Internationalization of Higher Education: The Methodological Critiques on the Research Related to Study Overseas and International Experience

Introduction

In recent years, the term internationalization has been undoubtedly very common in the context of higher education institutions (HEI). It has been recognized as their response toward globalization's ever-changing era (Bennet & Kane, 2011). In the era of transformations that happen in various aspects of human life (Bondarenko & Aleshkovski, 2019), HEIs are demanded to generate certain goals to face the era's challenges (Waller et al., 2019). They also need to propose various changes in their routines, such as teaching, research, and community services (Kayıkçı & Ercan, 2013). One way to realize them is by creating initiatives of transforming themselves into institutions that work in their national and international contexts (Altbach et al., 2009). These initiatives have globally come to be known as Internationalization. As elaborated by Knight (1994), it is “the process of integrating an international dimension into the teaching/learning, research and service functions of a university or college” (p. 3). Many HEIs across the globe have been integrating this phrase into their university programs by equipping their institutions with the international standard of teaching, world-class research, and global reputations. They carry out all their daily academic activities by reflecting on the international level's dimension (De Wit, 2013). They believe that doing those activities in such ways can increase their university's quality, leading to their success in coping with the potential competitions in the globalized world such as international students’ recruitment, league tables, and the demands of producing high-quality graduates.

There are many ways universities implement their strategies to cope with their internationalization plan (Soliman, Anchor, & Taylor, 2018). One of them is by sending their academic members to study overseas under the programs of further study, conference, join research, and student and staff exchange (Kaowiwattanakul, 2016; Kouijzer, 1994; Paige, 2005). Internationalization is nowadays closely affiliated with student mobility (Alpenidze, 2015) and personnel mobility and education policy sharing and practices (Henard, Diamond, & Reseveare, 2012). This statement is supported by Teichler (2017), arguing that there are significant increases in students' mobility, intensified academic and administrative staff exchange, and ongoing changes in educational programs under the programs labeled as Internationalization. These activities can potentially improve the quality of universities’ human resources, which potentially improves the quality of university programs such as teaching, research, administration, and public services. In turn, this increasing quality will be able to support the success of the university's internationalization project.