THE UPPSALA MODEL IN THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Abstract

In the last decade, the university‘s service vocation (giving back to society what it has received) has evolved in giant steps to the extreme point of establishing itself as a profitable business, primarily due to the phenomenon of globalization. In the new knowledge-based economy, the important role played by higher education – forming professionals with competencies that allow them not only to process data but also, once it is converted into information, knowing what to do with it under the knowwhat, know-how, and know-why principles – constitutes the primary basis for a country‘s or territory‘s progress, whether in- or outside its borders. In order to expand its cross-border activities as well as its benefits, many tertiary institutions have adopted, as an internationalization strategy for their business, the so-called Uppsala model, which operates through the following successive steps that represent the amount of risk taken: 1) exporting; 2) licensing production; 3) joint ventures; and 4) sole ventures. This model, which has proved its validity in the business sector, has become the most widely used formula among universities as an entry method into international markets, today.