Transnational Higher Education in the Asian Context

Abstract

In this volume contributors from a range of contexts have given us their views of Transnational Higher Education (TNHE). TNHE and Internationalisation are key issues for Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and governments all around the world but internationalisation is not a universally defined concept nor is the approach to internationalisation universal, as we can see from some of the chapters in this volume (e.g. Yonezawa et al, Zheng, Clothey, Lux and Timm). Another factor is that the definition and practice of HE internationalisation may be influenced by geopolitical and economic factors over which we have little control as educators. Internationalisation is often cited in more everyday contexts and in the media as the same as Globalisation, a term which generally applies more to trade and economics. However, Globalisation is not a neutral term as the concept may be negatively interpreted in some East Asian contexts and on other continents as “Westernisation” — a process to be resisted in a patriotic cause. Nonetheless, it is clear that the ambition to become a world-class university (Salmi, 2009) involves the internationalisation of HEIs primarily in terms of research recognition for the university rankings such as the we 11-recognised the Times Higher Education World University Rankings (2012) or the Shanghai-Jiaotong tables (Academic Ranking of World Universities, 2010), and secondly in terms of international student recruitment (Coverdale-Jones, this volume).