CIHE No.13 The Boston College Center for International Higher Education, Year in Review, 2018-2019
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
CIHE
Perspectives
No. 13
The Boston College
Center for International Higher Education,
Year in Review, 2018–2019
Rebecca Schendel, Lisa Unangst, Jean Baptiste Diatta,
Tessa DeLaquil, and Hans de Wit (Eds.)CIHE Perspectives No. 13
The Boston College
Center for International Higher Education
Year in Review, 2018–2019
Rebecca Schendel
Lisa Unangst
Jean Baptiste Diatta
Tessa DeLaquil
Hans de WitCIHE Perspectives This series of studies focuses on aspects of research and analysis undertaken at the Boston College Center for International Higher Education. The Center brings an international consciousness to the analysis of higher education. We believe that an international perspective will contribute to enlightened policy and practice. To serve this goal, the Center produces International Higher Education (a quarterly publication), books, and other publications; sponsors conferences; and welcomes visiting scholars. We have a special concern for academic institutions in the Jesuit tradition worldwide and, more broadly, with Catholic universities. The Center promotes dialogue and cooperation among academic institutions throughout the world. We believe that the future depends on effective collaboration and the creation of an international community focused on the improvement of higher education in the public interest. Center for International Higher Education Campion Hall Boston College Chestnut Hill, MA 02467 USA www.bc.edu/cihe ©2019 Boston College Center for International Higher Education. All Rights Reserved
1 Foreword
Hans de Wit
5 Global Trends and Future Uncertainties
Philip G. Altbach and Liz Reisberg
10 Dominant Trends of Online Education in International Higher Education
Dodzi Amemado
12 How is Academic Culture Influenced by Internationalization?
Milena Benitez
14 The Eroding Relevance of Private Universities in Korea?
Edward Choi
18 Corruption in Higher Education: Public Ostracism as a Remedy?
Elena Denisova-Schmidt
19 The Place of Learning Outcomes in Accreditation within the EHEA
Jean Baptiste Diatta
22 New Attempts of Emerging Countries to Internationalize Higher Education:
The Cases of Turkey and Brazil
Hakan Ergin and Fernanda Leal
25 Reframing Further and Vocational Education of the Future
Ellen Hazelkorn
27 Academic Research in Syria
Araz Khajarian
29 Consorting with a Purpose: The Roles Played by International Consortia of
Universities in the Context of Higher Education Internationalization
Fernanda Leal
32 Working Towards Inclusive International and Intercultural Learning for All
Betty Leask, Elspeth Jones and Hans de Wit
34 Don’t Let Commercialization of US Higher Education Prevent You from
Learning from It
Georgiana Mihut
36 The Long and Problematic Road Towards a European University
Elizabeth Orr, Lisa Unangst and Hans de Wit
38 University-Community Partnerships: Ideas for Latin America from the
Experiences of the UK and the US
Iván F. Pacheco
42 The Inclusion Imperative
Laura E. Rumbley
44 Higher Education Equity Policies across the Globe
Jamil Salmi
46 Student Pathways in South Africa
Rebecca Schendel49 Engaging Young Faculty in Internationalization at Chinese Universities
Qi Wang
51 Making the Case for an Ethiopian National Research Council
Ayenachew A. Woldegiyorgis
53 Barriers to Attracting International Students Remain
Yang Zhou and Hans de Wit
CIHE, Year in Review, 2018–2019, FACTS AND FIGURES
55 Graduate Education and Students
57 Visiting Scholars and Research Fellows
58 CIHE Publications Series
58 Top 5 Most Viewed IHE Articles, 2018–2019
61 CIHE Projects, 2018–2019
63 Professional Development Programs and Delegations, 2018–2019
64 Guest Lectures
649 Activities of Masters Students 2018-2019
699 Activities of Graduate Assistants, 2018–2019
71 Overview of Faculty Activity, 2018–2019FOREWORD
T his publication - The Boston College Center for In-
ternational Higher Education, Year in Review,
2018-2019 (CIHE Perspectives No. 13) – is the third
education.
