Introduction

This presentation describes and analyzes the nature of cooperation and internationalization, the institutional and non-institutional faces of the internationalization of higher education at the National University of San Luis (Argentina) in the period 2005-2014. The objective is to examine the role of institutional actors and norms, such as the University Statute, the Organizational Plan, the action of the Office of Interinstitutional Relations, the National Law on Higher Education and the suggestions of documents emanating from international organizations, on the one hand and non-institutional facets, such as the motivation of students and professors in internationalization processes. With this task, institutional norms and documents were examined and, through semi-structured interviews, the views of internationalization of students and professors.

Over the past twenty-five years, policies developed expansionist international regional integration and cooperation in Latin America, which is closely linked to the processes of internationalization of higher education, understood as "any systematic effort aimed at making higher education more demanded by the demands and challenges related to globalization of society, economy and the labor market” (...) (^{MOROSINI, 2006}, p. 97).

In Argentina, despite some advances in recent years, the processes of internationalization of universities are progressing slowly. The concept of multidimensional nature does not seem clear to university authorities and managers. ^{Theiler (2005}) highlights that the promotion of internationalization in Argentina took place through activities related to cooperation between Latin America and Spain through the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation (AECI) and the establishment of Mutis scholarships at the summit. of state and government. Thus, through the implementation of the AECI programs, in particular the International Cooperation Program (PCI), they made many universities carry out international activities. On the other hand, Mercosur emerged, an integration process that includes Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and, more recently, Chile and Bolivia, not without its difficulties and obstacles, which encouraged universities to seek integration and relationship programs. (^{THEILER, 2005}). Fernández Lamarra (2002) states that in the 1990s the process of internationalization of higher education intensified. In Argentina, governments have been promoting since 2003 lines of action and financing to promote the internationalization that have driven the international activities of universities (^{ASTUR and LARREA, 2012}), incorporating a new function with dual characteristics that cut across the traditional functions of university teaching, research, management and extension (^{RAMÍREZ, 2017}).

The study of internationalization in Argentine universities can be considered strategic, as one of the key elements for the development of higher education, the improvement of academic quality, research and knowledge production, and the development of the international profile of students.

Internationalization

The concept of internationalization has evolved over time and is as complex as it is confusing, according to ^{Knight (1999}). The term internationalization of higher education finds several concepts. Knight (1993, p. 21) defined it as “the process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension in the institution's teaching, research and services”.

The internationalization of higher education is related to all the policies and practices developed by academic systems, universities and researchers to face globalization (^{ALTBACH; KNIGHT, 2007}). It is a complex and multidimensional concept that involves research, teaching and provision of services to society, due to its transversal nature. At the same time, it also generates intense debate and is increasingly present in government agendas, especially in emerging countries such as Brazil (^{SANTIN; VANZ; STUMPF, 2016}).

Traditionally, it includes a wide range of elements, such as study programs, teaching and learning, research, institutional arrangements, student and teacher mobility, cooperation, etc. A wide range of proposals and activities that have multiple dimensions and actors in higher education and do not constitute a homogeneous or unidirectional process. The term also refers, moreover, to two opposing paradigms that explain opposing views, on the one hand, the internationalization model focused on traditional international cooperation and solidarity; on the other, a competitive model, oriented to the search for benefits (^{VERGER, 2006}).

^{Gacel-Ávila (2017}) highlights that research on the internationalization of higher education is relatively recent and is carried out by a very small number of specialists and researchers in the world and, as a field of study, began in the mid-1990s, in Latin America. in the study of institutional policies and programs, as it is considered a fundamental strategy to face the challenges arising from globalization and the knowledge society.

Two dimensions of internationalization were registered in the 1999 Bologna Declaration and the 2000 Lisbon Strategy: cooperation and competition. Both processes emphasize that cooperation must be increased to develop higher education and research. The Lisbon strategy is described in "The 2010-2011 Report on Spanish and European Educational Goals: Education and Training Strategy for 2020", while the Bologna Process was an agreement signed by the ministers of education of several European countries as well as Russia, Turkey and the Italian city of Bologna.

Jane Knight characterizes globalization and the emergence of the knowledge economy, regionalization, information and communication technologies, new suppliers, alternative sources of financing, issues of absence of borders, as real challenges in the current environment, lifelong learning and diversity of actors (KNIGHT, 2008). María Paz López (2013) proposed the concepts of internationalization capacities and institutional conditions for internationalization when asking about the capacities built by actors in research groups, university communities and the possibilities that institutional frameworks offer for their

development. Jane ^{Knight's (1999}) definition of internationalization has been revised and characterizes internationalization as “the intentional process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions and provision of postsecondary education in order to increase the quality of education and surveying all students and staff to make a meaningful contribution to society” (DE WIT, 2015, p. 287).

