Brian D Denman

1
World Universities and Cross-Border Higher
Education
Brian D Denman School of Professional Development
Leadership University of New England Armidale
NSW 2351 Australia bdenman_at_une.edu.au
2
Presentation Overview

• The aims of this presentation are as follows
• to propose working definitions of university,
  world university, and cross-border higher
  education based on recent developments
• to create a typology of cross-border higher
  education
• to identify geographic, financial and competitive
  factors affecting international-oriented
  universities and
• to suggest challenges ahead for universities and
  classification systems

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Higher Education
As long as higher education perpetuates the
creation of communities of productive learners
and scholars, it will continue to influence and
be influenced by societal expectations. This
struggle is not only inevitable but necessary,
for any institutionalized, organizational body
that addresses societal issues, norms, and
practices should be held under close political
and social scrutiny.
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Historical Origins of the University

• Nalanda (c. 5th Century BCE)
• Islamic University of Al-Azhar (c. 970 CE)
• University of Paris and the University of Bologna
  (c. 1150 CE)
• University of Cambridge (c. 1209 CE)
• Newmans idea of a university (c. 1850)

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The Rise of the Modern University
Around 1850, the university served as a
territorial display of civilization-building with
a bias towards advancing society-at-large through
knowledge distribution. Territorial, if not
cultural, imperatives helped shape its structure
until the advent of technological advancement.
As such, they were as a catalyst, giving rise to
the modern research university, changing "nations
from agricultural status to industrial status,
which opened up the possibilities of vast world
trade" (Cubberley 1948 799).
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Working Definition of a University for the 21st
Century
A university is a complex higher education
organization that is formally authorized to offer
and confer advanced degrees in three or more
academic disciplines or fields of study.
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Current Numbers
According to IAUs World List of Universities
(2004), there are currently 9,200 universities
and 8,000 other institutions of higher education
in the world (IAUs World Higher Education
Database (Accessed 3 March 2005),
http//www.unesco.org/iau/onlinedatabases/list.htm
l).
8
Higher Education Expansion
Whether the concept of the university was
initially conceived as a form of institutional
imperialism or not, a pattern of higher education
expansion is taking shape, and with greater
intensity, in terms of economic opportunity. The
commodification of knowledge alone is a daunting
circumstance, but if left to market forces,
universities will increasingly be amalgamated in
such ways to generate new types of knowledge, not
for the sake of knowledge advancement, but for
financial gain.
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Cross-Border Higher Education
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World Global Universities
University of National and World Economy
(Bulgaria) University of World Economy and
Diplomacy (Uzbekistan) Uzbek State World
Languages University (Uzbekistan) Vancouver
University Worldwide (Canada) World Maritime
University (Sweden) World University of
Bangladesh (Bangladesh) United Nations University
(Japan) University for Peace (Costa
Rica) Transcend Peace University (Romania) First
Global University to teaching Jainism (Jain
University) The Global College (Pakistan) Sources
Universities Worldwide. (Accessed 4 March
2005) http////univ.cc/world.php International
Association of Universities Online Database.
(Accessed 4 March 2005) http//www.unesco.org/iau/
onlinedatabases/list.html
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Working Definition of a World University
A world university is a degree-granting
institution that may be hosted by a country but
not designed to share the host countrys national
or cultural character. Instead, it is intended to
concentrate on a scholarly theme of global
relevance.
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Working Definition of Cross-Border Higher
Education
Cross-border higher education refers to
institutions of higher education that have
undergone the multinationalization process.
This process involves academic programs and/or
institutions from one country which are offered
in other countries (Altbach 2004 3).
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Typology of Cross-Border Higher Education

• Satellite Offshore Campuses campuses are set
  up by an institution from one country to another
  in an effort to provide its educational or
  training degree programs in the host country
• Memorandum of Understanding Schemes an
  institution (A) approves an institution (B) in
  another country to provide one or more of As
  programs to students in Bs country
• Island Study Abroad Programs an institution (A)
  offers its own students its academic programming
  in another country with or without collaboration
  from another institution (B)

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Typology of Cross-Border Higher Education -
continued

• Semi-Affiliated and Wholly-Affiliated Study
  Abroad Programs an institution (A) recognizes
  and offers academic study at an institution (B)
  in another country as partial credit towards a
  degree program at institution (A)
• Continuing Education Programs degree and/or
  training courses designed to focus on specific
  fields of study from institution (A) in
  affiliation with institution (B) located
  overseas
• Twinning Programs agreements between
  institutions (A) and (B) in different countries
  to offer a joint degree or qualifying degree
  programs bridging

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Typology of Cross-Border Higher Education -
continued

• Corporate Programs programs are offered in
  another country by businesses and accredited by
  an institution (A). These often involve
  accreditation across national borders
• International Consortia and Alliances a network
  of three or more universities or other
  institutions of higher education working
  cooperatively to offer degrees and conducting
  research and
• Distance Education Programs a degree or
  training program that is delivered by institution
  (A) to other locations throughout the world by
  means of satellites, computers, correspondence,
  or other technological means.

