Linking Internationalization to Student Success: Voices from Stakeholders

Abstract

This chapter describes and discusses the results of an exploratory study that compared US public Community College settings in relation to how stakeholders define, rationalize, respond to, govern, strategize, organize, and engage in internationalization. A spectrum of viewpoints was studied that included varying institutional sizes (e.g., small, medium, large, and very large), settings (e.g., urban, suburban, and rural), and stakeholder roles (e.g., student, faculty, staff, administrator, or community partner), resulting in 29 interviews collected from 15 US public Community Colleges that offer degrees no higher than an associate’s level. Grounded theory analyses were employed to decompose the interview data and reassemble it into delineated definitions and a theory of public Community College internationalization. For this chapter, analytical results are explored as they relate to leadership, governance, community involvement, and stakeholder roles. Conclusions that highlight dissimilarities and parallels among and across stakeholder roles and perceptions are considered in the context of how these insights may inform and guide Community College leaders in the governance and organization of their respective institutions. Key findings that distinguish public Community Colleges are described and re-contextualized against worldwide shifting demographics, geopolitical changes, and rapidly changing technology. Finally, future directions related to leadership tasks, organizational strategies, and plans that embed internationalization processes into the overarching institutional mission, structure, and culture will be explored.