Borderless Higher Education:
Challenges Ahead
Dr. Hans de Wit
Dean Windesheim Honours College,
VU University Amsterdam/Windesheim University of Applied Science,
Zwolle, the Netherlands
Editor of the Journal of Studies in International Education (Sage/ASIE)
Kuala Lumpur, December 3-5, 2007
Internationalisation of
Higher Education
Traditional Meanings: Diversity of Related Terms to
Internationalisation of Higher Education
1. Curriculum related:
International studies, global studies, multicultural education, intercultural
education, peace education, etc.
2. Mobility related:
Study abroad, education abroad, academic mobility, etc.
Most frequently used synonym:
International Education
Emerging factors/rationales
• Standards, Status and profile
• Ranking
• Strategic alliances
• Regionalisation (Bologna Process)
• National Security (9/11)
• Other Political and Ideological influences
• Higher education increasingly more an actor than re-actor to globalisation,
trade in educational services:
• Revenue Generation
• Skilled Migration
New: cross border delivery of
education related
Borderless education
Education across borders or cross-border
education
Global education
Offshore education
International trade of educational services
Also refered to as Transnational Education
Borderless Higher Education
• Athough it is not a new phenomenon, it is its rapidly increasinging scale since
the 1990’s that makes it a relevant phenomenon
• The privatisation and deregulation of higher education has stimulated
traditional public and private higher educaiton get involved
• New private ‘for profit’ providers have entered the market
• GATS (1995), including trade in educational services, became a highly
debated response to this increasing phenomenon
• International trade in education services accounts for app. 3% of global
services exports, primarily through student mobility
• Trade is already more important than aid in higher education
Globalisation and its link to
Higher Education (1)
Increasing Unmet Demand for Higher Education
• Demographic Trends
• Degree and Diploma Programmes
• Lifelong Learning
Globalisation and its link to
Higher Education (2)
Growth in Numbers and Types of new Providers
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•
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Corporate Universities
For-profit private institutions
Media Companies
Education Brokers
Globalisation and its link to
Higher Education (3)
Innovative Delivery Methods
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•
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Distance and e-learning
Franchises
Satellite Campuses
Twinning / Joint Degree programmes
We see
• “A shift in paradigms of internationalisation from
cooperation to competition” (Van der Wende, 2001)
• But this does not imply that:
All institutions of higher education play the same active
competitive role, and that
It always happens at the cost of the more common
approach to international cooperation and exchange
Types of Cross-Border Education Activities
• 1.People
Students/Trainees
Professors/Trainers
Student Mobility
Academic/Trainer Mobility
• 2. Programmes
Educational Programmes
Academic Partnerships
• 3. Institutions/Providers
Foreign Campuses
Foreign Investments
(Knight, 2003, OECD)
Modes of supply
Source: OECD
Trade Mode
of supply
Mode 1
Definition
Example
Non-trade
term
Service crosses the
border
Distance education
Programme
mobility
Mode 2
Consumption
abroad
Students study abroad
People (student)
mobility
Mode 3
Establishment
Branch campuses,
training companies
(language, executive)
Institution mobility
Mode 4
Temporary
movement of
natural persons
Academic teaches
abroad
People (academic)
mobility
Four Approaches to cross-border post-secondary education,
OECD, 2004, 232
Import Strategies
Strong
Economic
Rationales
Export Strategies
Capacity Building
Revenue Generation
Rationales
Rationales
Same as Mutual Understanding plus:
- Meeting Demand for Higher Education
- Enhancing the Country’s Human Capital
-Building a better Higher Education System thanks to
spill-overs coming from Partnerhsips with Foreign
Institutions
Same as Skilled Migration plus:
- Developing Higher Education as an Expert Industry
- Using Cross-border Education to Finance the
Domestic Higher Education Sector and Change its
Governance
Skilled Migration
Rationales
Same as Mutual Understanding plus
- Attracting Highly Skilled People to build or maintain
the receiving country’s Knowledge Economy
- Enhancing the Competitiveness of one’s Higher
Education Sector
Weaker
Economic
Rationales
Mutual Understanding I
Mutual Understanding II
Rationales
Rationales
-Academic
-Geostrategic
-Social
- Cultural
- Political
- Economic
-Academic
- Geostrategic
-Social
- Cultural
- Political
- Economic
Crossborder supply
• Crossborder supply means the provision of a
service where the service crosses the border but
does not require the physical movement of the
consumer.
