Internationalization through Integration

The Trend and a Case Study

This article identifies a new form of internationalization, which can be called “internationalization by integration”. It discusses this development as a possible new global trend and delves deeper into a particular case study. This form of internationalization has heretofore not been studied systematically. This new phenomenon can be considered on the international and global level as similar, although not identical, to the mergers of higher education institutions at the local and national level: stable international, some even global, networks of institutions strive to integrate to the point where they eventually might become a single institution of a new kind: a non-national,
trans-national higher education institution. This new international mode is also different from the case of single universities that have established branches in multiple countries. The case study considered in this article, that of the Open Society University Network, helps to shed light on the rationales, actors, anticipated impact, and challenges faced by such novel initiatives.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36197/INT.2-2022.03