This year, our research agenda included the fol-
lowing projects:
in our series of yearbooks, which present our key - A comparative study, completed in partnership
activities from the year, along with a collection of ar- with the Center for Institutional Studies at the
ticles from our graduate students, research fellows, National Research University-Higher School of
visiting scholars, and staff. 2018-2019 was another Economics in Moscow, Russian Federation, on
doctoral education worldwide;
productive year at the Center, as the substantial con-
tents of this publication attest. It was also a year of - An analysis of ‘Family-Owned and Managed’
transition, as we said goodbye to associate director higher education institutions around the world,
Laura Rumbley and hello to Rebecca Schendel, who conducted in partnership with the Institute for
assumed the associate director position in March. Family Entrepreneurship at Babson College
(USA);
We also had the great pleasure of receiving Betty
Leask, emerita professor at La Trobe university in - A mapping study for the World Bank, focused
Melbourne and international expert in internation- on national policies for internationalization
alization of the curriculum, as visiting professor within higher education;
during the whole academic year, a welcome support - A study of internationalization efforts within
for our teaching, research and other activities. We Technical and Technological Institutions in the
are pleased that she has agreed to an extension for Caribbean region, with the Instituto Tecnológi-
another year and appreciate the funding for her vis- co de las Américas (ITLA) in the Dominican Re-
iting professorship from the Provost’s Office of Bos- public and the Inter-American Organization for
Higher Education (OUI-IOHE) in Montreal;
ton College (BC). As in past years, we are very proud
of the large volume of high-quality work produced - A book project, in partnership with the School
by the Center and the impact that this work has on of Social Work at Boston College, focused on the
the functioning of higher education practice and work that Boston College is doing to support
refugees within higher education; and,
policy around the world.
- A study of the internationalization of medical
Research education in the United States, completed in
partnership with the Columbia University Med-
As has been the case since our founding, the core
ical Center.
work of the CIHE continues to be our scholarly anal-
ysis of the international dimensions of higher
Keep up with international trends in higher education.
Follow our posts collected from sources worldwide:
Center for International Higher Education @BC_CIHE
@BC_HECM
@BC_INHEA
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 1Closer to home, we supported the Office of In- working on their own research, much of which has
ternational Students and Scholars (OISS) and Cam- been published in academic books and journals and
pus Recreation at Boston College to conduct a survey presented at different international conferences (as
of all international students at BC, in order to assess outlined later in this publication). We look forward
their views on academic and administrative services, to the completion by Edward, Lisa, and Ayenachew
and are currently working with the Center for Teach- of their doctoral studies in the coming academic
ing Excellence to develop a strategic plan for interna- year. In May 2019, Georgiana Mihut (who complet-
tionalization of the BC undergraduate curriculum. ed her three-year graduate assistantship at CIHE in
2017) successfully defended her doctoral thesis, The
Teaching and Professional Development Impact of University Prestige in the Employment Pro-
In Fall 2018, we accepted the third cohort of stu- cess: A Field Experiment of the Labor Market in Three
dents into our MA program in International Higher Countries. On May 13, 2019, Georgiana was awarded
Education, and, in May 2019, we were proud to see the Mary Kinnane Award, an honor bestowed annu-
14 MA students (as well as two certificate students) ally on a graduating student by the Department of
graduate with their degrees. Over the past few years, Educational Leadership & Higher Education at Bos-
much of our time has been dedicated to the estab- ton College. The award recognizes students who
lishment of our master’s program, and so it is highly demonstrate both academic excellence and a com-
gratifying to see our students graduating and mov- mitment to service. Georgiana will now move to a
ing on to new pastures. (Three of our graduating postdoctoral position with the Economic and Social
students will enter doctoral programs, while many Research Institute (ESRI) of Ireland. We are very
others are moving on to exciting new stages in their proud of all of the doctoral students affiliated with
professional careers.) the Center and look forward to their contributions to
This academic year also marked the official be- our field in the years to come.
