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The present volume can be linked to a growing awareness of the potential in doctoral education for international experiences to deliver the pragmatic as well as values-based benefits of internationalisation (Jones & Killick, 2007). The former include the sharing of different perspectives on the field of study, alternative approaches to research and problem-solving, creating international collaboration and publication opportunities, developing research networks and offering career opportunities. The ‘values-based’ rationale for intercultural engagement is equally relevant at doctoral level as at other stages of education. Learning to work in multinational and multicultural teams and being open to different approaches and perspectives has become even more important as professional and project-based doctorates increase. Doctoral education is now much more than preparing candidates for academic careers.

This groundbreaking book highlights the profound impact of internationalization in doctoral education, offering a variety of models to align with student interests and needs. 

It includes insights from over seventy contributors spanning more than thirty-five national contexts on six continents, who explore the values and benefits of internationalization at the doctoral level, such as social and cultural enrichment, academic and personal growth, network enhancement, and research collaboration, paving the way for meaningful career opportunities in academia or elsewhere. Evaluating the outcomes of internationalization and the development of researcher identities, the volume underscores the immeasurable value and impact of internationalized doctoral experiences while recognizing the importance of student agency. Reflections from students and graduates reveal the merits of international experiences but also address challenges and pitfalls, including environmental, economic, equity, and decolonization concerns.

With implementable recommendations for institutions, academics, and students, this important book offers guidance for the future of internationalization in doctoral education and emphasizes the importance of strategic institutional approaches. Internationalization of the Doctoral Experience: Models, Opportunities and Outcomes is essential reading for anyone interested in the evolving landscape and transformative potential of internationalization in doctoral education.

This final chapter represents the Editors’ reactions to the chapters and case reflections within this book. It is structured around the three sections – Models, Opportunities/Challenges and Outcomes – and concludes by providing suggestions for the future of doctoral experience internationalisation for institutions, academics and students.

The short-term international immersion model (STIIM) for the internationalisation of doctoral education is a meeting between groups, or cohorts, of doctoral students from at least two countries. This chapter describes STIIM, and through examples from a four-day meeting in Wales, we illustrate how STIIM meetings can be designed to support learning and internationalisation. The chapter frames STIIM in its historical context in Norway and Sweden, highlights the democratic aspects of the model, and demonstrates the importance of socialisation into the academy as a global arena as supported by the model.

Doctoral students are expected to develop internationally transferable qualities and skills alongside acquiring the disciplinary content of their thesis. However, how universities support the development of these qualities and skills through international experience can run into barriers that affect participation, experiences, and outcomes. This chapter focuses on those barriers that can be viewed as systemic, personal, and linguistic, specifically in relation to the models and cases studies presented in Section One of this volume. These challenges include the legal and administrative routes to consensus; the variation in notions of doctorateness and the examination of the dissertation; and the balancing of economic and environmental costs against cultural, democratic, and linguistic gains. This chapter highlights aspects to be considered on the route to consensus to minimise friction between academics, students, and universities and to improve the doctoral student international experience.

The Barents region comprises the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It was established in 1993 as a result of  the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and it  is also the first macroregion to move beyond the Cold War’s Iron Curtain. This book provides a research-based history of the Barents Region from 800–2010 written by 27history researcher within the thirteenth sub-regions of the Barents Region. It is suitable as a course book in history for students at university level, but also for social sciences and for others interested in the comparative transnational history of northern Russia and northern Scandinavia.

Six million people live in the Barents Region. The authors tell the history of the regional development in four nation states, bridging the gap between Russia and the Nordic countries in terms of ethnicity, religion, cultural content, political systems, economies and different stages of modernisation. The account starts with the history of independent ethnic groups in a common area. From the ninth century we can see tendencies towards an integration of the northernmost areas of Europe into larger political structures, culminating in early state formations such as the merchant republic of Novgorod and the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. The focus is on comparative transnational aspects of history through stages of rivalry and co-operation. It is also the history of the many minorities and nationalities moving cross borders of different kinds.

As is the case with nations, there are different understandings of  what constitutes a region. Are regions deeply grounded in history and  culture or are they created by actors for instrumental reasons? The Barents Region is the prototype of a region made by concrete actors for political purposes, but the historical account shows that there were transnational contacts even before this novel political construction came into being. In the concluding chapter the reader will find reflections on what kind of region the Barents Region invented in 1993 really is.

The Barents region comprises the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden, Finland and Russia. It was established in 1993 as a result of  the disintegration of the Soviet Union, and it  is also the first macroregion to move beyond the Cold War’s Iron Curtain. This book provides a research-based history of the Barents Region from 800–2010 written by 27history researcher within the thirteenth sub-regions of the Barents Region. It is suitable as a course book in history for students at university level, but also for social sciences and for others interested in the comparative transnational history of northern Russia and northern Scandinavia.

Six million people live in the Barents Region. The authors tell the history of the regional development in four nation states, bridging the gap between Russia and the Nordic countries in terms of ethnicity, religion, cultural content, political systems, economies and different stages of modernisation. The account starts with the history of independent ethnic groups in a common area. From the ninth century we can see tendencies towards an integration of the northernmost areas of Europe into larger political structures, culminating in early state formations such as the merchant republic of Novgorod and the kingdoms of Norway and Sweden. The focus is on comparative transnational aspects of history through stages of rivalry and co-operation. It is also the history of the many minorities and nationalities moving cross borders of different kinds.

As is the case with nations, there are different understandings of  what constitutes a region. Are regions deeply grounded in history and  culture or are they created by actors for instrumental reasons? The Barents Region is the prototype of a region made by concrete actors for political purposes, but the historical account shows that there were transnational contacts even before this novel political construction came into being. In the concluding chapter the reader will find reflections on what kind of region the Barents Region invented in 1993 really is.