We are interested here in understanding how the American academic profession, the heart of the university, is reacting to trends toward internationalization on campus and in society. To examine this and other questions about the contemporary academic profession, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching carried out the first international study of the professoriate. Altogether, the sample was more than 20,000 respondents, with number per country ranging from more than 3,500 to fewer than 1,000. To ensure that the sample was random, a common methodology was used to select institutions and individuals. In the 14 countries surveyed, the professoriate generally welcomes greater involvement with their counterparts across national boundaries.
Many academics travel abroad to international meetings and work with colleagues in other countries.
A spirit of international collaboration is obvious. It is also apparent that the contemporary professoriate is poised between the national and the international. At the same time, the data show that the American professoriate is least committed to internationalism. Only a little more than half of the American sample feels that connections with scholars in other countries are very important. In only one other country are faculty less supportive.