Abstract
Abstract Background: With the aim of encouraging mobility between higher education institutions in the Western Balkan countries and those in the European Union (EU), the European Commission initiated a series of measures to increase the share of students primarily from the Western Balkans who spend at least one semester away from their home institutions, but also the share of young people from EU member states who come to Western Balkan (WB) countries. Objectives: Aim of the paper is to determine the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of higher education institutions and its direct impact on the development of mobility. Methods/Approach: An electronic survey has been created and sent to representatives of 9 EU and 11 WB universities. Respondents were mainly international relations officers or management representatives. Mann-Whitney test was applied in order to test differences between EU and WB universities. Results: The conducted Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests show that the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of a higher education institution has a direct impact on the development of mobility. Conclusions: By 2020, the European Commission aims to have 20% of all students acquiring an academic degree within the European Higher Education Area participate in mobility. This paper sheds light on this segment and indicates possible directions for actions aimed at developing mobility at institutions in Western Balkan countries
Highlights
Debates on higher education both within countries and at the international level are part of numerous social and economic analyses
This paper aims to explore the influence of this new type of structured mobility on the institutions participating in a mobility programmes, in terms of research and teaching structures, and in terms of support processes, and to provide an insight into the capacities of higher education systems of Western Balkan countries compared to those of European Union (EU) member states when it comes to managing mobility as one of the strategic priorities for the creation of the European Higher Education Area
The hypothesis of this research is that the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of a higher education institution has a direct impact on the development of mobility
Summary
Debates on higher education both within countries and at the international level are part of numerous social and economic analyses. The first programme that included financial incentives for academic community mobility was the Fulbright programme founded in 1948, after World War II, a time marked by hatred, killing and even genocide In such circumstances, mobility was expected to widen educational and professional capacity, and to be a counterweight to hatred and distrust – to contribute to the spread of a cosmopolitan attitude and strengthen mutual understanding between countries. Objectives: Aim of the paper is to determine the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of higher education institutions and its direct impact on the development of mobility. Results: The conducted Mann-Whitney nonparametric tests show that the degree of representation of internationalisation strategy and policy elements in the internal documents of a higher education institution has a direct impact on the development of mobility. This paper sheds light on this segment and indicates possible directions for actions aimed at developing mobility at institutions in Western Balkan countries
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