ginning of our dual degree program with the Uni- We are also proud of the professional develop-
versity of Guadalajara in Mexico. We welcomed five ment programs that we continue to deliver, along
candidates to Boston College this year as part of the with our partners from around the world. In June of
dual degree program and are looking forward to wel- this year, we once again organized a one-week pro-
coming a new cohort in September. We also started gram for 20 higher education leaders from Latin
a new series of one-credit summer courses in May/ America, focused on ‘Innovation and International-
June, which were offered both as academic and pro- ization in Higher Education,’ in collaboration with
fessional development credit, one on refugees in the Institute of University Management and Leader-
higher education and one on inclusive and innova- ship (IGLU) of the Inter-American Organization for
tive internationalization. Higher Education (OUI-IOHE). We also organized
In 2018-2019, the Center was home to four doc- another successful WES-CIHE Summer Institute on
toral students: Edward Choi (USA/South Korea), Innovative and Inclusive Internationalization at
Jean Baptiste Diatta (Cote d’Ivoire/Senegal), Lisa Boston College in June, in collaboration with World
Unangst (USA) and Ayenachew Woldegiyorgis Education Services in New York. Scholarships pro-
(Ethiopia). The doctoral students at CIHE are active- vided by WES allowed 39 doctoral students and
ly involved with all of our research projects (indeed, young professionals from around the world to travel
some of our current projects were initiated by them). to Boston for the event, where they had the opportu-
Ayenachew and Lisa also worked as Teaching Assis- nity to present and discuss their research with lead-
tants on our master’s/certificate programs, and Jean ing experts in the field. Throughout the year, we also
Baptiste helped us to maintain our website and on- hosted shorter professional development visits by
line communications. In addition to their Center-re- delegations from the Southern Brazil Network of
lated work, all of our doctoral students are actively Higher Education Researchers, and from universi-
2 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13ties in Argentina, Armenia, China, Georgia, and Is- Research Fellow Liz Reisberg continues to edit
rael, among others. In the Fall of 2018, at the request our weekly The World View blog, hosted by the Inside
of the Provost of BC, David Quigley, CIHE organized Higher Education website. CIHE staff also continue
the Irish American Higher Education Organisation to hold various editorial appointments with respect-
(IAHERO) meeting, a two-day meeting of Irish and ed journals in the field, including the Journal of Stud-
American higher education leaders and scholars. ies in International Education, Studies in Higher
CIHE staff also continue to do extensive profession- Education and Policy Reviews in Higher Education, as
al development work overseas. This year, examples well in blogs and articles for University World News
included involvement with the U4+ European Uni- and other media in the US and abroad.
versities and the 5-100 Russian Higher Education In 2018-2019, we also published two new books
Initiatives, as well as work with individual institu- in our Brill-Sense book series, two new issues of our
tions on internationalization efforts (examples in- open access CIHE Perspectives series, and a new brief
clude the NHL Stenden University of Applied for the American Council of Education, focused on
Sciences in the Netherlands, the Universidad Coop- “Attainment and Inclusion in Higher Education: In-
erative de Colombia, and the University of Calgary ternational Perspectives.” For the coming academic
in Canada). year, several new books and CIHE Perspectives are
in the final stage of completion, including a book in
Publications the Brill/Sense series on “Intelligent International-
Our flagship publication, International Higher Edu- ization,” based on the farewell symposium for out-
cation (IHE), again published four issues (nos. 95- going associate director Laura Rumbley, and a book
98) in this academic year. IHE continues to be on doctoral education in our Sage book series.
translated into five other languages and published in
English as an insert in DUZ Magazine (the German Visiting Scholars and Research Fellows
journal on higher education), and is also available In 2018-2019, CIHE again hosted a group of Visit-
online through the University World News website. ing Scholars. We were fortunate this year with a very
We thank founding director and editor Philip Alt- active and engaged group from a diverse range of
bach and Hélène Bernot Ullero for their work edit- countries. All of them have been engaged in re-
ing IHE. search, teaching, professional development and
In addition, CIHE continues to partner in three publications at the Center. As an example, Fulbright
spin-off journals: Higher Education in Russia and Be- visiting scholar from Turkey, Hakan Ergin, has made
yond, Higher Education in South-East Asia and Be- not only contributions to IHE, The World View, and
yond, and Educación Superior en America Latina. We University World News, but has also co-taught a
also cooperate with our partner, Damtew Teferra, at one-credit summer course with Lisa Unangst and I
the University of Kwazulu-Natal in Durban, South on refugees in higher education, and is co-editing a
Africa in the publication of the International Journal book on that topic with Lisa Unangst, master’s stu-
of African Higher Education. dent Araz Khajarian, and myself.
