ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the evolution of the process of internationalization occurring within a provincial university, analyzing student mobility inflows and outflows, in order to evaluate the extent to which local academic development has been stimulated or, on the contrary, academic dependence has been strengthened. In the period following the Second World War, the predominant international circulation format at National University of Cuyo (UNCuyo) was the brain drain towards the central countries, United States and Europe, also apparent in the international agreements. After democracy was restored in 1983, international agreements were reactivated and UNCuyo entered timidly into the process of internationalization of higher education in which the Spanish partnership, sharing a common language, played a key role during the 1990s. Consequently, inflows are greater and homogeneously diversified while outflows are minor and heterogeneously concentrated. All of this explains the weak institutional role played by academic mobility, mainly consisting of individual experiences with little or non-existent transference to the local university community.
