Internationalization is Necessary, But is it Enough?

Oliveira, Gláucia Maria Moraes de; Lorenzo, Andrea De; Colombo, Fernanda Marciano Consolim; Sternick, Eduardo Back; Brandão, Andréa Araujo; Kaiser, Sergio Emanuel; Quadros, Alexandre Schaan de; Kalil, Renato Abdala Karam; Scaramello, Christianne Brêtas Vieira; Laurindo, Francisco Rafael Martins; Hajjar, Ludhmila Abrahão

Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2018; 111(4): 626-628

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Internationalization is Necessary, But is it Enough?

Gláucia Maria Moraes de Oliveira, Andrea De Lorenzo, Fernanda Marciano Consolim Colombo, Eduardo Back Sternick, Andréa Araujo Brandão, Sergio Emanuel Kaiser, Alexandre Schaan de Quadros, Renato Abdala Karam Kalil, Christianne Brêtas Vieira Scaramello, Francisco Rafael Martins Laurindo, Ludhmila Abrahão Hajjar

DOI: 10.5935/abc.20180212

Globalization has left its mark on the 21^st century. One of the many ways of defining globalization is as the integration of information, communication, and economy on a worldwide scale, with a direct influence on all levels of higher education. In this manner, the internationalization of postgraduation may be seen as a response to globalization, taking shape in the form of programs and policies put in place by academic institutions and governments in order to increase student and faculty exchanges and to stimulate and strengthen partnerships in research, among other actions. Universities and research centers have, in fact, been practicing these actions for a long time, but they have expanded significantly, particularly during this century.

Various studies^– have repeatedly shown that collaborative research that involves authors from multiple institutions and/or countries have an identifiably greater impact than research involving only one group or institution. In Brazil, the internationalization of postgraduation has been highly valued by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES), generating immense efforts on the part of postgraduate programs (PGPs) to achieve the goals defined. In a study conducted with PGPs ranked 6 or 7 by CAPES, Ramos observed that internationalization in these PGPs encompasses everything from international mobility, international cooperation networks, academic output (international publications, international co-authorships, presentation of academic work in international scientific conferences and meetings), to access to resources through the sharing of research facilities and international funding. In Brazilian PGPs, the most popular internationalization strategies were international mobility of faculty, researchers, and students and international research collaboration, implemented mainly through international cooperation agreements. This study, nevertheless, detected inequalities between institutions in the provision of adequate conditions for internationalization. The availability of financial resources, the existence of regulatory frameworks, and organizational support were considered important requisites for achieving this goal.