* Yukiko Shimmi is an assistant professor in the Graduate School of Law at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, Japan. She recently received her doctorate from Boston College, USA. Her doctoral dissertation is focused on the experiences of Japanese visiting scholars in the United States. Email: yshimmi@gmail.com. This article was published in the autumn edition of International Higher Education and in University World News
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International visiting scholars are scientists and professors who attend universities in other countries to engage temporarily in research or teaching, while also maintaining affiliation and position at their home universities and returning after the visiting period ends. They usually have doctoral degrees or are professionally trained.
Unlike international students, visiting scholars come and leave according to their own schedules. The length of visits varies, ranging from several months to a few years. While some visit by themselves, others travel with family members. Some are junior academics, while others are senior professors. Their previous international academic experiences may also vary.
Despite the fact that there are large numbers of visiting scholars globally, they have received only limited attention.
The application procedures and fees to become visiting scholars vary between institutions, departments, and even between academic programmes. Some universities offer programmes that provide events, seminars and other support for international visiting scholars, while other universities provide close to no services.
International visiting scholars often rely on one or more funding sources, including their home and host institutions, governmental or private grants, fellowships or scholarships; they sometimes also use their own savings to supplement their income while living abroad.
Due to the variations in scholars’ backgrounds and situations, the experiences of international visiting scholars can be quite different.
Although some countries or individual fellowship programmes report the number of visiting scholars, most countries do not report any information on visiting scholars. Even UNESCO and the OECD do not report data regarding the number of international scholars in their annual reports.
Flexibility – Opportunities or challenges?
Since international visiting scholars usually do not have specific obligations at host universities, they are very flexible regarding activities during their visits. They can enjoy the opportunities at the host universities by using library resources, auditing courses, participating in seminars and interacting with scholars and students.
While many of them use their time to engage in their individual research, some might participate in collaborative research projects with scholars at the host universities. They can also be involved in teaching activities at host universities or work on institutional relations between the home and host universities.
While to a great extent scholars can decide what activities they want to engage in during their visits, the lack of structure might be challenging for some.
Scholars must take the initiative in actively seeking out opportunities at host universities; otherwise, they likely will underutilise opportunities. They can easily feel isolated from the community of the host university unless they consciously try to interact with other scholars.
Although there is institutional support for international visiting scholars to promote interactions with other scholars and students, these arrangements often rely on individual scholars.
Finding opportunities for interaction can be especially challenging for scholars who have not had previous international academic experiences or do not have existing networks with scholars at host universities, as well as for those who are not comfortable using the native language of the host country.
This issue can be especially relevant for scholars in the humanities and social sciences who do not work in labs that allow scholars to see other members on a daily basis.
Brain circulation and internationalisation
The importance of studying and serving this population can be discussed from the perspective of brain circulation and internationalisation.International visiting scholars who temporarily visit host countries and then return to their home countries are considered one form of short-term brain circulation. Unlike brain drain or brain gain, brain circulation emphasises the potential benefits for both the sending and receiving countries as a consequence of the continuous and circular moves of scholars.
Previous studies have discussed the benefits of short-term brain circulation, such as the development of international scholarly networks, knowledge transfer and exchange, and the addition of human capital through return mobility.
In order to fully realise the potential benefits from the circular moves of international visiting scholars, further studies and policy arrangements on this population are crucial. From the perspective of the internationalisation of higher education, international visiting scholars are relevant to some key approaches to internationalising universities.
As participants in the international scholarly exchanges at universities, they can potentially stimulate international connections with scholars at universities in other countries. They might also engage in international research collaborations during their visits.
In addition, their international experiences create important learning opportunities to broaden professional and personal perspectives. As faculty members, their international academic experiences could influence university education through their instruction and curriculum, which directly or indirectly affects the education of students.
At universities that host international visiting scholars, they can be resources for internationalisation by effectively integrating themselves in the community.Although brain circulation and internationalisation highlight potential uses of international visiting scholars, current institutional and national initiatives have not paid much attention to international scholar exchange as compared with international student exchange.
Although there are some governmental initiatives for international visiting scholars, such as Fulbright visiting scholar programmes or the China Scholarship Council, many international visiting scholars move individually with little relevance to institutional and national policies on internationalisation of higher education.
The development of a more coordinated system of scholarly exchange through international visiting scholars would be meaningful – not only for individual scholars but also for institutions, to help enhance research and teaching capacities as well as internationalisation generally.
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