KIWi Compass

Integration into institutional strategies

Criterion 6

Definition of the Criterion

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What does 'Integration into institutional strategies' mean?

It is increasingly the case that international partnerships are subordinate to overarching institutional strategies and form parts of a process of profile building in which various higher education stakeholders are involved. These include higher education senior leaders, academics, researchers and students, along with administrative staff and departments with responsibilities across all faculties, such as international offices, welcome centres, graduate schools, and marketing and communications departments.

The German Science and Humanities Council (Wissenschaftsrat) has clearly stated the significance of internationalisation strategies (2018) and surveys such as DAAD (2019) show that, at almost all higher education institutions, internationalisation activities are embedded with a strategy aimed at developing an institutional profile by establishing academic and regional strategic focuses. At the level of higher education leadership, this entails actively managing international cooperation partnerships and consolidating activities. It also requires fostering acceptance among the academics and researchers (i.e. those who de facto initiate and implement international activities) so as to work towards a common goal.

Before deciding which professional contacts to draw upon and which research projects should be initiated or continued by submitting project applications, it is wise to use the following criteria as a basis for evaluating chances and risks when initiating a cooperation.

Key Questions

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The following guidelines may prove helpful when designing and implementing internationalisation strategies in conjunction with evaluating chances and risks. The guidelines distinguish between different target groups and perspectives, with academics and researchers in conjunction with the immediate issue of how to integrate projects at a faculty level into an institutional higher education strategy on the one hand (sub-criteria A to C) and on the other, higher education leaders and managers with regard to their roles in developing and monitoring internationalisation strategies (sub-criteria D and E).

From the perspectives of academics and researchers

How far can projects with international partners be designed in such a way as to promote your own teaching and research interests while also advancing the strategic objectives of your institution’s international profile-raising process?
Which partnerships with foreign higher education institutions are already in place and how can I make effective use of these for my own cooperation plans?
How can I ensure that international projects are integrated into the institutional strategies of both partners, and how can I develop a sustainable cooperation relationship?

From the perspective of higher education leaders

What negotiations are required to ensure that teachers, students and administrative staff play their part in supporting strategic objectives at an institutional level?
What incentives can I put in place to ensure the whole institution is committed to internationalisation? (Travel funding, offsets against teaching commitments, for example).
What opportunities and decision-making mechanisms does your institution’s management provide so that staff can initiate partnerships with disciplines or countries that do not (yet) align with your strategic priorities?
How much of the development and implementation process of internationalisation strategies is supported by professional risk and security management systems and structures?
Whose expertise does your institution call upon to ensure that cooperation projects in countries affected by crises are planned, assessed and delivered in a way that meets the challenges of the situation? For example, leadership, international office, academics, administrators inte ralia.

Find answers

Notes on the sub-criteria

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A. Fit; B. Complementarity; C. Synergies and opportunities to be gained from the cooperation

In this context, the first step is to assess the potential that could be gained from academic exchange with colleagues abroad so that both parties benefit from the development of their respective departments. Here it is possible to employ a wide range of activities, combining them to varying extents with an eye to the long-term development of the international cooperation. This could take the form of funding individual early-career academics, joint publications, developing joint study programmes or implementing research projects in international networks. Working together to improve structural conditions for teaching and research presents another strategic option where relevant funding programmes are available to help strengthen higher education management.

Regardless of the orientation of an institution’s overarching strategic objectives and the assessment of cooperation potential, it also remains the case that projects with partners abroad can only be delivered successfully if they rest on mutual trust and shared values, not just shared research interests. Established personal contacts are both the starting point and culmination of all forms of institutional cooperation, and high-quality relationships between individual academics and researchers guarantee the fruitfulness and sustainability of a cooperation, both in academic and human terms.

It is further advisable to ensure that the planning, implementation and evaluation of international cooperation at higher education institutions are integrated into professional cooperation management at a strategic level. This includes developing guidelines to raise an institution’s profile by establishing regional and thematic strategic priorities, as well as creating frameworks for cooperation with partners abroad. These frameworks should be based on mutual respect, academic freedom and the protection of intellectual property, as well as offering guidance on initiating and designing partnerships. This also involves aspects of risk and safety management in a narrower sense, such as in connection with security-relevant questions in research partnerships (dual-use issues, for example), or in a wider sense concerning the organisational delivery of international projects (such as preventive measures for travel risk management and cyber security on official trips, etc.).

From the perspective of higher education leaders and management, it may be necessary when developing and implementing institutional internationalisation strategies to assess if rapid developments in certain disciplines or current events in the sociopolitical environment make it necessary to respond flexibly and, potentially, in ways that are not in alignment with strategic priorities. This particularly applies in cases where strategies are designed over longer timeframes. For this reason, strategic planning could actually include preserving freedom of this kind and protecting spaces for innovative cooperation projects that do not fall within an institution’s efforts to raise its profile.

