UNIVERSITY OF TWENTE – SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT AND GOVERNANCE Internationalization Strategies in South Korean Higher Education An Explanatory Analysis of the Internationalization Efforts of Four Korean Universities through the Lenses of Resource Dependency and Normative Match Julia Mergner [06-10-2011] Internationalization Strategies in South Korean Higher Education An Explanatory Analysis of the Internationalization Efforts of Four Korean Universities through the Lenses of Resource Dependency and Normative Match Name Student: Julia Mergner Student Number: s0158259 Faculty: Management & Governance Study Program: Public Administration (Track: Higher Education) Department: Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Hans Vossensteyn & Dr. Harry de Boer Date: 06.10.2011 2 Thanks to my patient supervisors Prof. Dr. Hans Vossensteyn and Dr. Harry de Boer, who just smiled benignly when I again came up with more pages than pre-decided. They were an outstanding help in providing me with suggestions and recommendations that I embraced thankfully. Further I want to express my gratitude to Prof. Byun from HEPRI, who introduced me to the Korean higher education system, and without his profound knowledge this work would never have been done. A special thanks goes also to my dear friends and colleagues Zoljargal Dembereldorj and Donovan Loomis. I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to learn so much from you two in both academic and personal ways during my residency in South Korea. Last but not least I want to thank my friends and family for the support and patience during my entire studies while providing me with the necessary counterbalance in times of frustration. Julia Mergner Enschede, October 6th 2011 3 Abstract This research wants to examine why Korean universities choose for internationalization and what kind of internationalization instruments they use. As the theoretical framework, a combination of the theories of neo-institutionalism and resource dependency was adopted to explain why universities decide for a specific set of internationalization instruments, i.e. what internal and external pressures can influence this decision. Due to their distinct dependencies and attitudes towards internationalization, it was expected that there are differences in the reasons for internationalization and the use of internationalization strategies among private/public and regional/metropolitan universities. Results show that there are indeed substantial differences, although factors like ranking position and history can play important roles as well. The most comprehensive set of internationalization instruments was found at the private metropolitan university that in addition had a high universities’ ranking position in the country. However, the regional location could also be beneficial for internationalization efforts, in case that the university was privately funded because of two reasons: First, they have more freedom in resource allocation and selection of internationalization instruments, and second, the resource dependency on maintaining a sufficient student body resulted in choosing for internationalization as a way of differentiation. Overall, all universities show that they were convinced that nowadays internationalization makes up a necessary element in the service functions of higher education institutions in order to produce highly-qualified human resources that are globally competitive. 4 Contents Abstract ............................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Contents ............................................................................................................................................................................ 5 List of Tables ................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Abbreviations .................................................................................................................................................................. 9 Part I. .................................................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 International Student Mobility ...................................................................................................................... 11 1.2 The Korean Position in Global Mobility Trends ..................................................................................... 12 1.3 Problem Statement & Research Questions............................................................................................... 14 1.4 Definitions .............................................................................................................................................................. 17 1.5 Methodology ......................................................................................................................................................... 18 Part II. South Korean Higher Education................................................................................................................. 21 2.1 Main Characteristics of the Korean Higher Education System ........................................................ 21 2.1.1 Performance Pressure .............................................................................................................................. 21 2.1.2 Rankings ......................................................................................................................................................... 23 2.2 History of Internationalization in South Korean Higher Education .............................................. 24 2.3 Policies to Meet the Challenges of Internationalization of Higher Education ........................... 27 Part III: Theoretical framework ................................................................................................................................ 32 3.1 Theories about Neo-Institutionalism and Resource Dependency .................................................. 33 3.1.1 Neo-institutional theory and normative match ............................................................................. 33 3.1.2 Resource dependency theory and priority given to internationalization .......................... 35 3.2 Internationalization Strategies ..................................................................................................................... 37 3.2.1 What are internationalization strategies? ....................................................................................... 37 3.2.2 Instruments for internationalization ................................................................................................. 38 3.3 Operationalization .............................................................................................................................................. 40 3.3.1 Types of institutions .................................................................................................................................. 40 3.3.2 Theoretical Model and Hypotheses .................................................................................................... 43 5 Part IV. Comparison & Analysis of the four Types of Korean Universities ............................................ 49 4.1 Background Information for the four Types of Korean Universities ............................................ 49 4.1.1 Private/Metropolitan: Korea University (KU) .............................................................................. 49 4.1.2 Public/Metropolitan: Seoul National University (SNU) ............................................................. 50 4.1.3 Private/Regional: Keimyung University (KMU) ............................................................................ 50 4.1.4 Public/Regional: Kyungpook National University (KNU) ......................................................... 50 4.2 Comparison of Normative Match ................................................................................................................. 51 4.3 Comparison of Resource Dependency ....................................................................................................... 56 4.4 Comparison of Internationalization Strategies ...................................................................................... 60 4.3.1 Program Strategies .................................................................................................................................... 60 4.3.2 Organization Strategies ........................................................................................................................... 67 4.5 Discussion: The Success of Internationalization?.................................................................................. 73 4.6 Testing the Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................... 76 4.5.1 Private metropolitan universities ....................................................................................................... 76 4.5.2 Public