National policies on internationalisation: boon or curse?

National policies and institutional implementations

Both the Norwegian and the German ministries of education communicate that internationalisation should be used to improve the quality of higher education and that it should therefore be included in the institutional strategies of universities.

This is supposed to be an obvious way to implement national policy. However, at the same time it seems logic that institutions follow their own institutional mission and use internationalisation as a tool to reach their goals rather than aiming for more abstract national goals. This may result in a conflict of interest between the institutions' mission and governmental policies.

Funding directives

National governments offer subsidies to institutions willing to invest in activities which may not directly lead to reaching institutional goals, in order to reach the national goals. As a result, in some countries government demand rather than institutional missions seem to lead institutional internationalisation strategies, especially in countries with strong governmental programmes and tools.

For instance in Germany, despite the economic crisis, the government invests significantly in internationalisation of higher education. It is not so difficult to understand why institutions feel either persuaded by financial incentives or pushed by financial consequences to join governmental internationalisation schemes. As one German university admitted during an EAIE session in Copenhagen: there is a growing inclination to follow the money (government demand) rather than your own mission.

As a counterbalance there is a call from institutions to be able to use funds in ways which serve their specific strategy. Criteria to use subsidies from the European Commission and national governments are said to be too restrictive sometimes. However, at the same time some institutions admit that more spending freedom may result in money being spent on a new building or new computers rather than on internationalisation.

Distraction from core missions

One example of how government policies can distract higher education institutions from their core missions can be seen in France. The Excellence Initiative set up by the French government aims to build 'world class' universities, a goal which is certainly supported by many French institutions. What exactly is meant by the term is not clear, but the fact is that universities are actively encouraged to merge.

Not because this would help them (better) educate more French students, but because this could lead to a better position in international rankings. The word 'could' is crucial here. If, to name just one possibility, universities in other countries would be planning to do the same thing, then all efforts and tax money spent may be in vain. And vanity is definitely a key word here.

Not surprisingly, institutions are not always happy with the strategic choices governments make. German institutions, for example, would have wanted their national Excellence Initiative focus more on education rather than only research.

Meaningful national strategies

On the other hand, not all is bad in ministry land. National policies do help institutions be more specific on their strategies and policies, the way accreditation helps to structure ideas and measure outcomes. Additionally, national policies may stimulate coherence between institutions, which may lead to a clearer educational profile of the country as a whole, which will positively reflect back on the individual institutions.

In Australia, a university's internationalisation strategy is part of negotiations with the government every funding period. In fact, in the framework of transparency, most of these strategies are available online.

In general, I feel, institutions would like governments to indicate broad and especially coherent directions while leaving room for individual institutions to choose, within those directions, a specialisation. Wait to find out if this wish for coherent directions at the national level is answered in most EU countries or not.

Early 2012 ACA, DAAD and Nuffic will publish a joint study on the student mobility policies of national governments in EU countries.