Page 36 - AEI Insights 2020 - Vol. 6, Issue 1
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AEI Insights, Vol 6, Issue 1, 2020





               The term ‘internationalisation’ had in the past generally referred to the international movement
               of  firms  and  multinational  companies  (Welch  &  Luostarinen,  1988).  In  the  early  1970s,
               internationalisation became the main attention of firms to enhance their international operation
               (Flach & Flach, 2010; Welch & Welch, 1996). Besides that, collaboration with foreign markets
               and establishment of joint ventures to enhance efficiency in production also became major
               focuses of firms in the internationalisation process (Johanson & Vahlne, 1990). In terms of
               education,  the  word  “internationalisation”  from  the  perspective  of  business  or  economy  is
               generally  interpreted  as  the  participation  of  the  higher  education  sector  in  foreign  higher
               education  markets,  increases  in  revenue  from  international  students  and  involvement  in
               multilevel partnerships or networks with foreign higher education sectors for teaching  and
               research purposes (Edwards & Edwards, 2001). Stakeholders involved in higher education
               development  believe  that  the  internationalisation  process  could  enhance  networks  and
               relationships between local and international higher education sectors (Jana, Laura, Dana, &
               Clemens, 2017). Therefore, the internationalisation process of higher education has become an
               integral  part  of  higher  education  providers  to  maintain  the  reputation,  quality  of  higher
               education and their visibility in the international arena (Girdzijauskaite & Radzeviciene, 2014).
               Furthermore, the concept of internationalisation of higher education has also been branded as
               a platform for increasing international students and producing competent graduates who are
               able to compete and survive in a globalised world (Robson & Wihlborg, 2019).
               In  the  last  few  decades,  the  networking  perspective  in  the internationalisation  process  has
               developed as an administration instrument for the higher education sector. This is to increase
               its international involvement due to limitations in resources and finance. As a result, higher
               education providers and administrators share knowledge, technology,  materials  in  order to
               stabilise the risks of international expansion (Girdzijauskaitė, Radzeviciene, & Jakubavičius,
               2018).  In  the  early  1980s,  higher  education  institutions  reacted  quickly  to  international
               opportunities by creating networks for various activities such as student and staff mobility,
               courses  and  curriculum  development,  joint  research  and  organisations.  Knight  (2007)  has
               cautioned  that  diversification  of  higher  education  systems,  language  barriers  and  different
               cultures  might  be  constraints  to  sustain  and  manage  the  networking  in  higher  education
               internationalisation. Since the aim of networking in higher education cooperation is to achieve
               the four rationales of internationalisation, namely the academic, political, socio-cultural and
               economic,  the  solution  to  overcome  the  barriers  should  be  the  focus  of  higher  education
               providers around the world (Knight, 2008a).
               With regard to this, there is a necessity for higher education providers and stakeholders to focus
               on networking in internationalisation. Networking is a traditional style of relationship, very
               safe,  will  reduce  risks  and  is  a  soft  method  of  internationalisation  (Girdzijauskaite  &
               Radzeviciene, 2014). Networking in higher education could also serve as a basis for multilevel
               partnership  development  and  cooperation.  Therefore,  higher  education  stakeholders  could
               adopt  business  type  networking  to  gain  more  benefits  from  internationalisation  through
               competition and cooperation (Girdzijauskaitė et al., 2018).

               In focusing on the network perspective on higher education internationalisation, the key aim of
               this  article  is  to  explore  the  network  theory  of  internationalisation  and  its  feasibility  for
               networking  in  the  internationalisation  of  higher  education.  The  article  will  analyse  the
               networking  aspect  of the internationalisation theory of the firm  to  understand the network
               model of internationalisation as developed by Johanson and Mattsson (1988). The applicability
               of this network theory for a conceptual framework for internationalisation of higher education





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