D. Adaptivity; E. Openness

This tension between long-term strategic direction and situational adaptivity should be taken into account when implementing internationalisation strategies, particularly where international cooperation is taking place in challenging contexts.

Sources

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This section lists some reference sources to facilitate initial evaluations. The most important sub-criteria are supplied first, followed by the information available from each source. In many instances the sources provide access to information from third parties that is continually updated by the third parties themselves.

International DAAD Academy (iDA)

The International DAAD Academy offers a wide range of seminars and training courses for those employed in higher education teaching, research, administration and academic management. With around 100 courses a year, the iDA’s range of services on internationalisation in Europe is the most comprehensive in Europe. Staff working in International Offices are one of the primary target audiences for the iDA. Providing training courses, seminars and language courses for internationalisation ‘pros’ are among the most important activities the iDA undertakes. Many higher education institutions now have senior leaders and other staff within academic departments who are concerned with strategic questions linked to internationalisation. The iDA’s professional development programme has evolved to reflect this. Teaching background knowledge for this expanded group of stakeholders increasingly involves reflecting on strategies, goals and processes in other countries and thereby sharing knowledge about internationalisation.

Competence Centre for International Academic Collaborations

The DAAD Competence Centre provides a tailored advice and knowledge service to actively support German higher education institutions as they set up and expand their international partnerships. The Competence Centre consolidates the DAAD’s expertise and offers German higher education institutions a central point of contact to provide targeted and customised support with the implementation of international projects. A key area of focus is for projects in countries that have previously received less attention from higher education institutions or that pose particular structural or environmental challenges for cooperation.

Other priorities in the Centre’s advisory service include risk and security, managing international research cooperation and legal structural and environmental conditions.

DIES – Dialogue on Innovative Higher Education Strategies

The DIES programme is coordinated jointly by the DAAD and the HRK, and offers a package of activities including training courses, discussions, projects and partnerships to support higher education institutions in developing and emerging countries. The programme helps such institutions to develop professional management processes, to establish international quality standards within teaching and study and to expand research capacities. DIES Partnerships allow German higher education institutions to strengthen management structures in their partner institutions. This not only helps expand capacities at the partner institution but also creates the structural conditions necessary for effective cooperation at faculty-level that is based on common structures and standards.

The DIES Training Courses programme line offers intensive practical training for higher education managers from developing countries. The courses focus on topics such as faculty management, assurance and internationalisation, and offer another means of developing structures for the partner institution and upskilling individuals with important responsibilities and decision-making authority for the project. One example of this may be found in the Management of Internationalisation course offered by Leibniz University Hannover, which is aimed at senior staff in international offices at higher education institutions in developing countries.

HRK (2020): ‘Guidelines and standards for international higher education cooperation’

The Executive Board of the HRK adopted the principles and values of international cooperation on 6 April 2020, with the stated objective of giving German higher education institutions points of reference for the design of international cooperation relationships. The ‘guidelines and standards for international higher education cooperation’ respond to current changes in the global environment and engage with the increasing chances and challenges associated with international higher education cooperation. The guidelines address the following aspects: ‘strategy and governance’, ‘teaching, learning and researching together’, and ‘higher education institutions as transnational spaces’.

‘HRK-EXPERTISE-Manuals’ – Process descriptions from German higher education institutions

The ‘HRK’s EXPERTISE manuals’ present examples of internationalisation practices at German higher education institutions. The manuals are broken down into several topic areas and show how working processes are institutionally embedded in internationalisation and which specific objectives and challenges are associated with them. Five manuals have been produced so far, dealing with the following topics related to internationalisation: (1) outgoing mobility of early-career academics, (2) regional partnerships to support international academics, (3) internationalising curricula, (4) internationalisation at home in teacher education and (5) multilingualism in teaching and study.

HRK higher education internationalisation audit

The HRK’s ‘audit of internationalisation at higher education institutions’ provides a systematic review process aimed at advising higher education institutions on the strategic direction of their internationalisation activities. The process begins by analysing the status quo of an institution’s internationalisation, followed by support for the creation or development of an internationalisation strategy for the institution. The individual elements of the consultation are: compiling a self-review report, a visit by a group of auditors, the presentation of a recommendation report and the award of a certificate of participation. Thus far over 90 higher education institutions have taken part in the audit process, which has been part of the HRK’s regular service since 2010. It received financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) until the end of 2016, since when higher education institutions have borne the costs themselves for internationalisation consultancy.

CHE – Centre for Higher Education

The CHE develops practical solutions for the higher education and academic system. It supports higher education institutions with using and shaping their autonomy, as well as developing and implementing diverse profiles and assuming their social responsibility. As a non-profit organisation, CHE provides a wide range of information and services, including events in particular. Since 1995, CHE has arranged symposia, conferences and workshops, and in 2000 it began offering its ‘higher education training course in academic management’. The course supports managers and administrative staff at higher education and scientific institutions working in increasingly autonomous higher education institutions. The course includes a workshop to help institutions develop strategies across several fields, including internationalisation.