When comparison gives us the opportunity to revisit the question of national academic models

This introduction aims to outline the contribution of the thematic dossier to the debates on the internationalization of higher education and research policies, by questioning to what extent the reforms undertaken and/or the public policies, in different countries, are indebted to the circulation of ideas, mechanisms or international models. Thus, the introduction reviews how the literature allows us to problematize these circulations, the groups of actors who take them up, the privileged spaces and to understand what is at stake in terms of appropriation or resistance. The collected contributions are based on empirical and comparative investigations, between projects, countries, infra-state territories but also between regional integration areas, considering not only the European space but also South America. If international organizations are key actors of these circulations, bilateral exchanges are also blatant and show the diversity of references, far from the imposition of a single model and the hypothesis of international convergence. Through these articles, the dossier underlines differentiation, but perhaps above all a politicization of these policies.