The IIE International Partnership Landscape Survey

The International Partnership Landscape Survey provides a broad, comprehensive assessment of the state of international partnerships in higher education. The only global survey focused exclusively on such linkages, its questions span the motivations, locations, activities, challenges, collaborative practices, management processes, and conceptual assumptions that shape the partnership portfolios of responding HEIs (institutions of higher education).

Purpose of the survey

International partnerships are on the rise in higher education, yet we know relatively little about them – especially in comparison to what is known about international student mobility. The Survey gathers information on key features of the collaborative landscape that is emerging from this partnership growth – and how these features vary from institution to institution, country to country.

It is hoped that such knowledge will prove useful to:

1) HEIs in benchmarking and shaping their own partnership programs;

2) the field of international education in understanding the broader impact of what is happening; and

3) organizations and governmental agencies that support HEIs in developing partnerships.

The Survey is being staged over a 5-year period.

Recognizing significant differences in partnership practices, priorities, terminology, and understandings in different parts of the world, the Survey is being rolled out in stages, each focused on a particular region. Too little is yet known to construct a universally meaningful survey, and the risk of flattening important national differences or imposing the view of only one region on others is too great.

The Survey will proceed, instead, in stages. The first stage (being conducted in 2025) focuses on HEIs in Europe, Canada, and the U.S. Over the next five years, in consultation with regional experts, appropriately modified versions will be given in Africa, the MENA region, Central and South America, and Asia. It is hoped that, when added together, these successive Surveys advance our collective understanding of how to form mutually beneficial linkages that span the globe in an equitable and inclusive manner. It is also hoped that data from each stage are of interest not only for HEIs in that region, but – for the purposes of comparison and partnership development – for others beyond.

The Survey builds on others

Over the last ten years, roughly ten other surveys have investigated some of the topics covered in this Survey. Some have focused on a particular institutional type or geographical area. Some have included partnership questions within a larger survey on internationalization in general. Some have focused on particular aspects of partnership work. All have been important and valuable.

This Survey is designed to integrate and build on these others. Many of its questions can be directly compared to what they have revealed (and in some cases, continue to reveal). The goal is to work together to deepen our understanding of what is happening.

COMPLETE THE SURVEY

VIEW THE LAUNCH WEBINAR

SURVEY COLLABORATORS

SURVEY LEADS

Sylvia Jons, Director, IIE Center for International Partnerships
Susan Buck Sutton, IIE Center for International Partnerships Fellow
Cori Crisfield, Manager, IIE Center for International Partnerships
Kari Kuja, Senior Advisor to CEO, IIE

The IIE International partnership landscape survey advisory council

An outstanding group of partnership experts and practitioners has guided IIE in developing the Survey. Others will be appointed as additional regions of the world are added. Current members of the Advisory Council include:

Jane Gatewood, Vice Provost for Global Engagement and Services, Emory University
Robin Matross Helms, Vice President, Membership & Educational Services, The Association of Community Colleges Trustees (ACCT)
Jody Hoekstra-Selten, Knowledge Development Officer, European Association for International Education (EAIE)
Chad Hoseth, Assistant Vice Provost of International Affairs, Colorado State University
Bill Lacy, Vice Provost Emeritus for University Outreach and International Programs, University of California Davis
Giorgio Marinoni, Manager of Higher Education and Internationalization, International Association of Universities
Mirka Martel, Head of Research, Evaluation & Learning, Institute of International Education