Internationalisation in universities: to what extent do institutional boundaries delineate a researcher’s identity? A critical view’

The creating or re-adjusting of a researcher’s identity in an international and multicultural academic environment is undoubtedly a personal, individual and subjective experience. However, the environment within which this process occurs, with its rules and discursive practices, also needs to be carefully analysed and its potential influence on the shaping of identities investigated. A critical discourse analysis of the rules and discursive practices of universities can shed some light on the institutional limitations that are imposed onto researchers while creating their identity. Moreover, results of such an analysis may serve as a springboard for further research into how these newly constructed identities fit the neoliberal paradigm within which an ever-growing number of universities worldwide operate.