1. Peter SCOTT **
Vice-Chancellor, Kingston University, United Kingdom
Introductory Speech
Plenary Session 2
Cross-Border Higher Education and Internationalisation
OVERVIEW OF CONCEPTS, TRENDS AND CHALLENGES
IAU International Conference
Alexandria, Egypt
15-16 November 2005
Summary
In my presentation I will discuss two different kinds of taxonomy. The first is the conceptual
distinction between different forms of internationalisation – and, in particular, the key
differences between globalisation and internationalisation, terms which are sometimes (but
misleadingly, in my view) used interchangeably. The second is an empirical description of the
different forms of internationalisation in which higher education institutions engage – for
example, recruitment of international students, establishment of branch campuses,
franchising / validation of academic programmes, collaborative research and so on. I will then
attempt to link these two taxonomies – and, in doing so, outline some of the challenges facing
universities (and higher education systems).
Globalisation and internationalisation are distinct phenomena. One view is to regard the
former, globalisation, as simply an extended and more intensive form of the latter,
internationalisation; in other words the two concepts have a linear relationship. Another view
is to align globalisation with the ‘market’ and to regard internationalisation as an essentially
‘public’ phenomenon (whether linked to the diplomatic objectives, both cultural and economic,
of states or the academic objectives of universities, in terms of the internationalisation of the
curriculum, the diversification of the student body and/or research collaboration); in other
words the two concepts have a dialectical relationship. In my view the latter provides a more
satisfactory account than the former – but it is also important to recognise that globalisation is
not simply a ‘market’ phenomenon.
One of the most striking characteristics of cross-border higher education is its growing
heterogeneity. Once it was dominated by (generally one-way) of students from the developing
world to the developed world – although the motives for encouraging these flows changed
over time (from post-imperialism through aid and development to growing ‘market share’).
Today there is a much wider range of forms of cross-border higher education – from
recruiting international students, selling academic services, establishing branch campuses to
promoting global research networks and even borrowing policy frameworks. According to one
view this diversification has amounted to the ‘commercialisation’ of cross-border higher
education (which consequently and logically should now be embraced with the GATS and
other bi-lateral trade frameworks). But other views are also possible which emphasise other
geo-political trends – for example, the emergence of ‘world cultures’ (not necessarily ‘western
culture’) and the shift from ‘Atlantic’ to ‘Asian’ hegemonies. I will argue that these more
complex and more nuanced views offer a more satisfactory framework for discussing the
challenges facing universities in the international sphere.
Introduction
1. Thank you very much for inviting me to speak at this very important
conference. I cannot think of a better time to assert the more positive and
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2. more hopeful face of internationalisation (and I believe that academic,
scientific and cultural exchanges represent the most positive and most
hopeful face of internationalisation) – because the media are filled with much
more negative, more pessimistic and much darker faces of
internationalisation (the threat – and counter-threat – of war and terror; the
growing evidence of global environmental challenges; the increasing number
of natural disasters, the power of multi-national corporations, apparently
beyond democratic accountability). A decade ago perhaps the
internationalisation of higher education was less important because, on the
whole, internationalisation was seen as a benign process. Today it could not
be more important – as an essential counter-weight to these darker forms of
internationalisation.
2. But, as well as being more important than ever, the internationalisation of
higher education is more complex than ever. Once it took a limited number of
familiar forms – scientific exchanges at the highest level, and international
student recruitment. Today the internationalisation of higher education comes
is many, often less familiar forms. Some are the result of technological
change (especially the revolution in information and communication
technologies) – hence the growing importance of so-called ‘borderless’
education. But other new forms of internationalisation are less easy to
describe – and, therefore to predict. For example, the internationalisation of
higher education is becoming a ‘business’ – as such it may be just one
‘business’ in the global knowledge economy (which is typically seen as an
almost entirely free-market and high-tech formation – wrongly so, in my view
– although the GATS debate is of fundamental importance). But the
internationalisation of higher education is also being shaped by other forces –
for example, large-scale geopolitical shifts (away from the West, despite the
current dominance of the United States) or the development of ‘world
cultures’, intriguing amalgams of secular liberal cultures and more traditional
cultures (often, misleadingly, labelled ‘fundamentalist’).
