Mapping Global Efforts and Advancements In the Internationalization of Higher Education: A Bibliometric Analysis in Support of Quality Education

This study aims to map the intellectual landscape of research on the advancement of internationalization in higher education, highlighting key themes, influential publications, and emerging trends aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using data extracted from the Scopus database, covering publications from 2015 to 2024. The search strategy utilized a combination of keywords related to internationalization, advancement, and higher education institutions, resulting in a total of 415 relevant documents. VOSviewer software was employed to perform co-citation analysis and keyword co-occurrence mapping to visualize the intellectual and thematic structures of the field. Inclusion thresholds were set at a minimum of 16 citations per document, 8 citations per cited reference, and 4 keyword co-occurrences to ensure analytical rigor. The results revealed five major thematic clusters, namely policy frameworks, curriculum internationalization, language strategies, student mobility, and sustainability. These clusters represent the diverse and interconnected aspects of internationalization and reflect the evolving nature of global engagement in higher education. Influential works that shaped the field were identified, alongside emerging themes such as virtual mobility and internationalization at a distance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings provide valuable insights for higher education leaders, policymakers, and practitioners by offering a data-driven foundation for refining institutional strategies toward more inclusive and sustainable internationalization. This study contributes originality and value by offering a comprehensive bibliometric perspective, addressing existing gaps in the literature, and providing a structured overview of developments in the field over the past decade.