This editorial discusses the impact from the COVID‐19 pandemic on the internationalization of higher education, focusing on what general and specific challenges internationalization of higher education in individual countries and systems has faced and will face, and what strategies they developed to deal with these challenges in a post‐pandemic world. Moreover, it outlines the COVID‐19 pandemic and both institutional and national policies for internationalization of higher education in a comparative and global perspective. Finally, it presents key findings from nine articles that are included in the Special Issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]