education-oriented institutions are less internationalised as compared to research-oriented institutions. Finally, institutions with a high share of foreign academic staff also display high levels of internationalisation of the student body.
Figure 1. Share of foreign academic staff in Higher education institutions (HEIs) by country.
Year 2011 and 2016.For Netherlands, Lithuania and Turkey the first year available is 2013.
For Luxembourg, Denmark, France and Island the only year available is shown. *Data in Full Time Equivalents  for Netherlands and Finland.

Variables and methodological issues
Staff and academic staff. Consistently with EUROSTAT definitions, staff includes all individuals having a contractual relationship with the institution, whose activities are required for the HEI operations. Academic staff is individuals
Academic staff includes professorial positions, as well as several types of teachers and researchers positions, including in some countries a large share of PhD students. For the time being, it is not possible to disaggregate academic staff data according to the different academic career levels.
Foreign academic staff. Foreign academic staff is defined as academic staff not having the citizenship of the country in which the HEI is established.
Data availability. Out of the 38 countries comprised in ETER, data on foreign staff are available for 20 countries (combining different years) and slightly more than 1,500 HEIs. With few exceptions (Ireland, the French-speaking part of Belgium) data are available for all countries in Western Europe, while until now no country in Eastern Europe except Lithuania provided such information.
Methodological issues. The most important limitation is that data cannot be disaggregated by academic level. This would be highly relevant since different mobility patterns are expected for young researchers vs. tenured people. The option of breaking down staff data by academic level is currently under discussion in ETER, based on the levels proposed by Eurydice. Moreover, the definition of foreigner excludes mobile researchers that acquired the nationality of the host country, but also comprises cross-border commuters.
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The opinions expressed in this message are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Commission
Copyright © European Tertiary Education Register, Università della Svizzera italiana,  Lugano, Switzerland.

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European Tertiary Education Register · Università della Svizzera italiana · Lugano 6900 · Switzerland

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