Just as with many other aspects of institutional activity, governing bodies are increasingly seeing the importance of developing a strategy for internationalisation (and not just for student recruitment). Indeed if substantial investment is planned then a clear strategy with associated risk analysis is essential. As with other institutional strategies, this will generally be drafted by the executive for discussion and approval by the governing body, but it is likely to have been preceded by a substantial discussion (perhaps at an 'awayday') of the international aspirations of the institution, without which it would be difficult to write a strategy.
Although there are several sources available to guide institutions and governors in this area, perhaps the most useful is a report for the Higher Education Academy by Robin Middlehurst and Steve Woodfield. They describe developments in the way that institutions and their governing bodies have developed their international strategies. Amongst other things they note a move from internationalisation being a set of disparate and unconnected activities to a number of integrated activities, coordinated to achieve better leverage and value for money.
Further information can be found in Chapter 3 of Getting to Grips with Internationalisation.