Internationalization in Higher Education: A Case Study of an African Born Global University

Introduction

Internationalization has become one of the top priorities of higher education institutions due to external pressures like globalization and increased competition (Bradford et al., 2017; Rosyidah & Matin, 2020; Wihlborg & Robson, 2017). Universities around the world adapt to these forces by finding new ways to internationalize, including creating offices, innovating offerings, and increasing global opportunities for faculty and students specifically for this purpose (Altbach & Knight, 2007; Bradford et al., 2017;). Despite this trend toward internationalization, universities face risks and challenges such as quality assurance, lack of financial resources, and political and ethical barriers in partner countries (Oranga et al., 2020).

Scholars have applied various internationalization concepts and theories to explain the phenomenon in higher education, including the international product life cycle (Oranga et al., 2020), isomorphism (Mejia et al., 2020), and the regime concept (Zapp & Ramirez, 2019). While most studies seem to focus on universities that react to outside forces or norms that compel them to internationalize, few studies focus on universities born globally from inception. Cavusgil and Knight, early researchers on the born global theory of internationalization, have called for future studies focusing on born global and non-born global firms, especially in industries other than high technology, where the theory has been applied most often (2015). There has also been a call for a research agenda that explores the born global theory by developing theoretical models in other types of industries, including those that are knowledge-intensive (Paul & Rosado-Serrano, 2019). A group of researchers responded to this call by applying business network and international entrepreneurship theory to higher education, conducting a case study on a born global business school in Togo (Merino et al., 2018).

The problem is a critical knowledge gap in born global universities (Andersson & Berggren, 2016). The topic of born global firms is common within international business and strategic management literature, mainly through the lens of entrepreneurship (Cavusgil & Knight, 2015; Rodriguez-Serrano & Martin-Armario, 2019). However, a scholarly online search yielded little research on higher education-born globals. This qualitative embedded case study chapter aimed to explore how three schools within a born global African university with a strategic orientation toward internationalization differentiate their development of globally competent graduates. The primary research question was, how do three schools within a born global African university with a strategic orientation toward internationalization differentiate their development of globally competent graduates? The three sub-research questions were:

• 1.

  How do the schools describe internationalization strategies?

• 2.

  How do the schools describe the ways they prepare globally competent graduates?

• 3.

  How do the schools differentiate their strategies based on a discipline of study?