Elizabeth Buckner

Despite a growing literature on COVID‐19 and higher education, there has been limited systematic study of how the pandemic affected universities' internationalization activities. This article addresses that gap by systematically examining how the pandemic reshaped the internationalization of higher education. The study presents a multilingual scoping review of 368 peer‐reviewed articles published between March 2020 and October 2022 across four languages and multiple regional and national contexts. Using an iterative thematic synthesis and co‐occurrence analysis, the review maps the scope of the literature and identifies six overarching patterns in how internationalization was affected. The findings show that COVID‐19 disrupted cross‐border mobility and catalysed shifts towards more digital and ‘at‐home’ forms of internationalization, while also increasing attention to student well‐being. At the same time, the review finds that literature on the topic remains centred on specific countries and continues to frame internationalization primarily through student mobility. The study's multilingual design offers a more globally inclusive perspective than prior studies, revealing important cross‐national differences in both experiences and scholarly focus. These findings have implications for research and practice: they highlight the need to broaden conceptualizations of internationalization beyond mobility, address persistent regional and methodological gaps and examine the longer term institutionalization of pandemic‐driven innovations. Context and implications: Rationale for this study: This review synthesizes literature on COVID‐19's immediate impacts on universities' internationalization activities. Through a multilingual review, it identifies the major impacts of the pandemic and cross‐national variation. Why the new findings matter: The review documents how COVID‐19 reshaped internationalization practices beyond short‐term mobility disruptions while revealing uneven coverage of topics and regions and significant gaps in the research base. Implications for PhD students, researchers and higher education institutions: The review provides a synthesis of how internationalization practices changed during COVID‐19, highlighting areas where evidence remains limited. For researchers, the review identifies methodological and geographic gaps that require further study, particularly beyond major English‐speaking destinations. For higher education institutions, the findings highlight how institutions adapted internationalization practices during the pandemic and point to supportive approaches, such as expanded student services, financial support and virtual exchange, which may serve as inspiration for future internationalization strategies.

Often perceived as inferior to their public counterparts, private universities in many countries face persistent legitimacy challenges. While these obstacles are well documented, little empirical research explores how new private universities establish legitimacy. This article examines such challenges and strategies in three contrasting contexts: Canada, China, and the United Arab Emirates. Drawing on site visits and interviews with administrators, faculty, and policymakers, we find that many private universities feel caught in a cycle of low legitimacy, driven by tuition dependence, competition, and public mistrust that prevents them from raising standards. Although their lack of legitimacy creates context-specific challenges, private universities in all three countries adopted similar strategies to break the cycle: niche-seeking and securing financial support to reduce competitive pressures, alongside pursuing quality markers and international linkages to enhance reputation. By documenting how private universities break the cycle of low legitimacy, our findings highlight potential avenues for improving institutional quality.

This article examines factors associated with wealth-based inequalities in higher education attendance at the national level. We draw on data from 99 countries to calculate two distinct country-level indicators for the extent of wealth-based inequality in higher education attendance, namely the dissimilarity index (D-Index) and the Human Opportunity Index (HOI). We then examine each indicator’s association with country-level factors using a series of regression models. We find that secondary completion rates, national wealth, economic inequality and the extent of political egalitarianism are all associated with wealth-based disparities in higher education access. However, there are important differences between indicators. Economic inequality is associated with disparities in access but not the level of overall access. In contrast, politically egalitarianism is associated with expanded educational access, but not wealth-based disparities alone. The study suggests that both economic and political equality are associated with higher educational outcomes. Yet, it also cautions that how we conceptualize and measure educational equity can shape our interpretations of the extent of a country’s educational equity.

Often derided as low-quality or profit-driven, the surge of private universities has nonetheless advanced national higher-ed goals—from absorbing enrollment pressures to fostering innovation. But regulations, finance models, and academic norms are in flux, demanding fresh study.