Chapter 6 The Internationalization of Portuguese Higher Education Institutions – Reasons, Strategies and Challenges

In a global world, the internationalization of higher education institutions (HEIs) emerges related with the continuous growing of knowledge and sharing of experiences. The main purpose of this research is to identify reasons, strategies and challenges inherent to the process of internationalization of HEIs in a very distinct context – Portugal. Therefore, literature is reviewed and a group of 10 deans/presidents/directors of Portuguese higher education institutions (HEIDs) are interviewed following a pre-designed protocol. The conclusions of this research are related to economic, academic and cultural aspects. The economic reasons are considered very important since they are related to funding issues. Yet, it was found that there are also cultural and academic issues influencing the internationalization of HEI´s in Portugal, such as the existence of a binary system. The challenges are closely associated with economic and cultural aspects. On the one hand, they are strictly connected to budgetary constraints; on the other hand, they encourage a new shift towards a different paradigm.