3. I do not have time today to more than scratch the surface of this complexity
(which, I would argue, in the other-side-of-the-coin to the growing importance
of the internationalisation of higher education). I only have 20 minutes – and I
have been asked to provide an overview of concepts, trends and challenges.
Each of these deserves at least 20 minutes in its own right, so I will have to
be very brief – and also simplify what are really very complex subjects. I have
also been asked to concentrate on cross-border higher education – although
it is not always easy to distinguish between cross-border higher education –
the establishment of global partnerships, the emergence of rival ‘virtual’
institutions, the creation of branch campuses in other countries; and so on –
and more traditional forms of internationalisation.
4. My talk is divided into three parts:
i) The first is the wider context of globalisation, a word that is
on everyone’s lips (and is often over-used by politicians).
What do we mean by globalisation – American hegemony,
multi-national capitalism, the ICT revolution? I want to
argue that globalisation is many other things besides (and
that these other forms of globalisation may actually be
more relevant to discussions about the internationalisation
of higher education). In other words – the CONCEPTS;
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3. ii) In the second part of my talk I want to focus on trans-
national higher education itself – the various forms it takes
from the high-level scientific exchanges (and patterns of
academic immigration and immigration) and traditional
forms of international student recruitment, with which we
are familiar, to the potential threat of new corporate and
virtual ‘universities’. In other words – the TRENDS;
iii) And in the final part of my talk I plan to talk about the
CHALLENGES – which, for the sake of argument (and also
because I only have a little time) I will reduce to a choice
between what I will call ‘GATS road’ and a very different,
more democratic and more emancipatory, road, a road
along which higher education is a leader not a follower,
because we assert the priority of our core values (of
science, enlightenment, emancipation) rather than simply
submit to the values of others whether confrontational
ideologies, rival states, competing corporations.
Concepts
5. Let me start then with concepts – what exactly is globalisation, and what is its
impact on the internationalisation of higher education (and cross-border
higher education, my particular topic)? I want to talk about four different
accounts of globalisation – and link each to a particular view of the
internationalisation of higher education:
i) The first account is the most familiar – globalisation as a
kind of gigantic round-the-clock round the globe ‘market’
powered by ever more powerful information and
communication technologies. In this first version of
globalisation the power of national states, even of regional
blocs of states, has been radically curtailed; ‘free’ markets,
out-sourcing (often on a global basis), privatisation and the
rest are irresistible forces. Now, if you accept this version
of globalisation, two things are important for higher
education. The first is that universities, especially so-called
‘world class’ research universities, are key players because
they produce much of the fundamental science and
advanced technology on which this global knowledge
economy depends. The second thing that is important for
higher education is that it has to embrace ‘market’ values
and ‘market’ practices – without qualification (because
there is, literally, no alternative). So, according to this first
version of globalisation, what kind of internationalisation
matters? First, high-level scientific exchanges (and also
emigration / immigration of scientists – the ‘brain drain’ and
all that); and, second, universities as ‘knowledge
businesses’ battling for ‘market share’;
ii) The second account of globalisation emphasises the very
wide distribution of knowledge production (and the inter-
twining of knowledge production with its dissemination,
transfer and end uses). In other words we are talking about
innovation (not just in a technological or even economic
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4. sense, but also in the social, political and cultural arenas).
Some people – including myself – have written of a shift
from ‘Mode 1’ research to ‘Mode 2’ knowledge production.
Now, if you accept this rather different view of globalisation,
the implications for higher education are also different.
There is a much stronger focus on the role universities play
in regional and national development, in the part they play
as ‘transaction spaces’, ‘trading zones’, access points,
translational arenas between global knowledge and local
‘knowledges’ (which cannot just be dismissed as
subordinate or inferior forms of knowledge. So, again, what
kinds of internationalisation matter? First, perhaps,
internationalisation-at-home – embedding global
perspectives into the curriculum and also bringing together
local agendas, particularly those concerned with ethnic,
religious and cultural diversity within nations, with
international agendas. Second, maybe, more – and more
equal – academic exchanges. Third, perhaps, a stronger
emphasis on development as a key driver of
internationalisation;
iii) The third account of globalisation is more concerned with
the humanities and social sciences. It emphasises both the
growth of so-called ‘world culture’ (or, at any rate, ‘global
brands’ which may not be the same thing) but also the
persistence of cultural differences – and, in particular, what
happens when this ‘world culture’ (or these ‘global brands’)
and these cultural differences either come together in a
positive, synergistic, way or when they collide (maybe even
violently). Two quick comments. First, once that ‘world
culture’ would have been labelled ‘western’ and seen
perhaps as a hang-over of imperialism (or a continuation of
imperialism by other means); today it is more likely to be
labelled ‘Asian’ and be seen in the light of the dynamic
technologies being produced in that region of the world.