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The Study (International University
Classification)
A modest study of internationally-oriented
universities was undertaken in the process of
developing the foregoing analysis and definition
of a university. The initial portion of this
study resulted in a classification of
institutions utilizing surveys sent to over 500
international university organizations. The
primary rationale for the classification system
was to identify like-mindedness between
institutions and to forge new avenues for
improving academic standards at appropriate
levels. The following tables and graphs reflect
analysis of data collected from only 89
institutions representing some 13 countries.
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Percentage of Universities Identified as
World-Focused According to Country (2004) (n33)
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Percentage of Universities Identified as
Multi-Culturally-Oriented According to Country
(2004)
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Sponsorship Mobility

• Sponsorship mobility is a system that chooses its
  students by the established elite or their
  agents. Selection to matriculate into this
  elite status is based on some criterion of
  supposed merit, but once given, it cannot be
  taken away
• The responses in the following graph reflect a
  rejection of elitism, despite possible
  misinterpretation of the factors of equity, equal
  opportunity, and diversity

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Sponsorship Mobility
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Contest Mobility

• Contest mobility is perceived as a system in
  which the pursuit of elite status is merit
  based. In other words, a fair and open contest
  is standardized to determine those who qualify
  and those who do not (Turner in Hopper 1972 91)
• The positive response rate for contest mobility
  in the following graph reflects a possible new
  trend among universities

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Contest Mobility
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Mass Mobility

• Mass mobility refers to the idea of education for
  all. In this particular case, it includes
  education from primary education all the way up
  to higher education
• The responses related to mass mobility in the
  following graph suggest an acceptance of a free
  market for higher education, but the responses
  are mixed and therefore inconclusive.

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Mass Mobility
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Lern- und Lehrfreiheit

• Lehr- und Lernfreiheit refer to teaching and
  learning freedoms
• With regard to a 9 (strongly disagree) response
  rate, it is understood that even though teaching
  and learning freedoms are valued, it was ranked
  at a lower priority to other system
  classifications in the following graph

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Lern- und Lehrfreiheit
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User-Pay Principles

• User-pays principles is a system based
  predominantly on student tuition, whereby
  students pay to receive coursework and/or to
  pursue academic degrees
• The overwhelming response rate in the affirmative
  suggests a tendency toward increased student
  tuition interest and activity among universities
  worldwide

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User-Pay Principles
29
Regulatory Entities

• Respondents were asked to rank in order of
  importance which regulatory entities determined
  university status
• Accrediting bodies or associations ranked highest
  at 29 National governments and state and
  regional governments ranked equal at 19 Board
  of directors and presidents ranked 14 Academic
  staff at 11 and trans-national and multilateral
  organizations at 8

30
Regulatory Entities
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Percentage of Internal versus External Regulatory
Entities
32
Challenges Ahead for the University

• Being everything to everybody and specializing
  curricula to the extent that a world university
  system may be incapable of producing great
  global thinkers
• Pursuing to be world-class. This spurs greater
  competition, which may result in a shift back
  toward elitism with a global-market orientation
  at the expense of meeting local needs and
• Losing sight of the larger purpose---that is to
  disseminate and advance knowledge for the sake of
  knowledge itself. What remains uncertain is
  whether nation-state and market forces will
  enforce their influence upon universities to
  advance only certain types of knowledge (e.g.
  utilitarian).

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Challenges Ahead for Classification

• Fear that a worldwide system may tailor itself to
  the U.S. higher education system, which is
  imperfect
• Perception that classification means ranking
• View that if too stringent in definitions and
  categories, policies could be implemented that
  could inhibit the development of world
  universities, dismiss or ignore new and unique
  program offerings, and further compromise
  academic integrity. Conversely, if definitions
  are relaxed, categories may become meaningless
  and data unreliable and
• Universal consensus on definitions needs to be
  established in order to be all-inclusive

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Concluding Remarks

• History has played a major role in the evolution
  of a university, but the sale of knowledge
  production may be undermining its historical
  purpose. Many institutions are working against
  rather than with one another by progressively
  specializing in degree programs and/or delivering
  degrees in different modes
• The universitys emphasis on molding and shaping
  student minds has been replaced with corollary
  emphasis upon the transferability of skills
  within a significantly enlarged geographic
  workplace
• A number of universities are student-demand-driven
  , catering to a user-pays type student. Their
  competitive nature is aligning themselves with an
  expanded world community, which may have
  different needs than the local community they
  initially served and
• The segmentation of the international higher
  education market suggests that higher education
  has not so much lost its soul as it has its
  voice. The soul of an institution may be
  misguided, but if the soul of the student is
  lost, then higher education has indeed failed
  society.