The definition reflects the growing awareness that internationalization must be more inclusive and less elitist and that the idea of mobility abroad must be seen as an integral part of the internationalized curriculum. Internationalization is seen as a means of improving quality and should not just focus on economic fundamentals.

^{Schoorman (1999}) defines internationalization as a holistic, continuous, comprehensive and counter-hegemonic process that takes place in the international context of knowledge in which societies are seen as subsystems of a broader and more inclusive world. For Schoorman, internationalization cannot be seen as a punctual event in time, but as a cycle of successive acts integrated into educational processes (SHOORMAN 1999, GACEL- ÁVILA 2017).

The concept of comprehensive or comprehensive internationalization goes beyond the traditional notion of international activities, international cooperation and the physical mobility of people. It can also be understood as a set of comprehensive and transversal internationalization strategies for the entire educational process, in order to significantly contribute to improving the quality and relevance of higher education (^{GACEL ÁVILA 2017}).

Internationalization is an emerging phenomenon that can be understood as a complex and ambiguous relational structure that exposes opposing and centrifugal forces with unique characteristics and that poses strong challenges to their communities according to their degree of awareness, their academic culture and the possibilities and development action at the local

/ international level (^{QUIROGA, 2019}, 2020). Debating and reflecting on the internationalization of the University implies a political position on the role of the University and its actors in the 21st century.

Academic colonization can be associated with internationalization, it is a very old phenomenon, before globalization. During the colonial period, Spain learned about education in the metropolis, although it allowed for diversification of universities in the colonies, while Portugal used a model in which creole elites had to travel to Coimbra to undertake higher studies. Currently, academic imperialism has one of its demonstrations in transferring students from peripheral countries to central universities, causing brain drain, reproducing what they have learned when they return to their countries and maintaining a network of links outside that can be transformed in dependence (^{DOMINGUEZ, 2016}).

Communication at UNSL

Communication in educational organizations is a vital element for their development. For the university to be a paradigmatic organization with specific audiences, it is necessary to provide it with a communication plan and strategy that articulates it with different audiences. The mere creation of bodies that seek to organize communication, space in the government structure, even as a structural part of an integral strategic development, cannot by itself displace the communicational field from a reductionist look linked to the media in its different languages and devices and a role called diffusionist. The complex and communicative enclave of the new converging scenarios and the institutional communication policy must take into account these new languages and platforms and the vision of institutional communication as a process that must link the institution to its social context. Communicating internationalization, its processes, its cultures and integrating them into everyday teaching is not an easy task. Communication can also be understood as a set of exchanges from which identities, norms, values are processed, interests are articulated, knowledge and powers are accumulated and legitimized. It is inevitable to recognize it as a privileged terrain for the construction of meanings of social order, which will compete with each other to become hegemonic (MATA, 1996). It is even more difficult to communicate internationalization when considering the dispersion and fragmentation of information motivated by the diversity of university media, which in many cases is not clear why they were created.

The Internationalization of the National University of San Luis

The National University of San Luis, Argentina, since its birth, has built its own history of international cooperation and relationships with the world. The permanent link and interrelationship are an essential characteristic of the university over time. All initiatives were channeled by the faculties and by the International Relations area that existed at the UNSL as a specific agency since 1990 (^{NORIEGA E MAINERO, 2014}).

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Graduate Program in Government, Public Policy and Administration Scholarships were developed to help improve the administrative and governmental capacity of developing countries, whose main objective is the study of Government, Public Policy and Public Administration. It is a Master (MA) to be done at Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. Also, Postgraduate Scholarships - Carolina Foundation for postgraduate studies aimed at training in Spain for graduates’ nationals of a Latin American country, with capacity academic or professional backed by a powerful curriculum. The British Chevening Scholarship Program was also developed, through which the British Government offers Argentine graduates the possibility to pursue postgraduate studies in the United Kingdom in any field of study, except medicine and English teachers, the areas of application The most frequent ones are Public Administration, Business

The constitution of the Secretariat for Interinstitutional Relations (SRI) since 2007, channeled with different impulses, different proposals for exchange and cooperation within the university, establishing prospective and dynamic bases. With the Ordinance of the University's Superior Council 08/28, the structure of the UNSL was redefined, and within its scope, the area was elevated to the category of Secretariat for Interinstitutional Relations in 2008.

Methodology

This work investigates the cooperation, internationalization and mobility activities of students and professors at the National University of San Luis (Argentina), the cooperation and internationalization agreements existing in the UNSL during the period 2005-2014 and the description of the cooperation and internationalization activities carried out, in the period 2005-2014, at the UNSL. It also seeks to identify and characterize the development of exchange processes among professors and undergraduate and graduate students of the National University of San Luis, to find out how actors (professors and students) were linked to these initiatives, what experiences they had and what descriptions. and balance sheets make of your participation.

