Search results

In Japan, virtual exchange and mobility are regarded as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as alternatives to international learning through physical mobility. International educators express concerns that online international learning methods may fade away after physical student mobility resumes on a larger scale. However, it is crucial for universities to leverage newly developed online learning tools after the pandemic in order to offer inclusive international education which reaches the larger student pool who are unable to study abroad. Now is the time to reflect on how international education policy and practice have relied excessively on cross-border student mobility. In turn, it will be important to position ICT-based educational practices as an opportunity to create new value and meaning for international education in an environmentally friendly and low-cost manner in the new normal world. Also, in Japan, internationalization at home was not addressed to any great extent before the pandemic. However, there is an increasing awareness that ICT-based international education can effectively contribute to the expansion of internationalization at home. Adapting to the new normal situation requires a new modality of internationalization, and it will have a significant impact on the attractiveness of higher education in the country.

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the function and issues of intra‐ and inter‐regional cooperation of international higher education in Asia and consider the possibility of East Asian integration as regionalization.

The research consists of two steps. First, by comparing with examples of regional networks and universities’ cooperation programs, it breaks down the current situation of regional cooperation. Second, it analyses the structure of those networks and programs.

Both regional education networks and universities’ cooperation programs develop in multi‐layers and in different phases, and they have a function of distribution of Asian higher education as public goods for regionalization. There are still issues such as immigration control relating to the people's and programs’ mobility, program language, financial and personnel affairs, as well as adjustments to be made in accreditation assessment, credit compatibility and quality assurance including curriculum setting. Retaining the autonomy of countries and higher education agencies in international cooperation is also the major issue in promoting these programs. However, such international cooperation produces the new forms of international higher education for human resource development.

Not all networks and programs can be examined, but the trend and characteristics of the cooperation in higher education can be highlighted.

The findings give significance to the “Campus Asia” concept which is now in preparation for realization by the agreement at the summit of China, Japan and South Korea in October 2009.

While integration and regionalization in East Asia has been discussed previously from the political and economic aspects, this paper responds to the subject from the socio‐cultural aspect by focusing on international higher education in Asia.

This chapter considers internationalisation strategies to promote international student recruitment and mobility as the central tools of contemporary universities operating in a global and competitive context. It presents an overview of these strategies in the public university context in Italy, which serves as a case study to highlight how universities increasingly give relevance to the internationalisation of education in their strategic plans to attract overseas students and encourage incoming and outgoing student mobility. The document-based analysis of the Italian case reveals a prominent commitment from public universities to promoting internationalisation through different strategic performance objectives that contribute to the internationalisation of students and fuel their mobility and recruitment on a global scale. This research provides empirical evidence of the saliency of the internationalisation of education within the strategic missions of universities. It also addresses the connection between the internationalisation of university education and performance-based funding.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a fast-moving pandemic that has brought about calamities and challenges to the human world. In the field of international higher education (IHE), it problematizes and challenges the operation of neo-liberal mentalities and rationales, while generating disruptions and impediments to the flows of globalization. Drawing upon extant research on IHE across spatial and cultural contexts, this essay aims to: (1) unravel the deficiencies of neo-liberal mentalities and rationales in coping with the challenges of COVID-19 to IHE; (2) assess the impacts of COVID-19 on the developments of globalization and internationalization of higher education with particular focus on the complications therein; and (3) explore the possible spill-over effects on and implications for the re-positioning of IHE in the post-COVID-19 era. Albeit the negative impacts of COVID-19 may not last, its spill-over effects are bound to cast a long shadow over IHE’s future development. This essay explores how IHE can persist in spite of deficiencies in neo-liberalism and fluidity in globalization.

The purpose of this paper is to determine the possibilities and barriers of the practical application of internationally recognized diplomas of higher education.

The authors used SWOT analysis for determining preconditions and barriers as well as possibilities and threats that are related to the provision and practical application of internationally recognized diplomas of higher education and the method of modeling of socio-economic processes and systems for compiling a conceptual model of the provision and practical application of internationally recognized diplomas of higher education. Demand for the practical application of internationally recognized diplomas in modern Russia is determined with the method of analysis of statistical data (method of economic statistics). The information and analytical basis of the research consists of materials of the Federal State Statistics Service of the Russian Federation.

It is shown by the example of modern Russia that the practical application of internationally recognized diplomas is popular, and universities that provide remote education possess wide possibilities in the sphere of their provision, as they are characterized by high flexibility that allows them to adapt to the international standards of university education. The barriers of the practical application of internationally recognized diplomas of higher education are caused by the lack of clear and generally recognized international standards of university education, absence of entrepreneurial culture of application of internationally recognized diplomas and absence of international organization that certifies activities of universities and issues licenses for internationally recognized diplomas.

