Exploring Perceptions of Higher Education Internationalization: An Academic Expatriates' Perspective

The current research explores the perceptions of academic expatriates in the UAE on higher education internationalization. A qualitative approach was applied to this study as it was believed to generate a comprehensive, actual, and thorough understanding of participants' insights on the topic. Thirty academic expatriates were selected to create focus groups to discuss the research question. Focus groups were held semi-structured, allowing researchers and participants to encourage exhaustive discussions on pre-defined questions and beyond. As a result of thematic analysis, seven main themes and 29 related codes were identified. The consistency of coding was calculated using intra-class correlation to achieve the trustworthiness of the findings. Further analysis and discussion allowed researchers to explore the topic in-depth. The research has reflected on the perceived readiness of academic staff in the internationalization of higher education. Individual, institutional, and global factors are among the main variables that affect shaping faculty perceptions on internationalization and their willingness to participate in the process. The main findings of this study are that awareness of internationalization leads to faculty acceptance and engagement, as well as perceptions of challenges related to internationalization. Perceived readiness is also influenced by potential individual opportunities that may result from internationalization.