• Examples in higher education are: distance
education, E-learning and virtual universities.
Size and impact
• Potential due to new technologies
• Limitations due to lack of access to these technologies
and limitations in learning methodologies
• Potentials still primarily national (Open Universities)
and in Continuing Education (University of Phoenix)
• Still limited in scope, no reliable global data available
Presence of Natural Persons
• Presence of natural persons means persons travelling to another country on a
temporary basis to provide service
• Such as professors, teachers and researchers working abroad in higher
education.
(Knight, 2006c, 63).
Although happening quite frequently, exact numbers are not known and impact
neither. Will continue to be an important factor, with different implications in
North and South.
“USA is an overwhelming ‘brain gainer’ in relation to the rest of the world,
whereas most nations face a net loss of research personel to the USA.” And
The USA at the doctoral and postdoctoral stage has by far the most postitions
worldwide. (Marginson/Van der Wende, 2007, OECD)
Commercial Presence
• Commercial presence means that the service
provider establishes or has presence of
commercial facilities in another country in order
to render service.
• Examples are local branch or satellite campuses;
twining partnerships, articulation programmes,
and franchise arrangements.
Size and Impact I
• Difficult to document the extent of institution and programme mobility
• Definitions and sources are not always the same
• Much information is still based on anecdotal evidence
• There is still a lot of trial and error, see for instance recent Australian
withdrawals, and not always is clear what is closed and what is (still) in
operational existence
• Not all countries maintain an official list (China, India, Malaysia, Pakistan,
Singapore and Thailand do)
(Naidoo, 2007)
Size and Impact II
• Asia-Pacific region, Middle East, Eastern
Europe and South America in that order are
facing strongest commerical presence
• Australian, British and US institutions the main
ones operating them.
• Wholly-owned branch campuses and joint
venture operations represent a very small share.
Size and Impact III
• Examples of such wholly-owned and joint venture
operations indicate potential:
• Laureate Education Inc.: 209.000 students in 19
offshore operations
• Others: Apollo International (5 campuses), DeVry Inc.
(Canada and Carribean), and Career Education
corporation (France, UK, Canada and UAE)
Size and Impact IV
• Programme mobility is much larger and established than
institutional mobility: estimated 3.500-4.500 programmes.
• Australia is the most active exporter: 1569 programmes and 37
institutions involved (42.4 programmes per institution), followed
by the U.K. (1002, 79, 12.7), the USA (333), New Zealand (137,
29) and Canada (81,16).
• The largest importing places are Singapore (966), Hong Kong
(827) and Malaysia (490), with China (410) and India (249) as
emerging markets. (Naidoo, 2007)
Size and Impact V
• For Australia, enrollment in programme
mobility accounts in 2006 for 30% of all
international students, compared to 18% in
1996. forecast for 2025 is 47%.
• Primarily postgraduate (56%), in business
administration and economics (51%), and a
mean enrolment of 40 students of which 54%
full-time students (Davis et all, 2000).
Size and Impact VI
• For Canada, a recent AUCC survey indicated that Canadian
institutions are engaged in 194 programmes and that in these
10,798 students involved. Of these, 58 were franchises, 37
twinning programmes, 34 distance education.
• As top motives for involvement in knowledge export were
mentioned: Enhanced Reputation as an international institution;
opportunities for international student recruitment; alternate
source of income generation; and new national/international
partnerships.
• As main barriers were mentioned: lack of financial support to
offset the upfront costs; lack of faculty and professional staff;
and lack of internal institutional support. (AUCC, 2007)
Size and Impact VII
• Emerging exporters are: France, Germany, Italy, Portugal and
Spain in Europe and Russia in former Soviet territories ;
Malaysia, Singapore, China and India in Asia.
• Emerging importers are Mauritius, Qatar, UEA andVietnam.
• China, India, Malaysia and South Africa are examples of
countries that have recently introduced restrictions on institution
and programme mobility.
Consumption Abroad
• Consumption abroad is the provision of the service involving
the movement of the consumer to the country of the supplier;
• In higher education it means students going to another country
to study.
• It is at present the most common of the four modes of supply.
• The other three are still marginal and in a phase of trial and
error, although –as indicated – programme mobility is increasing
rapidly.
Summary picture of Consumption Abroad:
International Student Circulation
• If we look over the whole period of 1965-2005, what is most
striking are the numbers. India alone sends in 2005 more
students abroad than the total number was for 1950 (107.500),
and the ten countries with the largest number of students abroad
in 2005 equals the number of all international students of 1985
(939.000).