In order to overcome these barriers, the authors created a conceptual model of the provision and practical application of internationally recognized diplomas of higher education.

Many universities in the world depend on tuition fees paid by international students as the main source of institutional operating budgets. The current study aims to predict the future of international student recruitment from education agents’ perspectives. The study is qualitative and nineteen interviews were conducted. Results show why students contact international student recruiters before making their decisions regarding which HEIs they will join. Results also highlight the effect of COVID-19 on recruiting international students and finally, four predictions were suggested by interviewees regarding the future of this industry. Discussions and conclusion are presented.

Before the turn of the century, taking overseas students was more about a diplomatic issue dominated by the state in China, for which reason this section is relatively independent within the higher education system. However, evidence from a series of new policy documents and their impacts suggests that international student mobility (ISM) has been intensively shaped by the central government in the desire to promote its national strategy, namely the belt and road initiative. ISM policy, although with a significant proportion marketized, was introduced for a clear purpose of cultural diplomacy. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Looking beyond the debate of market-driven vs state-dominated, this paper attempts to provide a thorough understanding of this changing pattern based on examination of key changes of policy statements along with official data analysis.

This paper argues that the new pattern must be understood against a context of a hierarchy of higher education institutes in contemporary China: a sector led by a small number of prestigious universities generously funded by the central government with a large number of ordinary universities underfunded and eager to generate income. Prestigious institutes enroll international students to satisfy performance indicators listed by policies like “Double First-rate”; other universities, benefiting from the reputation and momentum generated by the top ones, take self-funded students for profit.

By making good use of both performance indicators and market motives, the country managed to move a state-dominated ISM policy in the twentieth century into the existing state-steering marketization model and made China a major destination for overseas study.

This article aims to provide a timely examination of and reflection on the impact of COVID-19 on the neo-liberal paradigm that has been prevalent in international higher education (HE) for two decades since the late 1990s.

Methodologically, this paper deploys conceptual mapping as an analytical tool to explore and examine the global news updates that provide timely (i.e. early 2020) record of the fast-moving pandemic.

It unfolds four pairs of contradictions occurring in the Western universities during the pandemic outbreak, i.e. HE as cross-border services vs border control, the state's shrinking public funding vs universities under financial threat, increased reliance on foreign students' tuition fee vs decreased international enrolment and the user-pays philosophy vs the rising force of user says.

It is argued that the pending crises facing Western universities are not merely financial issues; they reveal the shortcomings that are inherent in business model of HE driven by economic globalisation but triggered by coronavirus pandemic to erupt. The pandemic should be temporary, but its spill-over effects may alter the overarching landscape of the international HE relations, which is part and parcel of the changing geopolitical order featured as de-globalisation.

The paper has practical implications for acting on international HE in the time of coronavirus pandemic. They mainly consider four aspects: (1) travel distance as new determinant of study abroad, (2) the renewed significance of a state's role in policymaking and financial undertaking, (3) shortcomings in market mechanism and (4) East Asia as an emerging regional hub of study abroad.

This paper is expected to leverage three lessons learned from the upending situation. First, it is conceptually misleading to define international HE as a form of market-led “transnational service” and cross-border tradeable product undermining a state's control. Second, a state's supervising model needs to be reviewed, to embrace the renewed relationship between a state and universities in the new context of global pandemic. Third, the global landscape of international HE may be altered.

This conceptual paper provides a timely critique of the neo-liberal paradigm in HE and shedding light on the changing global landscape of international HE along with the changing geopolitical relations reshuffled by COVID-19 and its spill-over effects.

Internationalisation and academic mobility have long been integral parts, although serving different purposes in the higher education industry. Internationalisation has played a crucial role in facilitating academic exchange, knowledge sharing, research partnerships and collaborative innovation. However, the rise of neoliberalism has introduced the market forces of global capitalism that have significantly impacted higher education worldwide – invading the sector with neoliberal market values. This chapter aims to explore the impact of neoliberalism on the internationalisation of higher education in Africa, with a specific focus on trends in international student mobility. The chapter argues that the influence of neoliberalism on international mobility extends beyond market dynamics, encompassing discussions on hegemony within international knowledge systems, where African countries and institutions often find themselves marginalised. The study relies on published materials and publicly available statistical data from both governmental and non-governmental organisations. By examining the interplay between neoliberalism and the process of internationalisation in higher education, this chapter sheds light on the intricate and multifaceted aspects of both concepts, as well as their practical implications for international student mobility. Moreover, the chapter reflects on the implications of neoliberal entanglements for the prospects of internationalisation in African higher education.