How Faculty Members Develop Views on Internationalization: The Case of a Top-Ranked Indian Business School

Abstract

Internationalization of higher education is considered to be among the most widely researched as well as one of the most misunderstood topics. In this study, we take a phenomenological approach to better understand what internationalization means to faculty members at a leading business school in India, as the country has emerged as one of the largest providers of management education in the world today. This is important because faculty members are considered to be the key drivers of internationalization at their institutions. We find that internationalization means different things to different faculty members, and that these views are strongly shaped by each faculty member’s unique set of past international experiences. We are able to link these views to De Meyer’s three strategic drivers of globalization/internationalization, and find that for Indian management faculty, the desire to enrich the home base emerges as the dominant driver of internationalization, followed by the desire for global learning. Although not a prominent driver, the desire to leverage India’s unique knowledge base was also evident. We expect that these views will drive the future internationalization endeavors of this and other similar leading Indian business schools.