Abstract:

The internationalization has become one of the top priorities of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) worldwide as a consequence of the globalization process [1, 2]. It is a process that high number of HEIs have experienced in the first decade of this century as the world is becoming more interconnected due to globalization [3]. It is also described as an essential part of Higher Education [4]. Internationalization is the hallmark of relations between universities [5].

Despite the importance of the subject and its impact on the HEIs strategy and sustainability, there is a great misunderstanding related to the word meaning, its interpretation, and utilization in the Higher Education [8, 9] and also due to the activity-oriented or instrumental (effective) approach adopted by the HEIs [9].

Also, due to the fierce competition amongst HEIs, the relevance of the subject can be depicted as, according to previous studies [3, 10], in the last decade, one of the most important reasons for HEIs changes in strategy and their learning process [4]; playing a significant role for the attractiveness of foreign staff, professors, and students for higher education systems [1, 3]. It is also believed that there will be, in the following decade, an increase of 100% in the number of students which are partly or wholly completing their undergraduate or graduate studies abroad [11].

Thus, this paper is motivated by the desire to review the concepts regarding globalization, internationalization, and mobility and to map the actual status of internationalization of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in light of its interpretation by the Brazilian Higher Education System.

It is based on the consultation of literature and journals articles containing previous studies on the subject in the country and worldwide. Thus besides, it intends to compare the variables related to the subject adopted by the Brazilian Censo da Educação Superior, an annual survey, conducted by the National Institute of Educational Studies Anísio Teixeira (INEP), for the 2014-2015 period, involving all private and public HEIs, their professors and undergraduate students. It adopts an inductive process as a research strategy and an exploratory and descriptive longitudinal methodological approach.

Previous results demonstrate that, from a total of 2364 HEIs, in 2015, around 994 HEIs were involved in academic mobility. Most of the professors participating in the mobility process had a Ph.D. degree and were male teachers whose age ranged from 34-43 years while the female teachers’ ranged from 23-33 years. The students engaged in academic mobility were enrolled in the Science without Borders (SwB) Program, financed by the Brazilian government; were from male sex, depart to 54 different countries and were mostly from 18 to 24 years old.

It is concluded that the process of internationalization in Brazil, based on the data presented, is mostly supported by academic mobility of students and teachers, since most HEIs are characterized as colleges and faculties which do not develop research; whereas the process of internationalization, as understood by most authors, would be restricted to universities, which carry out the research activities.

Keywords:

Internationalization, Higher Education, Academic Mobility, Higher Education System.