Multidimensional challenges of internationalization among universities in Southeast Asia: A scoping review of empirical evidence

Internationalization plays a crucial role in building the international competitiveness and profile of a university. However, the process of internationalization can be very challenging. The understanding of these challenges is very crucial for internationalization implementation and improvement. This scoping review aimed to map the existing empirical evidence on the peculiar challenges of internationalization among universities in Southeast Asia. This scoping review was conducted based on Arksey and O’Malley's methodological framework and it was reported using the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Ten research databases were systematically searched to retrieve all literature relevant to the review question. The retrieved articles were deduplicated and screened based on the review's eligibility criteria, and only the eligible articles were included in the review. Thereafter, relevant data were charted, collated, and summarized from the included literature and presented as results. A total of 34 articles were included in this review. Most of them were qualitative studies (26/34) and from studies conducted in Malaysia (21/34). The reported internationalization challenges in these articles were multidimensional and ranged from the individual to governmental level; however, the most reported challenges were the ones at the individual level which include issues related to adjustment/coping, trust, limited personal resources, family, and essential survival needs. There are numerous challenges facing the implementation of internationalization among universities in Southeast Asia. More efforts need to be placed at all levels to improve the status quo.