New EAIE report challenges assumptions on influence of ‘money matters’

With many dimensions of internationalisation becoming ‘big business’, making sense of how financial considerations factor into the work of international education is vitally important. The latest report in the EAIE Barometer series examines the realities of navigating budget cuts and the marketisation of higher education while maintaining internationalisation – and higher education in general – as a high-quality public good.

Building on the September 2018 release of the EAIE Barometer (second edition) – EAIE Barometer (second edition): Signposts of success – this week the EAIE is launching the next publication in the Barometer series: Money matters.

Money matters explores the complex and often contradictory dynamics around the role of funding in internationalisation based on data from the Barometer study, which surveyed 2317 professionals working on internationalisation at 1292 higher education institutions in 45 countries across Europe. The report analyses the Barometer survey data and divides the role of financial considerations into two categories: ‘money as driver’ and ‘money as obstacle’ to internationalisation.

Key questions raised by Money matters include:

• How do financial benefits figure into institutions’ overall motivations for pursuing internationalisation activities?
• What is the role of national-level and Erasmus+ funding in internationalisation, and how satisfied are practitioners with it?
• How do money matters differ between individual countries?
• How can practitioners reconcile the marketisation of (internationalisation of) higher education with its status as a public good?

The EAIE Barometer (second edition): Money matters will be presented by author Laura E. Rumbley during a session at the 31st Annual EAIE Conference in Helsinki on Thursday 26 September 2019. The report is freely available in e-book format via the EAIE website, along with the two previous publications in the series, Signposts of success and the EAIE Barometer (second edition). You can follow the launch coverage on social media with the hashtag #EAIEBarometer.