International Strategic Management of English Universities

Internationalisation has become one of the keys to the competitiveness of many, but not all, universities. Internationalisation has also changed the context of the strategic management of universities. Several studies have addressed the trajectory of and the implications of the internationalisation of higher education. However, the international strategies of universities is an under researched area. This study explores the international strategic management process in four English universities; particularly in terms of how international strategies are formulated and implemented. A qualitative exploratory approach, via semi-structured interviews and document review, was employed. The results of the study lead to the development of a model which conceptualises the stages of the international strategic management process in English universities. It is suggested, in particular, that English universities follow a five-step non-linear process to formulate and implement their international strategies, which is found to be different to the normative models which are widely used in theory and practice.