Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

A Risk Management Approach for the Internationalization of Higher Education

  • Published:
Journal of the Knowledge Economy Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This paper analyzes how higher education institutions can utilize a framework for assessing the risks associated with international expansion initiatives. It makes an argument for why borrowing risk assessment frameworks from other disciplines can also be beneficial to higher education institutions. The riskiest form of internationalization—establishing an international branch campus—is used as a benchmark for assessing risks. A risk management framework developed for managing risks associated with global megaprojects is used to analyze key decision points senior leaders at higher education institutions may want to consider when deciding to expend scarce institutional resources to pursue an international higher education project. This paper finds that risks management models borrowed from the business discipline are adaptable for a higher education context. With few risk management models available to assess the risks associated with internationalization opportunities, the authors argue that more research is needed on the topic of risk so that senior leaders can make well-informed decisions about taking on riskier international education opportunities.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Altbach, P. G., & Salmi, J. (Eds.). (2011). The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities. World Bank Publications.

  • Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2010). Trends in global higher education: tracking an academic revolution. Rotterdam: Sense.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher, B. and Streitwieser, B. (under review). Information Sharing in the Age of Hyper Competition: Opening an International Branch Campus.

  • Chalmers, I. (2011). International branch campuses and unique risk considerations. University Risk Management and Insurance Association, 33–39.

  • Cross-Border Education Research Team. (2017). C-BERT Branch Campus Listing. [Data originally collected by Kevin Kinser and Jason E. Lane]. Available: http://cbert.org/branchcampuses.php. Albany, NY: Author.

  • Cuban, L., & Shipps, D. (2000). Reconstructing the common good in education: Coping with intractable American dilemmas. Stanford University Press.

  • Girdzijauskaite, E., & Radzeviciene, A. (2014). International branch campus: framework and strategy. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 110, 301–308.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Incheon Global Campus Vision Statement. (2017, January 25). Retrieved from http://www.sgu.or.kr/sgu/new_eng/intro/vision.htm

  • Kardes, I., Ozturk, A., Cavusgil, S. T., & Cavusgil, E. (2013). Managing global megaprojects: complexity and risk management. Int Bus Rev, 22(6), 905–917.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knight, J. (2006). Cross-border education: conceptual confusion and data deficits. Perspect Educ, 24(4), 15–27.

    Google Scholar 

  • Labaree, D. F. (1997). Public goods, private goods: the American struggle over educational goals. Am Educ Res J, 34(1), 39–81.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, J. E., & Kinser, K. (2011a). Reconsidering privatization in cross-border engagements: the sometimes public nature of private activity. Higher Education Policy, 24(2), 255–273. doi:10.1057/hep.2011.2.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lane, J. E., & Kinser, K. (2011b). Multinational colleges and universities: leading, governing, and managing international branch campuses. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levin, H. M. (1987). Education as a public and private good. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 6, 628–641.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzarol, T., Soutar, G. N., & Seng, M. S. Y. (2003). The third wave: future trends in international education. Int J Educ Manag, 17(3), 90–99. doi:10.1108/09513540310467778.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBurnie, G., & Ziguras, C. (2007). Transnational education: issues and trends in offshore higher education. New York;London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of education policy, 20(3), 313–345.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reilly, B. (2008). Digital encounters: using information technology in an overseas branch campus. Hist Teach, 41(4), 531–541.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rizvi, F., & Lingard, B. (2009). Globalizing education policy. Routledge.

  • Roberts, P., & Peters, M. A. (2008). Neoliberalism, higher education and research. Sense Publishers.

  • Salmi, J. (2009). The challenge of establishing world-class universities. World Bank Publications.

  • Shields, R. (2013). Globalization and international education. Contemporary issues in education studies series. London: Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Streitwieser, B., Miller-Idriss, C., & deWit, H. (2017). Higher Education’s response to the European refugee crisis. In J. Gacel-Avila, E. Jones, N. Jooste, & H. de Wit (Eds.), The globalization of internationalization: emerging voices and perspectives in the series, internationalization in higher education. London: Routledge ISBN-13: 978-1138100640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Verger, A. (2009). GATS and higher education: state of play of the liberalization commitments. Higher Education Policy, 22, 225–244.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wang, Q., Cheng, Y., & Liu, N. C. (2013). Building World-Class Universities. In Building World-Class Universities (pp. 1–10). Sense Publishers.

  • Weerts, D. J., & Ronca, J. M. (2006). Examining differences in state support for higher education: a comparative study of state appropriations for research I universities. The Journal of Higher Education, 77(6), 935–967.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wildavsky, B. (2012). The great brain race: How global universities are reshaping the world. Princeton University Press.

  • Wilkins, S., & Huisman, J. (2012). The international branch campus as transnational strategy in higher education. High Educ, 64(5), 627–645. doi:10.1007/s10734-012-9516-5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wilkins, S. (2011). Who benefits from foreign universities in the Arab Gulf States? Aust Univ Rev, 53(1), 73–83.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yudkevich, M., Altbach, P. G., & Rumbley, L. (2016). The global academic rankings game: changing institutional policy, practice, and academic life. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Zumeta, W., Breneman, D. W., Callan, P. M., & Finney, J. E. (2012). Financing American higher education in the era of globalization. Cambridge: Harvard Education Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Education and Human Development, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

    Bradley Beecher & Bernhard Streitwieser

  2. 209 North West Street, Alexandria, VA, 22314, USA

    Bradley Beecher

Authors
  1. Bradley Beecher
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Bernhard Streitwieser
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Bernhard Streitwieser.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Beecher, B., Streitwieser, B. A Risk Management Approach for the Internationalization of Higher Education. J Knowl Econ 10, 1404–1426 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-017-0468-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13132-017-0468-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation