Geopolitical competition, research security concerns, and growing government intervention are reshaping the internationalization of higher education. This study examines how research-intensive universities are adapting their internationalization strategies under these changing conditions. Drawing on a comparative documentary analysis of 19 universities and their policy environments in Australia, China, Japan, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the study develops the concept of Strategically Managed Internationalization (SMI) as a framework for understanding institutional governance under geopolitical uncertainty. The analysis identifies five interrelated dimensions of SMI: Strategic Integration, Partnership Portfolio Management, Institutional Coordination, Risk Governance, and Adaptive Capability. While universities across the six higher education systems increasingly converge around these governance functions, they pursue distinctive institutional pathways shaped by national policy environments, governance traditions, funding structures, and organizational priorities. Rather than signalling a retreat from internationalization, the findings suggest that geopolitical uncertainty is transforming how universities organize and govern international engagement. By conceptualizing internationalization as an institutional governance capability, SMI provides a new comparative framework for understanding how universities balance academic openness, institutional resilience, research security, and global collaboration in an increasingly fragmented international environment.
