Page 24 - AEI Insights 2019 - Vol. 5, Issue 1

AEI Insights, Vol 5, Issue 1, 2019

international dimension into higher education (Jiang, 2010). Knight (2004; 2007) affirmed that
rationale dictates the kind of benefits or expected results from internationalisation efforts and
it is important to grab new international opportunities that become available.

The rationale for internationalisation of higher education
“Rationales driving internationalisation have been divided into four groups: socio-cultural,
political, academic and economic” (de Wit, 2013, p. 17; Knight, 1997, p. 9, 2004a, p. 4). Knight
(1997; 2004a) reinforced that these four rationale remain as useful ways to analyse the rationale
for internationalisation of higher education. In addition, she claimed that the
internationalisation policy is supported by the political, economic, educational and cultural
rationales. Knight (2008) also suggested that the imperative national level rationale can be
strategic alliances, income generation, commercial trade, competitiveness, human resources
development, nation-building and socio-cultural development. But, the main question is why
nations or institutions are involved in the internationalisation of higher education. De Wit
(1998) expressed that there is no single answer for it and asks what then are the driving forces
for internationalisation and what are the benefits? (de Wit, 2011; Florecilla et al., 2015)?

Qiang (2003) concurred that the four types of rationale as identified by Knight (1997, p. 9;
2004, p. 4 and (De Wit, 2013, p.17) have major influences on nations and institutions’
involvement in internationalisation. The nations’ and institutions’ aims and drives for the
internationalisation of higher education are deconstructed with the help of these four rationale
(Barcaru, 2015; Wadhwa & Jha, 2014). The political rationale is “closely linked to issues
regarding a country’s status and role as an independent nation in the world” (Jiang, 2010, p.
884) and is related to matters such as national sovereignty, identities, security, stability, peace,
culture and ideological influence (Jiang, 2010). The economic rationale is directly linked to
higher education as it can be seen as the platform for the production of skilled workers
(Beerkens, 2004; Qiang, 2003; Salas, 2014). The academic rationale is one of the major
elements in strategic alliances (de Wit, 2011). Knight’s (2003) definition of internationalisation
emphasises the importance of diversity of cultures that exists within countries, communities,
and institutions. The intercultural element is included in the definition to address the global
dimension. Wadhwa & Jha (2014) concurred that the intercultural exchange and understanding
are important factors for students achieving international competencies.
The four types of rationale are still relevant and have become increasingly important (Knight,
2008). To distinguish the rationale between national and institutional level, Knight (2004)
suggested an additional national level rationale that consists of human resource development,
strategic alliances, commercial trade, nation building and socio-cultural development. The
embedding of these in the internationalisation process is crucial. Strategic alliances have been
identified as an important element in international cooperation at the national level. This
element can be a driving rationale and an instrument for internationalisation (Knight, 2008)
together with the cooperative approach (Teichler, 2009). The strong competition between
countries is usually accompanied by strategic alliances with selected partners (Kehm &
Teichler, 2007).
Qiang (2003) suggested a rationale model for national policy for internationalisation of higher
education for a country (Cited in van der Wende, 1997). Rationale elements introduced by
Knight and De Wit are grouped to understand how rationale and strategies are put in place to
work together. They show how stakeholders benefit from internationalisation (Qiang, 2003;
Salas, 2014). The model proposed (Figure 1) revealed that special attention needs to be given

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