Internationalisation of Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe: Conceptualisation of the Definition Inside the Region

Abstract

The article sets out to analyse previous research on the internationalisation in higher education in Central and Eastern Europe with a particular focus on the conceptualisation of ‘internationalisation’. While there is quite a lot of research regarding both theory and implementation of internationalisation, the majority of it is conducted in the West and the most commonly accepted definition hails from the research traditions of the Anglophone world. This literature review shows that when researchers in Central and Eastern European countries use the term ‘internationalisation’, they either refer to a policy change encouraged (or necessitated) by a supranational institution or global education discourse, or an education process through which an international or intercultural dimension is integrated into higher education.

Keywords

• internationalisation
• higher education
• Central and Eastern Europe
• conceptualisation
• definition