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Sylwia Przytuła, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland

The last two decades of the 20th century were the "era of reforms" in the academy, focused on global science and global scientists. Internationalization is an element of the strategic agenda of higher education institutions and the employment of academic expatriates has become a key factor in strengthening the prestige and visibility of universities on the world stage.

Academic expatriates are defined as members of the higher education sector whose nationality is different from the host country; their employment status is long-term but time-bound, and they are employed in a teaching and/or research domain at the hosting university. However, this group of international workers is not a recent phenomenon. Throughout history, eminent scholars have travelled from their home countries to nations with renowned universities in search of knowledge and creative inspiration. Upon returning to their home country, they became part of the elite and were offered higher positions in their alma mater. They also served the local community as conduits for the most contemporary knowledge and innovative research approaches.

 

The literature review for this article covered the years 1980 to 2022 and was conducted using Web of Science (WoS) and Scopus, resulting in a final selection of 110 articles. The paper selection process followed a step-by-step approach in accordance with the PRISMA protocol.

Beginning from 1980, the topic on expatriate academics was absent from the literature. The most active publication period started in 2009, and, since then, there have been two waves of published articles devoted to expatriate academics: 2009-2014 and 2017-2021. A significant number of studies appeared in the Journal of Global Mobility, followed by Personnel Review, International Journal of Human Resource Management and Higher Education. A thorough thematic analysis of the 110 articles identified six key themes: reasons for studying at foreign universities; adaptation to host country and culture, job-related factors and outcomes in foreign academic settings; the triad of academic missions, academic career paths, and gender dynamics in academia.

To read the full article, please see the Journal of Global Mobility publication:

Przytula, S. (2024), "Expatriate academics: what have we known for four decades? A systematic literature review", Journal of Global Mobility, Vol. 12 No. 1, pp. 31-56. https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-03-2023-0024" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://doi.org/10.1108/JGM-03-2023-0024