Called to Serve Local and Global Communities: How Internationalization at Public Research Universities Differs with Varying Levels of Publicness

Universities have played a key, but often understudied, role in international development throughtechnical assistance, the education of international students and the research of critical global issues (Morgan, 1979; BIFAD, 2011). Understanding internationalization in higher education can help uncover nuances of the role that United States (U.S.) universities play in U.S. international development efforts. This paper seeks to answer: “How do internationalization activities differ in public research universities with varying levels of publicness?” The study follows multicase qualitative methodology and a framework from Horn et al. to collect data on 5 dimensions of internationalization, students, scholars, research orientation, curriculum content and organizational support, to compare internationalization at four U.S. public research universities with varying levels of state funding and state change (2007). Case selection is grounded on dimensional publicness theory to provide a theoretical foundation for the variables used: level of state appropriations and percent change of state appropriations. Through a purposeful case selection process, four U.S. public research intensive universities with similar size, endowment and research activity were selected. Results showed that all universities have internationalization efforts across all dimensions but nuances exist in how internationalization is actualized at institutions. Cases with low state funding differed noticeably in student and research characteristics but did not differ in curricular and organizational support. Differences across cases can be explained by an economic rationale for the need to subsidize state budget cuts with full- paying international students and increased research grants. Similarities can be explained by other non-economic rationales that may insulate curriculum and organizational support from budgetary costs. While results demonstrate a clear commitment to internationalization, further research will need to be conducted to determine if results hold true against a dramatic shift in world events since 2017 which include a rise in nationalism, a global pandemic and decrease global standing of the United States.