UNSL's cooperation and internationalization agreements were examined during the established period, and semi-structured interviews were carried out with professors and students who participated in an initiative related to the university's internationalization.

We propose an analysis of Internationalization at the National University of San Luis based on institutional and non-institutional factors. For this purpose, we have created the following guide table.

Source: Elaboration by the author

Diagram 1 Non-Institutional Factors 

Brief description of each dimension.

Interinstitutional Relations

The Office of Interinstitutional Relations of the National University of San Luis (UNSL), since its creation in 2008, has had the task of relating to the outside world. The Office's mission has been to manage agreements with public and private institutions, governmental and non-governmental organizations, at the provincial, national and international levels. Its main functions are to promote the procedures for signing framework agreements and specific agreements for carrying out joint UNSL activities with public and private, provincial, national and international organizations and agencies to promote the execution of agreements. and university bond agreements with other universities and academic and research centers, national and foreign.

The system of inter-institutional relations of the National University of San Luis began to develop from its birth. However, its development was diversified within the faculties and there was no institutional internationalization strategy for the university.

In the search for documents and sources carried out, we found that there is not much information about the period of analysis of the years 2005-2006. However, during the years 2005-2006, the cooperation and internationalization activities of the National University of San Luis were developed by the faculties and the five Institutes in the areas of Technological Chemistry (INTEQUI), Applied Mathematics (IMASL) Applied Physics (INFAP), Chemical Sciences (INQUISAL) and Applied Biological Sciences (IMBIO) and the Scientific- Technological Center UNSL-CONICET. All initiatives were channeled by the faculties and by the International Relations area existing at the UNSL as a specific unit since 1990.

In the steps adopted between 2007 and 2010 and from 2010 to 2013, the area of interinstitutional relations was elevated to the position of Secretariat. Since 2007, membership is paid to different consortia in which UNSL has not participated. During this period, some preexisting relationships with different universities and networks were strengthened and the university's participation in various programs was substantially expanded.

Although the UNSL has progressively developed traditional forms of cooperation, such as professors and student mobility, it did not reach a significant intensity and density in the period under review. Even this educational organization was not able to undertake these new forms of internationalization, such as cross-border or virtual education, according to ^{Rama (2011}) and generate the presence of research teams from two or more universities.

• During this period, new projects were launched that gave visibility to the university's interinstitutional relations space, which until then did not have this area. Although at the level of the university's internal working groups, international exchanges already existed, making cooperation between universities a reality, at the institutional level of the National University of San Luis it was little developed. The area starts to have visibility since 2007.

• Since 2013, the UNSL has designated a Secretariat for Interinstitutional Relations, which no longer depends on the Vice-Rector. The Secretariat's visibility appears in the administration, on the institutional website of the UNSL, in the press circuit and via e- mails.

• The Secretary for Interinstitutional Relations (SRI) has participated and participates in various cooperation programs. The programs in which the Rectory actively participates are the JIMA, MACA, ERASMUS MUNDO, CRISCOS, PAME- UDUAL, MAGMA and FULBRIGHT scholarships. The cooperation and exchange programs have continuity and permanence within the university. Erasmus Mundus is a scholarship program for undergraduate, masters, doctoral and postdoctoral students, as well as university employees in academic or administrative positions, funded by the European Commission and whose objectives are to contribute to the creation of trustworthiness among the countries of the European Union and Latin America and the strengthening of political, cultural, educational and economic ties between the two regions.

• Meanwhile, Fulbright Scholarships promote the training of university graduates through a master's or doctoral degree in the US. In the last decade, this organization has awarded more than 500 scholarships to graduates of all disciplines with different funding alternatives. The program also seeks to strengthen English language teaching in Argentina and offers various scholarships to promote the professional development of teachers.

• The Mexico-Argentina Youth Exchange Program (JIMA) allows undergraduate students to undertake a four-month academic stay at a participating Mexican university. In exchange, the Argentine university receives Mexican students for a similar period and there are two annual calls, one for each semester. Through this program, students can study one semester of their diploma at a foreign university, with the possibility of managing the recognition of approved courses at their home university.

• The MACA Program promotes the exchange of Argentine and Colombian students for one semester. The required requirements are to be a regular student of the course, to have passed at least 40% of the subjects in your course (final exam), to be under 30 years old and not hold a teaching position.

• The MAGMA program was born as a result of a collaboration agreement for the mobility of academics and managers between Argentine and Mexican universities, signed in 2009 between the National Interuniversity Council (CIN) and ANUIES (National Association of Universities and Institutions of Higher Education). The recipients of this initiative are professors, administration officials and non-professors from the participating Argentine universities. Those selected carry out a mobility with funding. This initiative aims to promote inter-institutional cooperation actions, strengthen ties and integration between institutions, develop exchanges of professors, methodologies and academic research, and promote the training of managers in internationalization activities for institutions.

