Abstract:

This paper will focus on one particular policy for internationalization in Higher Education: the compulsory use of English as a teaching language. The judicial case of the Politecnico of Milan will be analyzed through organizational lenses: the Isomorphic response to the processes of change; the idiosyncratic reactions of maximum self-protection; the theory of Allomorphism. Then, concluding with some suggestions for internal governance mechanisms. This case suggests the importance, for the leaders of institutions based on collective mechanisms, of structuring early stages consensus-building systems: evaluating the potential dispute risks, managing conflicts, and leading the implementation phase. The external forces which push the institutions to radical changes, at the same time ‘casting out’ the actors and the stakeholders who do not feel part of the change itself, need mediation that, instead of coming from outside the institutions, instead of coming from outside the institutions, should be built inside the institutions themselves.

Keywords:

Internationalization policies, Higher Education, Italian legal saga, governance, consensus-building systems.