Critical Incidents in Travel: A Narrative Analysis and Its Implications for Higher Education

ABSTRACT Student mobility as an inseparable element of higher education institutions' (HEI) internationalization strategies significantly contributes to students' learning and personal growth. This study investigates HEI students' travel experiences to highlight the learning outcomes attained from them and point out the significance of travel as an inherent part of the educational programmes. It draws upon the research procedures of the Critical Incident Technique (Flanagan 1954) investigating human behaviour in varied fields, including education. The study explores travel‐related critical incidents (CI)—vivid memorable life events—shared by students as written narrations in Business English lessons at a HEI in Central Europe. Combining narratological analytical procedures with the Critical Incident Cycle model (Sieglová 2023a) allows the study to explore the emotional, cognitive and behavioural processes underlying participants' descriptions and interpretations of the events. Implications for science and education contextualize students' travel experiences to form HEI's educational policies and strategic goals.