The peripatetic professor: the internationalisation of the academic profession

Abstract

The internationalisation of the academic profession is a growing, iflittle studied, phenomenon, in contemporary higher education, and thearticle studies attitudes and behavioural outcomes of academic staff from arange of countries in relation to this dimension. After brief allusions topast examples of academic staff mobility, a routine measure ofinternationalisation was used to divide the International Survey populationinto two groups (‘peripatetic’ and ‘indigenous’). Results indicatedsignificant differences in both values and performance, in a range of areas.Substantial differences are also reported between many systems of highereducation. The article concludes with some comparisons of other staffmobility schemes, and a defense of the worth of international experience foracademic staff.