The Carnegie Corporation of New York contin- Our Research Fellows are also actively engaged
ues to support our cooperation with the University in our activities. Jamil Salmi published The Tertiary
of KwaZulu-Natal on higher education in Africa, as Education Imperative in our Brill/Sense book series,
well as publication of our quarterly, IHE. This sup- and, in the same series, he and Liz Reisberg co-edit-
port has been sustained for several years now, and ed, with Philip Altbach and Isak Froumin a book on
we are pleased that this will continue until the end of “Accelerated Universities.” This year, we added out-
2019, more specifically through the publication of going associate director Laura Rumbley to our group
issue 100 of IHE. Notably, this will also mark the of voluntary Research Fellows.
25th anniversary of CIHE, celebrations that will not
stay unnoticed during the coming academic year.
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 3In Conclusion
The Center for International Higher Education is not
large, in terms of staff, but, through our extensive glob-
al network, we are able to accomplish many things.
Many of the details of this work can be found in the
overviews that appear at the end of this yearbook. Most-
ly, however, you will see our work reflected in the arti-
cles that are written by our community for this
publication. I want to thank all of the members of this
community for their ongoing enthusiasm and dedica-
tion to the Center and to the critical analysis of interna-
tional higher education. I want to thank, in particular,
Lisa Unangst, Rebecca Schendel, Jean Baptiste Diatta,
and Tessa DeLaquil for editing this new publication in
our CIHE Perspectives series, and Salina Kopellas for
her design, and technical and administrative support of
this publication and throughout the year.
Hans de Wit
Director, Boston College Center for
International Higher Education
August 2019
4 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13Global Trends and Future Uncertainties
Philip G. Altbach and Liz Reisberg
Philip G. Altbach is research professor and founding director of CIHE, altbach@bc.edu. Liz Reisberg is an independent
consultant in international higher education and a CIHE Research Fellow, reisberg@gmail.com.
Previously published in Change, The Magazine of Higher Learning, Vol. 50, 2018.
T he most significant trend in global higher edu-
cation since the second World War has been
massification, the dramatic increases in enrollments
and a new era seemed to be emerging.
In short, globalization was taking its place as a
key force, and a global knowledge economy was
around the world. By 2018, global postsecondary en- emerging. Higher education was a central element
rollments topped 200 million—up from 132 million in this transformation. Research universities be-
in 2004, and massification will continue through came key points of both knowledge creation and dis-
this century and likely longer. In the coming several tribution, and elite universities became more closely
decades, half the global expansion of student num- linked with the globalized economy.
bers will take place in two countries—India, where Driven by these overarching themes, we have
access is around 25%, and China, with 32% access. identified key trends that will shape the coming de-
Most of Africa enrolls just under 10% of the tradi- cades. Our focus is on internationalization, includ-
tional age cohort. ing the continuing internationalization of knowledge
Not only are numbers continuing to grow, but and the role of “global English”, the commercializa-
enrollment is becoming increasingly more diverse, tion of higher education and the continuing rise of
not surprising as many economically developed the private sector. Patterns of mobility, patterns of
countries now enroll more than 70% of the relevant both convergence and competitition and other forc-
age group. The expansion of student numbers and es will shape higher education’s future. All of this
access to postsecondary education for broader seg- plays out in the contemporary context of the coun-
ments of the population— women along with racial tervailing forces of nationalism and populism im-
and ethnic minorities—is both desirable and pacting parts of the world. The medium and long
inevitable. term impacts of Brexit, “Trumpism,” developments
However, while massification has meant greater in China and others are impossible to discern—but
access and opportunity, expanded enrollments we are convinced that they are significant
strained education budgets and existing infrastruc- developments.