Second, how that ‘world culture’ is interpreted by, absorbed
into, different national cultures is an extremely complex
(and even ambiguous) process. So – what are the
implications of this third account of globalisation for the
internalisation of higher education? Perhaps the most
important is that universities are key mediators; they have
a big effect on whether this encounter between ‘world
culture’ and national cultures produces synergy or
confrontation. In simple terms internationalisation is, or
should be, about promoting international understanding,
mutual respect of cultural differences, creating a shared
sense of humanity, universal values that are not the
property of a particular nation, religion, culture, continent
but belong to all;
iv) The fourth, and final, account of globalisation is – you could
call it, anti-globalisation, the forces that have set
themselves up in opposition to free-market high-tech
globalisation. Some of these forces are political and
peaceful – I am thinking of the worldwide coalitions that
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5. oppose the degradation of the natural (and human)
environment, a social ecology that has succeeded
traditional forms of social democracy. After all Green
Peace is as much a global brand as Coca Cola. In many
ways these social and environmental movements represent
a purer forms of globalisation than the ‘free-marketers’. But
there are other forces more violent and more
confrontational. Global terrorism is an aspect of
globalisation, both in terms of what it opposes but also in
terms of the advanced technologies it uses. So – what
forms of internationalisation in higher education does this
fourth account of globalisation suggest? One, certainly, is
to reinforce the point I have just made about promoting
international understanding by respecting differences. But
a second implication, surely, is the need for universities to
be placed where these turbulent and complex forces that
are shaping our world are properly understood, in terms
both of research and teaching – and it is impossible to do
this without free and vigorous international exchanges (I
say ‘exchanges’ because essentially one-way ‘market’
flows will never be enough in this respect).
6. The point I want to emphasise that, if we concentrate only on the first account
of globalisation (as a free-market, high-tech, ‘western’ phenomenon, we are
inevitably pushed in the direction of one particular version of
internationalisation, also as largely concerned with the development of
‘markets’ in knowledge products and services (and products and services are
predominantly concerned with scientific and technical expertise). But, if we
pay more attention to the other accounts of globalisation, we may come to
different conclusions about the future direction of the internationalisation of
higher education – and also of trans-border education, which is often seen as
the most entrepreneurial (and market-oriented) form of internationalisation.
Trends
7. I would now like to move onto the second part of my talk – a discussion of
trends in internationalisation (and, in particular, in cross-border higher
education). I am very conscious that one of the other speakers in this session,
Professor Jane Knight from OISE, is one of the leading experts in this field.
So I will be brief – and, I hope, that, if I get anything wrong, Jane will correct
me. I would like to cover three broad topics:
8. My first topic is the size of the total market (just how big a business is
international higher education – and how significant an element in that overall
market is cross-border higher education?). There are a lot of big figures being
bandied about – which are not always easy to reconcile with past and present
growth trends. In the past five years a number of studies have suggested that
the market in ‘international education’ is expanding – almost exponentially.
Yet the main countries that ‘import’ international students (the United States,
Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, France and Germany) have not seen
numbers increase to anything like the same extent – and, indeed, have fought
each other to protect, or increase, their ‘market shares’. This contrast
demonstrates very clearly, I believe, that ‘international education’ and
‘international student recruitment’ are not the same thing (and I will say a bit
more about this in a moment). It is perfectly possible that one – ‘international
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6. education’ in its broadest sense – is boomed, while the other – ‘international
student recruitment’ – is growing much less rapidly.
