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.
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