Where is the gap between internationalisation strategic planning and its implementation?

A dominant concern with internationalisation through the past decades has been the process of strategic transformation of universities. While strategic management has been perceived as a necessary and useful approach in the construction of internationalisation, many criticisms have been levelled against the application of strategic management in internationalisation. One of these criticisms is the ‘implementation gap’ between internationalisation strategic plans and their actual outcomes. Based on interview data collected from 73 key actors involved in internationalisation at 16 Dutch public universities, this research identifies 12 elements that comprise the concept strategic management and illustrates how educational practitioners in different sectors (research universities and universities of applied sciences) and job function levels (central and faculty) prioritise these elements. The key contribution of this research is the clarification of the areas where the ‘implementation gap’ exists and the causes of this gap. The findings of this research are particularly important in the midst of uncontested popularisation of strategic management, because they can help universities to reduce this gap and improve the effectiveness of their strategic management practices.