Identifying the components of international academic collaboration in higher education: A meta-synthesis study

The aim of this study was to synthesize the literature related to international academic collaboration in order to identify the components of this collaboration in higher education. This research is applied in purpose and was conducted using a qualitative meta-synthesis method. The statistical population included all studies conducted in the period 2010-2019. To this aim, 146 studies on the mentioned topic were initially evaluated, and finally 57 articles were purposefully selected. After analyzing the content and synthesizing the relevant literature, a total of 115 codes, 19 concepts, and 8 key categories were identified and analyzed in the search process and systematic synthesis of texts. The validity was confirmed by Cohen Kappa test. According to the results of the analysis, the most important key components identified include: educational collaborations, research collaborations, participation of faculty members in international activities, cultural factors, reforming the structure of the university, paving the way for the use of ICT in the university, government programs and policies, and globalization. This research is one of the first studies that has comprehensively and extensively studied and analyzed the components of international academic collaboration in higher education through the synthesis of studies and has provided new, comprehensive, accurate and valuable insights into this field with a deep understanding of its nature. Results of this study can be effective in expanding international academic collaboration in higher education.