Competitive and cooperative impulses to internationalization: reflecting on the interplay between management intentions and the experience of academics in a British university

This paper explores some of the practical tensions associated with higher education internationalization through the introduction of an institutional case study. The case highlights the interplay between policy-makers and academics around the emergence of an ‘internationalization’ agenda in a British university. It aims to illustrate aspects of the debate within the literature which discuss the gap between competitive and cooperative international motivations and to explore the impact of commercial internationalization upon the academic community. The key conclusions are that: cooperative and competitive impulses to internationalization respond to different ideological positions; linking a commercial revenue-generating approach with internationalist rhetoric may frustrate the development of an international orientation in an institution; and increasing academic disengagement with the commercial agenda possesses the potential to obstruct management intention.