Export of higher education VS Internalization of a university: a view of sub-center universities in Russia

Abstract

The RF focuses now on export services development, in particular, in the field of higher education and life long learning. The priority project “Development of export potential of Russian education system” set serious goals for domestic universities to increase the number of foreign students and the income from export activities. Achieving the goals set and ensuring their sustainable development in the long term period is only possible by adapting universities’ internal environment to the requirements of internationalization. The goal of the research is to develop specific recommendations to manage internal internationalization of a university, including organizational, structural, and functional transformation. To this end, theoretical approaches and good practices were analyzed, representatives of Russian universities’ international offices were interviewed, and a review of universities’ internationalization strategies was carried out. It was concluded that internationalization activities of Russian universities are focused primarily on developing external relations, and not on changing their internal environment. Practical recommendations were developed to manage organizational changes at an internationalizing university depending on internationalization stage and degree of immersion into foreign marketing. The presented recommendations may be used by universities that are at the beginning of international activities, in particular, when developing internationalization strategies Keywords—university internationalization; export of education; internationalization strategy; international activities;