Abstract:

In the higher education systems, the mobility of the international students and researchers plays important and critical roles for all the stakeholders: the students, the academics, the researchers, and the administration. Additionally, since the global ranking systems take the number of the students and researchers’ mobility to evaluate the universities’ reputation, the university administrations critically work on this issue through developing different opportunities for them. In the last decade, most of the universities administrations show different and sophisticated leadership models to attract more international students and researchers.

In this study, the different leadership models of the university administrations have critically compared taking into consideration four universities in Turkey and four universities in the US. The well-rounded white papers and documents are analyzed before conducting the research in which the universities policies and strategies are systematically overviewed, including the leadership models of the university administrations. To see the differences, the 3 different international rankings of the past five years are taken into account as well. While considering the results of the international rankings, the qualitative research methods are conducted by choosing the international students (n=38), researchers (n=19), and experts (n=9) in the university administrations who are responsible about the international mobility. By attending the meetings, the leadership models of the university administrations are first clarified in eight different universities. Furthermore, the focus groups are conducted in the university environments where the university administration develops environments, ecosystems, and occasions to attract more international students and researchers. After observing all these places and cases, 12 open-ended questions are asked to understand critically and deeply the perceptions of the participants. At the end of the field study, the collected data are analyzed by using Atlas.ti 7 by taking into consideration also the studies of the documents.

According the analyzed data, even though there are some critics regarding to the examinations of the international ranking systems, the international students and researchers play crucial roles in creating the reputation of the universities, particularly for the universities in the US. Most of the international students and researchers (94%) agree that the reputation of the university is the main aspect in the decision making process. More importantly, they check first the international ranking systems about the universities. Hence, the university administrations who are more concentrated on the international students and researchers than those who are not can see the results in the rankings more quickly.The results also clarify that the university administrations who care security first and multiculturalism of the international students and researchers develop better environments – called peaceful ecosystems. In these peaceful ecosystems, they are more engaged and productive to the university’s values so that many qualified research projects and activities are created which affect directly and positively all the aspects of the university.Consequently, the university administrations are the changing agents who are not only affect the international ranking systems but also affect the international mobility by developing peaceful ecosystems.

Keywords:

Leadership Strategies, University Administrations, Peaceful Ecosystems, International Students and Researchers, International Mobility.