9. My second topic is what I will call the ‘big picture’. I believe we need to see
the internationalisation of higher education (and the growth of cross-border
higher education) in the wider contexts of (a) mass tourism and mass-media
culture, which have given large sections of the population some knowledge
(and even experience) of other cultures (what I like to call the home-at-abroad
phenomenon; and (b) large-scale emigration (and immigration) flows which
have produced much greater diversity within once more homogeneous
national societies (what I like to call the abroad-at-home phenomenon). To
take a simple example, it is clear that many students choose to study abroad
not because they are seeking a directly ‘international’ experience, but
because they see it as opening up opportunities that are not available at
home; in other words their choice has as much to do with upward social
mobility, or opting for a higher-quality experience, than it is to do with a thirst
for ‘internationalism’ (still less, for multi-culturalism). Viewed in that light, their
choices are not so very different from those made by so-called ‘economic
migrants’ or even refugees – although they may occupy a more privileged
socio-economic position (at the top – as opposed to the middle, for ‘economic
migrants’; or the bottom, for many refugees).
10. My third topics is the most important shifts that are taking place within the
market for international education:
• One such shift is from physical to virtual mobility – or,
perhaps, more accurately, blends of actual and virtual
mobility. This is linked to the changes taking place in
how we conceive of, and experience, time and space
in the post-modern world with its faux familiarities and
fractured communities.
• A second shift is from traditional to ‘alternative’
providers – or, once again more accurately, a
combination of the two often in uneasy alliances. I will
say more about this in the last section of my talk
today – challenges.
• A third shift is from fixed patterns of mobility [i.e. full-
time study abroad] to more flexible patterns [shorter
study visits, mixtures of home and international, and
actual and virtual, experiences and so]. Linked to this
are initiatives designed to provide an ‘international’
experience at ‘home’ – for example, by establishing
branch campuses.
• A fourth shift is from institution-level and national
policies to, in the case of institutions, alliances of
similar institutions and, in the case of the latter,
regional blocs (of which the best example is the
European Higher Education Area, being produced by
the so-called Bologna process).
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7. Challenges
11. In the final part of my talk today I would like to talk about just two (of the many
challenges) facing universities in the context of cross-border higher
education. The first is the potential impact of rival institutions; and the second
is the challenge posed by GATS.
Rival institutions
12. The first challenge is the impact, short-term and long-term of more so-called
‘borderless’ institutions. These may be virtual universities, corporate
universities or for-profit universities like the University of Phoenix. The
standard account often suggests that, if conventional universities do not get
their act together (by which is often meant the abandonment of traditional
academic culture and professional practices), they will be superseded by
these ‘alternative’ institutions which will be much more responsive – at
national but particularly at international level. In fact there is rather limited
evidence that this is happening. Attempts to create virtual universities have
generally failed – the collapse of the e-University in Britain demonstrated the
limits of purely technical solutions to complex socio-cultural problems.
Interestingly the Open University, based on much more traditional principles,
continues to flourish. The hey-day of corporate universities appears – for the
moment – to have passed, as companies downsize or out-source their
corporate universities (often preferring to contract with traditional universities).
The scope for for-profit universities also appears to be limited – both by the
range of subjects that can be turned into profitable products and also by the
progressive introduction of fees into many public universities. And, if anything,
the impact of so-called ‘borderless’ education may have been more limited in
the international sphere where it might have been expected to be greatest.
The international education market is probably a rather conservative market.
13. The lesson I draw is that the challenge comes not so much from ‘outside’,
from the ‘other, brand-new kinds of universities that are completely different
from traditional universities – but from ‘within’, from the growing importance of
more market-oriented activities within traditional universities. Universities are
likely to become hybrid public-private institutions in which fairly traditional
forms of teaching and research co-exist with much more entrepreneurial
forms. This would be entirely consistent with the way that the State itself is
developing. But I think it would be wrong to conclude that international
education would automatically fall into the latter, entrepreneurial, category –
because, as I have emphasised more than once, there are many faces of
internationalisation and globalisation some of which are actively opposed to
the application of market principles to higher education.
