University Internationalisation Strategies and Public Engagement

Abstract

Internationalisation of universities can often be a process with few obvious connections to the surrounding environment and the people in the city or region around a university. Few channels exist to link university decisions about internationalisation to the local stakeholder community . At the same time, universities are regarded by many as a potential source of transformative change in their regions, both directly (through net inward income flows) and indirectly (through long-term good will and sharing of diverse cultural assets). For many universities in the UK, their international portfolio is crucial to their long-term success, both financially and in terms of attracting talent. Internationalisation is not a neutral process that happens in a bubble, this chapter argues. It has an impact at many levels that bring costs as well as benefits to local communities. Surrounding communities, for instance, may simply see the impact on their lives of a very large injection of young people from around the world and not fully understand the benefits—economic growth, knowledge transfer and innovation and longer-term cultural ties—that the international activity brings. In the same ways that public engagement with research has become a topic of interest for the tertiary sector, public engagement with internationalisation , this chapter argues, is similarly important. The result of the EU Referendum and the polarised views around who gains from globalisation have increased the urgency of these debates.