This thesis explores a gap of knowledge found at the intersection of university internationalization and university autonomy. It is argued that the process and sustainability of university internationalization are influenced by the state of university autonomy at the source and host countries. The conducted literature review on the topic helped conceptualize the notions ‘university internationalization’ and ‘university autonomy’ and identify their major dimensions. The main components of university internationalization employed in the thesis are its pattern and capacity. University autonomy is presented as consisting of four dimensions: organizational, financial, staffing, and academic. The intersection between the concepts is first outlined on the theoretical level. University autonomy is identified with internationalization capacity.
To develop the understanding of the outlined theoretical intersection, a systematic review of the selected five publication titles is conduced, aiming to identify empirical studies that work with the issues of university internationalization and university autonomy. The conducted review resulted in 35 research papers, 16 of which were in the domain of university internationalization and 19 – developing the issues related to university autonomy.
The thesis is employing internationalization theories, modes of foreign entry and the notion of institutional distance to analyze the collected data. First, the internationalization process peculiar to universities is discussed in detail. It is followed by synthesizing data to explain the influence of the level of university autonomy on the university internationalization pattern. The last part of the discussion is intending to analyze the possible outcomes of differences in the levels of autonomy in the source and target countries. Mismatch in the levels of autonomy is viewed through the lens of institutional distance.
The final outcome of the project is the development of theoretical understanding of university internationalization and the role of autonomy in this process. The pattern of university internationalization, which includes entry modes, objects of internationalization and chosen target markets is defined by university internationalization capacity (level of autonomy in the source country) and influenced by the target country’s institutional autonomy. The study is limited to discussing the university internationalization from developed countries to developing states.