A reliable database is key to successfully developing the internationality of a university. The new indicator portal “HSI Monitor – Profile Data on the Internationality of Universities” enables universities in Germany to access a multitude of internationalisation indicators. The portal is a joint project of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH), the German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Rectors’ Conference (HRK). It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).

The HSI Monitor simplifies the monitoring of internationalisation measures for universities, enabling them to access the recorded data by subject area and analyse it for reports and strategic planning. The portal provides access to a wide array of internationalisation indicators such as the number of international students and doctoral researchers, international staff at universities, university partnerships and DAAD or AvH funding programmes. The internationality of research is also measured by different indicators, for example with data on DFG projects with international participation and data on international publications.

The indicators can be aggregated for different clusters of universities. Furthermore, analyses can be generated according to country (country of origin, destination or partner country), subject groups or gender. The analyses are represented in the form of diagrams and, like the basic data, can be downloaded for further use. This enables universities to systematically track and analyse important trends in the internationalisation of their institution. There are already plans to further develop the HSI Monitor: From spring 2021 onwards, universities will be able to directly compare their own data with that of other universities using their individual user access.

Development of the HSI Monitor

The HSI Monitor is the result of the report “Profile Data on the Internationality of German Universities”, which has been published on an annual basis by the DAAD, AvH and HRK since 2009. The new portal is designed to allow easy access to the wide variety of data. The extensive options for configuring requests can be used to process a wide variety of questions in the portal and to identify new connections. In this way, the HSI Monitor is expected to support the work of universities in many areas of internationalisation.

The indicator portal “HSI Monitor – Profile Data on the Internationality of Universities” is available at www.hsi-monitor.de.

The joint office offers webinars for universities to enable them to learn more about the features of the HSI Monitor. Those interested can register there.