Between the Borders of Solidarity and Commodification: Institutional Trajectories of Internationalization in a Brazilian Public University

Abstract

To investigate the relationship between institutions, policies, and actors, this article delves into the disputes over the meanings surrounding the conception of the internationalization of higher education. It aims to understand how university administrators perceive internationalization at a public university, the Federal University of Ceará (UFC). To analyze how these administrators understand the internationalization of higher education, we present: a) the contextualization of the institutionalization process of the internationalization policy at the Federal University of Ceará; b) their conceptions of internationalization and perceptions about the internationalization of UFC. This is supported by the notion of institutional trajectory proposed by Gussi (2008). Methodologically, through a qualitative research approach, documentary analyses and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 17 university administrators from different hierarchical levels and various fields of knowledge. The research results show that the idea of internationalization is reinterpreted by the administrators within the institutional context, outlining different trajectories of internationalization at UFC, revealing a field of disputes over meanings that places internationalization between the borders of solidarity and the commercial logic.