Introduction and brief overview of research in education abroad

Abstract

As internationalization has become an undeniable force that is impacting the expectations of higher education institutions and educational delivery around the world, scholarly research on international education, broadly defined, has not surprisingly become more central to research agendas. Scholarship on internationalization largely examines the conceptual frameworks underpinning the notion of internationalization and analyzes the meaning, definition and rationales associated with it within the context of higher education. Similarly, research on international higher education focuses primarily on the study of how institutions around the world respond to diverse internationalization forces shaping higher educational delivery and engagement. Although scholarly research and attention to education abroad has greatly increased over time and around the world and has expanded to include major themes of relevance and importance to education abroad programming and practice.