Modeling Internationalization of Universities with Emphasis on Multilevel Governance: A Qualitative Approach

Introduction: Internationalization of Higher Education is a process of facing the challenges of globalization that has been the focus of attention by the world's leading universities. The purpose of the present study was to model internationalization of universities with emphasis on multilevel governance. Methods: This study utilizes phenomenological qualitative research method and interviews with selected sample of managers and faculty members of 6 universities (Shahid Chamran Ahvaz, Shiraz, Kurdistan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Allameh Tabatabaei, Tehran and Ferdowsi Mashhad) has been done in 2017-18. Interviews were analyzed using Strauss and Corbin coding methods (open, selective, and axial). Results: The internationalization model of universities includes five dimensions of economic and social factors (competition for resource acquisition, meeting community needs and peripheral environment, commercialization and geographical and regional location of the university), human and cultural factors (human resource capabilities, cultural interactions and human resource motivation), scientific and technological factors (components of the nature of science, curriculum and teaching, technology and educational and research equipment, as well as the production and dissemination of science), organizational and structural factors (organizational management, university and group autonomy, and the functions of the university), and political and governmental factors (international funding components of strategic plans, ideologies of national development programs and international diplomatic missions). Conclusion: Universities need to step up in order to gain international accreditation, and the model needs to be the guide for the university to move in that direction.