• Secondly we see an increase in students from emerging countries,
but relatively spoken mainly from China, India and South
Korea. The Western European and North American countries
stabilize their numbers and see a reduction in percentages, and
the other developing countries increase but in variations and not
with the big numbers as do the other three.
Summary picture of International
Student Circulation 2
• The top receiving countries remain to a large extent the same, only Australia
has been able to come close to the top 4: U.S.A., United Kingdom,
Germany and France.
•
If we look at the % of foreign students as part of total enrolment and we do
not include the students that move around within Europe (46% of their
mobility), Australia has a far higher number of international students (17.7%
of the total student body) than the U.S.A. (4.6%) and Europe (3.2%).
• The Arab States which had a high position as receiving countries in the
sixties and seventies see their position go down after that and become more
active in sending than receiving students. Only very recently one can observe
efforts by states as Jordan, Dubai and Qatar to become higher education
hubs in the region, but the effect of their investments still have to become
clear over the years.
Summary picture of International
Student Circulation 3
•
The efforts of other countries to increase the number of incoming students, such as
China, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore are already paying off, as is the new role that
South Africa plays as receiving country for Sub-Sahara Africa.
•
Where North-North circulation is stabilizing, the South-North flows are still on the
rise and a second flow of South-South circulation is taking place, with the receiving
countries being those who Cummings describes as late-development and the sending
countries being early-development.
•
In this also a regionalisation of South-South circulation is taking place: for instance
Malaysia concentrating on Southeast and West Asia as well as China and Singapore,
and South Africa on Sub-Saharan Africa.
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For the top receiving countries, skilled migration is becoming an increasingly more
important rationale. Easier visa and work permit regulations are becoming available.
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At the same time, higher cost related tuition fees for non-national/regional students
are introduced.
Three different Approaches of
national strategies for Cross-border
education in Asia
• Government-Regulated Approach
Examples: China, Malaysia and Korea
• Market-Oriented Approach
Examples: Australia and Hong Kong
• Transitional Approach from state-controled to free-market
approach
Examples: Japan and Taiwan (Futao Huang, 2006,8)
Regulations regarding foreign
providers
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Several countries have made new regulations, Example of China
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Joint ventures must not be operated for profit as main objective
Tuition Fees may not be rasided without approval
Half of the Board of Directors of joint ventures must be Chinese
Development plans must be approved by two-thirds or more of the board members
The chief administrative officer responsible for hiring and firing staff must be a
Chinese national
Joint venture must have a Chinese partner
Foreign religious institutions cannot be partners
The programmes must follow China’s educaitonal policy and be in line with Chinese
public morals and ehtics
Curriculum outline and list of teaching materials to be submitted to the ministry for
approval
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Bashir, 2007
UNESCO/OECD Guidelines on Quality
Provision in Cross-border Higher Education
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Objectives of the guidelines endorsed by OECD and UNESCO:
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‘Students/learners protection’ from the risks of misinformation, low-quality provision
and qualifications of limited validity.
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Qualifications should be readable and transparent in order to increase their
international validity and portability. Reliable and user-friendly information sources
should facilitate this.
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Recognition procedures should be transparent, coherent, fair and reliable and impose
as little burden as possible to mobile professionals.
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National quality assurance and accreditation agencies need to intensify their
international cooperation in order to increase mutual understanding.
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(OECD, 2004, 17) (www.oecd.org/edu/internationalisation/guidelines
Risks of increasing trade in higher education
(in particular for developing countries)
• Opposition is higher to institution and programme mobility than to student
mobility, even though the last one is more substantial and creates potentially
more negative impacts (such as brain drain)
• Loosing sovereignty over the education sector
• Excessive concentration on ‘job-related training’
• Growing inequity in access to higher education
• Vulnerability to aggressive not-regulated (not in the home nor in the host
country), low quality foreign providers
• Unequal access to higher education markets
(Bashir, 2007)
Opportunities
• Competition will increasingly be based on quality and
price. This provides opportunities for intradeveloping
trade, similar to what has been described for student
mobility. Examples are Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai and
Qatar.
• Low- and middle income countries with a need to
increase higher education, can look at commercial
presence as an option, also to reduce study abroad and
brain drain. Regulation and quality control as
maintaining a minium of quality public funding and
provision is required.