Internationalisation of German Higher Education

A Case Study on the Opportunities and Threats of Internationalisation Processes at the University of Bielefeld

Master's Thesis from the year 2004 in the subject Business economics - Didactics, Economic Pedagogy, grade: 1,3, European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder), 82 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: This study does not focus on the 'powerhouses' of internationalisation but rather at the possibilities of an 'average' university with up to now rather average numbers of foreign students and an average degree of overall internationalisation. The University of Bielefeld is taken as one example, of how internationalisation can be implemented, what the key processes of internationalisation are and which steps should be taken to foster internationalisation in the future. The first part of this study is having a look at what internationalisation of universities is and how the idea has developed historically. he paper then in the second part describes the main stakeholders and their role in the internationalisation of higher education. In part three and four the key drivers of internationalisation for universities in general and German institutions of higher education in particular are identified. Therefore this paper outlines first the general global trends in higher education in part three and than focuses on specific German and European developments in part four. Special attention will be drawn on the legal changes in the German system of higher education and the EU-harmonisation process. In Chapter five the competitive forces like new market entrants and substitutes will be looked at. The sixth part will describe the specific motivation for internationalisation at the UoB and sketch the environmental situation of the university like the history of the institution, geographical aspects, its profile etc. It then focuses on strategy formulated so far. Parts seven and eight examine the internationalisation efforts on the side of resource allocation and international programmes. The last chapter tries to summarize the strengths and weaknesses of the internationalisation process at the UoB and to derive recommendations for a coherent future strategy of internationalisation. This part is opening perspectives for chances, but also tries to focus on the dangers for the UoB. Therefore in the preceding parts the internationalisation efforts and its effects will be analysed and compared to developments at other universities focussing especially on other universities in North Rhine Westphalia (NRW), but also worldwide.