Internationalization strategies in traditional higher education institutions across the United States

Higher education in the twenty-first century faces a number of challenges. Higher education executives at the helm of their institutions are tasked with maintaining a competitive advantage in recruiting, retaining, and producing students equipped with twenty-first century skills while simultaneously ensuring their institutions remain viable in an increasingly competitive market. One of the solutions for a number of higher education institutions to meet these objectives is internationalization. Until recently, little attention has been given to the research of higher education executives' perceptions and experiences of internationalization at highly internationalized higher education institutions. This study focused on exploring higher education executives' perceptions and experiences of the internationalization efforts at institutions that have been identified as highly internationalized. This study also sought to identify the internationalization strategies at these institutions across the United States.;Data for this qualitative, grounded theory study was gathered using telephone interviews with fourteen higher education executives at seven highly internationalized higher education institutions across the United States. Findings showed that student mobility was identified as the top internationalization strategy and study abroad was perceived to be most effective. Enhanced cultural competencies of students, faculty and staff, and the competitive advantage of the institution in the academic market were the two value-added benefits identified. The monetary costs associated with internationalization efforts were perceived to be overwhelmingly high. Recommendations include embracing and aligning internationalization efforts to the distinctive institutional characteristics of the higher education institution to foster a competitive advantage.