The peripatetic professor: the internationalisation of the academic profession

The internationalisation of the academic profession is a growing, if little studied, phenomenon, in contemporary higher education, and the article studies attitudes and behavioural outcomes of academic staff from a range of countries in relation to this dimension. After brief allusions to past examples of academic staff mobility, a routine measure of internationalisation was used to divide the international Survey population into two groups ('peripatetic' and 'indigenous'). Results indicated significant differences in both values and performance, in a range of areas. Substantial differences are also reported between many systems of higher education. The article concludes with some comparisons of other staff mobility schemes, and a defense of the worth of international experience for academic staff.