GATS
14. The second challenge (many people would call it a threat) comes from the
proposed extension of GATS – the WTO-led General Agreement on Trade in
Services – to cover higher education. This is a very complex matter. As you
probably know four separate modes of higher education: (i) cross-border
supply [which would cover distance education]; (ii) consumption abroad [in
other words international students studying abroad]; (iii) commercial presence
[branch campuses established in foreign countries or franchise deals]; and
(iv) ‘presence of natural persons’ [teachers or researchers working abroad].
These four modes raise very different issues. While there might be few
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8. objections to adopting a free-market approach in one mode, there might be
serious objections in the case of another. To take an obvious example, many
Governments will be reluctant to extend the same financial subsidies to what
are, in essence, foreign institutions and / or commercial organisations as they
do to their own universities. There is also a particular concern in developing
which want to protest themselves, and their institutions, against unregulated
asset-stripping and talent-stripping. One effect could be that public institutions
in developing countries are crowded out of profitable markets, for example
business schools, and be left with the more expensive subjects such as
engineering or medicine.
15. A number of concerns have been expressed about the inclusion of higher
education within the GATS framework (and on this American and European
universities are at one):
i) The first is an ideological objection – higher education is
not, or should be treated simply as a tradable commodity.
Not only are universities immensely significant in terms of
expressing national cultures and traditions, they are also
key sources of investment in social and community
development as well as being engines of individual and
democratic entitlement;
ii) The second concern is a more restrained version of the
first – the language, concepts and values of economic
liberalisation, such as is used by the WTO and GATS, are
antithetical to those of higher education. So there is a real
risk of mutual misunderstandings arising;
iii) A third concern – an example of the problems with
language – is the ambiguity of GATS. For example, can
higher education be included among the ‘services provided
in the exercise of governmental authority’ that are provided
on a non-commercial basis and are not in competition with
services from other providers? As I said a moment ago,
many universities today are hybrid institutions embracing
both traditional and more entrepreneurial elements;
iv) Finally, there are concerns that the dynamics of trade
liberalisation encourage Governments to offer trade-offs –
and access to higher education ‘markets’ could become
one of these trade-offs (especially because negotiations
are being handled by non-Education Ministries, higher
education leaders are not being properly consulted in many
countries and the longer-term unintended consequences of
liberalisation in higher education are poorly understood).
Conclusion
16. It is now time for me to bring my remarks to a close. I have just spoken of
GATS – and certainly that is one way in which the future of the
internationalisation of higher education (and of cross-border higher education,
in particular) can be viewed. But, whatever you may think about the GATS
agenda (and I have to admit that my political values tend to make me critical
of that agenda), if you accept the kind of analysis that I have offered you
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9. today, GATS cannot be the whole story. There are other aspects of
globalisation – and of international education – that must be viewed in
different terms. I would suggest to you that older ideas of democracy and
liberation, of enlightenment and emancipation, may offer us better terms of
reference for understanding (and steering) the future direction of international
education. Than k you for listening to me.
Peter Scott
Kingston University
** PROFESSOR PETER SCOTT
Professor Peter Scott is Vice-Chancellor of Kingston University. Prior to this he was Pro
Vice-Chancellor for External Affairs at the University of Leeds. He was also Professor of
Education and Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in Education. Before going to
Leeds in 1992, he was for sixteen years Editor of the Times Higher Education Supplement.
He was educated at the University of Oxford where he studied history and at the University
of California at Berkeley where he was a visiting scholar at the Graduate School of Public
Policy while holding a Harkness Fellowship from the Commonwealth Fund of New York.
He has honorary doctorates from the University of Bath, the University of Manchester
Institute of Science and Technology, the (former) Council for National Academic Awards,
Anglia Polytechnic University and Grand Valley State University. He is also a Member of
the Academia Europea, an Academician of the Academy of Learned Societies for the Social
Sciences and a member of the Board of the Higher Education Funding Council for England.
His research interests are the governance and management of universities and colleges,
non-standard access to higher education and the links between further and higher
education. His most recent books are The Meanings of Mass Higher Education (1995),
Governing Universities (1996), the Globalization of Higher Education (1998) and Higher
Education Re-formed (2000), University Leadership: The Role of the Chief Executive
(2000), Ten Years On: Higher Education in Central and Eastern Europe (2000) and Re-
Thinking Science: Knowledge Production in an Age of Uncertainties (2001).
IAU International Conference 9