Navigating Crisis: Higher Education Internationalization at Times of War

This study examines the impact of war on higher education internationalization and asks how institutions and individuals in the academic community adapt and respond during crises. It utilizes Israeli internationalization during the 2023/24 Israel-Hamas war as a case study, analyzing changes in policies and practices across five public higher education institutions. Data includes institutional policy statements, interviews with internationalization policymakers and practitioners, and administrative records. Policy discourse analysis and descriptive statistics are employed to identify the shifts in the internationalization agenda and reveal how academic agency operates in conflict settings. The findings fill a scholarly gap in the understanding of internationalization during war, by conceptualizing wartime as a policy window for academic agency. This research contributes to understanding higher education's role in geopolitical crises and offers practical insights for sustaining internationalization efforts amid instability.