Sustainable internationalisation of universities: balancing challenges of local and global responsibility

​Internationalisation has become central on the agendas of national governments and higher education institutions across the world in their pursuit of reputational prestige, global competition for talent or potential financial gains from international students. While higher education institutions are increasingly under pressure to internationalise, they remain rooted in their local contexts. Thus, they face the challenge of balancing the diverse priorities of the internationalisation process and the needs of the local environment. Drawing on findings from a research project on internationalisation of universities in Russia this session engages with the question of how higher education institutions can balance their local and global responsibility by fostering sustainable internationalisation strategies. The objective of the session is to offer a different perspective on the issue of sustainable internationalisation by providing insights on how universities in peripheral and less explored contexts, more specifically Siberia, assume their local responsibilities under the pressure to internationalise.