Page 41 - AEI Insights 2020 - Vol. 6, Issue 1

Munusamy and Hashim, 2020

education system, international students fees and living expenses generating immediate
revenue for the national government and higher education institutions (Chankseliani, 2017).

• The academic rationale
Thirdly, the aims and purposes of delivering higher education are represented by the academic
rationale (Qiang 2003). Therefore, enhancement of teaching and learning process as well as
achieving excellence in research and scholarly activity has become a major focus of this
rationale (Jeptoo & Razia, 2012; Qiang, 2003).
• The socio-cultural rationale
Finally, the socio-cultural rationale emphasises the imperative of sustaining one’s own national
culture and language as well as the importance of understanding other foreign cultures and
languages for the benefit of internationalisation. Inter-cultural understanding and a strong
national cultural identity are important factors needed for mutual respect, to build a peaceful
society and to acquire international skills for global markets (Jeptoo & Razia, 2012; Salas,
2014; Wadhwa & Jha, 2014).

In actual fact, Knight (2008a) and De Wit (1999) stated that the political and economic
rationales have become push factors for internationalisation of higher education at national and
institutional level. Knight (2008a) asserted that strategic alliance under the political rationale
is a significant element that should be stressed by the national government, higher education
stakeholders and institutions for international cooperation and multilevel partnerships through
networking. Strategic alliances are able to become a cooperative approach (Teichler, 2009) and
connect national borders of higher education cooperation as a challenge to globalisation
(Wendy, 2006). This element is also strongly backed by the academic rationale (De Wit, 2011).
The academic rationale contributes to hindering competition among competitors in the field of
higher education by creating strategic alliances (Kehm & Teichler, 2007). Networks play a
crucial role in creating a strategic alliance between nations and higher education institutions.
According to Knight (2004), networks often have relevant and strategic objectives in
internationalisation. Flach & Flach (2010) supported this and stated that networking through
internationalisation can strengthen the interaction between the parties involved in the process.
Subsequently, a strong relationship in networks will maximise the knowledge of
internationalisation and will lower the networks’ complications (Johanson & Kao, 2010).
Baturina & Terentyeva (2019) proposed that higher education institutions should identify new
types of relationships with external actors or organisation to fulfil the resources limitation, to
enhance overall performances and competitiveness of higher education. Therefore, the
connection between internationalisation theory, networking in internationalisation and higher
education internationalisation are explored to identify a suitable conceptual framework.

Internationalisation

In the early 1970s, the international movement of firms and multinational companies is largely
known as internationalisation (Welch and Luostarinen, 1988). Welch and Luostarinen (1988)
suggested a broadly accepted definition of internationalisation as “the process of increasing
involvement in international operations” (p. 36). The definition indicates high participation and
creation of connections or networks outside the country. Therefore, a country’s economic,
political and social development does not take place in a closed boundary. It also needs to tie
in with an international platform. However, Melin (1992) and Welch and Welch (1996) argued
that this definition only focused on operations and administrative issues. They recommended

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