• The CRISCOS Student Mobility Program (SME) makes it easier for students from one university in the sub-region to undertake part of their studies at another university in the MERCOSUR sub-region. It allows for the development of regional integration, the promotion of student mobility between universities in the member countries of the Council of Rectors and the creation of proposals to develop links with other regional inter-university organizations. The program's objectives promote the strengthening of regional integration, inter-university cooperation and the contribution to the training of human resources with a vision of solidarity and community. The mobility experience is very strong in students who aspire to develop a professional career in the future. Undergraduate studies are enriched with these learnings in different contexts that involve a whole cognitive and cultural experience. However, the number of students who can access these experiences is small and the university needs and must generate proposals and experiences in activities known as “internationalization at home”.

• In the PAME-UDUAL initiative, any university or higher education institution (IES) affiliated to the Union of Latin American and Caribbean Universities (UDUAL) interested in the mobility of its students by joining and offering standards, participates in squares. The objective of this program is to promote internationalization and integration among UDUAL affiliated universities, enrich academic training in university communities in Latin America and the Caribbean, and encourage integration and solidary collaboration between institutions. It is aimed at undergraduate or graduate students and lasts for the semester. The National University of San Luis continually welcomes foreign students, although not always in the best possible conditions. In such cases, accommodation at the UNSL University Residence would not be the appropriate environment for foreign students to successfully carry out their experience of cooperation and internationalization in Argentina.

• One of the main difficulties pointed out by the managers of the Secretariat for Interinstitutional Relations of the National University of San Luis is the issue of recognizing the studies of local students who attend other foreign universities. There is no clear definition in this regard. The UNSL does not have an ordinance for international students that would better channel this problem through exchanges, although there are no clear national guidelines in this regard either. Students return to San Luis and there are real difficulties for UNSL professors in recognizing the studies these students have undertaken abroad. This problem is not only a difficulty in the local context, it is also an undefined terrain at the national level. According to data from a university official, the National University of San Luis had a project approval rate of 50% in 2014, exceeding the national average.

Non-institutional factors are included in the motivations of professors and students who participated in internationalization experiences.

Source: Elaboration by the author

Diagram 2 Non-Institutional Factors 

Through semi-structured interviews, we can examine different aspects of teaching motivations to participate in exchange and internationalization processes. Among them, teachers based on the experiences carried out were expressed as follows.

In developing the experience:

• Professors' surprise at the speed of exchange processes at host foreign universities

• Differences of work (different modes of work)

• But also, common practices among academics

Among the motivations to be applied in the programs, they chose:

• Links with other academics

• Knowledge of different contexts

• New experiences

• Knowledge of new bibliography

• Different view

• Master's or doctoral training and development

• Liaison with academic organizations

Regarding the impact of the experience carried out, the teachers presented the most relevant reasons:

• Liaison with foreign professors and researchers (seminars, trips, new academic events, etc.)

• Research exchanges (books, collective publications)

Regarding the impact of the experience carried out, the teachers presented the most relevant reasons:

• Permanent academic and professional training

• Teaching culture

• Teaching quality

Source: Elaboration by the author

Diagram 3 Teacher Participation 

In the interviews carried out on the participation of students in internationalization processes, we found the following expressions:

Perspectives and Lines of Action for the Future

The need for UNSL to incorporate a strategic vision and take advantage of the mobility experiences that take place constitute challenges for university management. The participation of all university actors can facilitate the incorporation of a “culture of internationalization”. On the other hand, it is desirable to increase exchanges in order to cover more Latin American countries.

The most relevant difficulties encountered by university managers in terms of cooperation, cooperation, is the problem that arises when students mobilize and study at a university abroad and the consequent non-recognition of UNSL students' studies abroad. A point of attention is the resistance of university professors to recognize studies in foreign academic universities. A culture of internationalization cannot grow in this context, due to a minority of research professors who participate in internationalization processes. Teaching experiences, although they serve to increase their own curriculum and professional prestige, do not in themselves improve higher education and, therefore, would not contribute to a university education in the intercultural skills and global competences required at this time (^{QUIROGA, 2019}).

It is necessary to advance in curriculum internationalization strategies, taking into account the articulation of interculturality with the profile of graduates, advance in curricular and pedagogical changes with flexible options and with an international profile, promote the strengthening of English language teaching, participate and incorporate the international academic offer and respond competently to international accreditation.

Internationalization at the National University of San Luis is restricted, not comprehensive. Concepts related to the idea of curriculum internationalization are not present in current debates at the university. The idea of internationalization is restricted to mobility abroad and postgraduate opportunities. The university does not look at the multiple possibilities of a multidimensional internationalization dynamic internally. It does not look inward in search of its strengths and weaknesses, it does not perceive internationalization as a possibility of responding to globalizing trends.