To the ends of the earth: student mobility in southern Chile Lynda K. V azquez Office of the President, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile Francisco R. Mesa Department of Administrative Sciences and Economics, Universidad de Los Lagos, Osorno, Chile, and Daniel A. L opez Center for Advanced Studies, Universidad de Playa Ancha, Valparaı ´so, Chile Abstract Purpose – Although student mobility worldwide is increasing dramatically, systematic analysis of the effects and variables associated with its results is still recent, especially in new destinations. The purpose of this paper is to examine student mobility in southern Chile from a case study perspective. An exploratory study is presented to analyze the experiences of students in an exchange program over a five-year period and the academic performance of local students abroad. Design/methodology/approach – A single-case design with two embedded units of analysis is presented. Data were drawn from semi-structured surveys and students’ grade records. Content analysis was applied to the students’ reports and statistical methods were used to verify the influence of certain variables. Findings – The experience of Chilean students abroad centered on building up personal competences, while visiting international students concentrated on intercultural interaction, influenced mainly by the quality of accommodation and language factors, the latter determining their relations with professors and local students. Academic performance of local students abroad was determined by the type of academic activity undertaken, course validation, and the selected destination. Practical implications – Some patterns recorded in international literature are similar to the results of this particular case. However, this study reveals some unique findings that can be associated to the operation of study abroad programs in emerging countries, especially in young regional universities unprecedented in aspects related to student mobility. Originality/value – The lack of scientific studies on student mobility in Chile, a country which international student population is rapidly growing, concedes great value to this exploratory study. Keywords International students, Study abroad, Case study, Academic performance, Student mobility Paper type Case study Introduction Internationalization of Higher Education Institutions (HEI) involves almost all aspects of institutional activity (Knight and De Wit, 1995; De Wit, 2011) and various implementation strategies (Knight, 2004; Dewey and Duff, 2009), of which student The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0951-354X.htm Received 3 January 2013 Accepted 2 May 2013 International Journal of Educational Management Vol. 28 No. 1, 2014 pp. 82-95 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0951-354X DOI 10.1108/IJEM-01-2013-0005 The authors would like to express their gratitude to the following offices at the Universidad de Los Lagos: the Vice Presidency of Research and Graduate Studies for providing financial support and the Master Program in Latin American Business Administration for the support and stimulus received. Finally, the authors thank Susan Angus for revising the English version of the manuscript. The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this paper. This study received financial support from the Vice Presidency of Research and Graduate Studies at Universidad de Los Lagos. 82 IJEM 28,1