University Internationalization and University Autonomy: Toward a Theoretical Understanding

Turcan and Gulieva deepen our theoretical understanding of the process of university internationalisation by exploring the relationship between university internationalisation and university autonomy. They conjecture that the process of university internationalisation and its sustainability are determined by the structure and exercise of university autonomy settings at home and in the host countries, and that the process itself cannot be successfully achieved and maintained without changes in the autonomy settings. The key question the authors ask is to what degree universities, in embracing new, dissimilar, and sometimes conflicting dimensions of the financial, legal, organisational, staffing, and academic autonomy of the host country, are compromising key aspects of their own autonomy and core mission?