ture, outpaced the preparation of academic person-
nel, and filled classrooms with a flood of new Internationalization
students with huge variation in their prior Mobility
preparation. Universities are increasingly international institu-
At the same time that the massification of en- tions, luring faculty and students from around the
rollment has been taking place, the world economy world. In 2017, more than 4.2 million students stud-
has become more interdependent. Technology pro- ied outside of their home countries—a number that
vided a mechanism for global communication, and doubled in just a few decades. Student mobility has
political integration reflected a hopeful trend. The become a multi-billion-dollar enterprise, producing
European Union was established; the Cold War end- some $40 billion in annual revenue for the United
ed, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991; States alone. The result has been the growth of many
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018-2019 5third-party actors and enterprises providing services than 3 million students and approximately a half
to individuals and institutions at significant cost, million academic staff. In addition to scholarship
creating a highly profitable commercial dimension programs, ERASMUS also funds cooperation proj-
in higher education. ects (European Commission, 2015).
Global mobility has always been unequal, with a In 2018, the vast majority of outwardly mobile
relatively small number of countries receiving the international students come from developing and
greatest benefits that result. Historically, children of middle-income countries—with China and India be-
the economic elite in developing countries were ing the largest sending nations—destined most of-
among the few with the means to study abroad. His- ten for North America, Europe, and Australasia.
tory and tradition had a tremendous influence over Countries where English is spoken or where it is the
where students enrolled. Citizens of former colonies language of instruction tend to be the most popular
were inclined to send children to universities hosted destinations, although new national actors (particu-
by former colonial powers. Thus, children of the In- larly China) are beginning to compete in this arena.
dian elite enrolled in the UK, children of the elite of Similarly, China and India are prominent
northern Africa enrolled in France, etc. Interesting- among the countries with globally mobile faculty, al-
ly, although not exactly a colonial power, America though other developing and middle-income coun-
has always benefited from the migration of students tries participate as well. There is also important
abroad to the US. This can be attributed to many fac- faculty mobility between the rich nations, both with-
tors, among them the diversity of American higher in Europe and from Europe to North America. This
education and the capacity to enroll large numbers is all much to the benefit of universities in the rich-
of international students. est nations. The migration of academic talent from
International mobility has been facilitated by less-developed nations to wealthier countries has al-
large-scale scholarship programs. Although the ways contributed to “brain drain.” And while “brain
best-known programs more recently have been the exchange” is the more commonly used term recent-
Science Without Borders program, sponsored by the ly, the movement continues to be primarily in one
Brazilian government, and the King Abdullah Schol- direction, although communication technology and
arships, sponsored by the Saudi government, this more affordable travel have improved the two-way
type of program dates back more than 50 years. The flow of knowledge and expertise.
governments of Iran, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Vene-
zuela invested millions of dollars in programs that Beyond National Borders
collectively sponsored hundreds of thousands of stu- Universities, especially in the developed countries,
dents abroad (Altbach et al., 1985). Building national have expanded beyond their own borders. Branch
capacity for enrollment expansion is a slow process, campuses, double degrees, and virtual campuses are
and sending students abroad allowed nations to ad- among the initiatives that are now common. There
dress the rising demand for access and increase hu- are more than 263 branch campuses worldwide,
man resource capacity more rapidly. These national mainly sponsored by universities in the En-
scholarship programs have been somewhat volatile, glish-speaking developed nations, but with an in-
as they are subject to the sometimes precipitous rise creasing number sponsored by India, China, and
and fall of national economies. other countries (Garrett, 2018). Quite a few coun-
The European Union’s 1987 ERASMUS initia- tries have created education hubs where govern-
tive facilitated a different kind of mobility. The ments have provided incentives for prestigious
ERASMUS program has provided funding to pro- universities to build campuses; a large number of
mote the exchange of students and academic staff these are located in the Middle East.
within a network that has grown to include 40 Euro- The number of joint and double degree pro-
pean nations. Since its inception, the ERASMUS grams has reached the thousands. MOOCs, on-line
program has funded transnational mobility for more programs, and virtual universities also extend the
6 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13international reach of many universities. All told, Convergence and International Integration
the students enrolled in the range of cross-border Increasing numbers of mobile students, faculty,
enterprises likely number at least one million. The and graduates are generally considered to be a ben-
motivation for these cross-border initiatives is gen- efit to all concerned, yet the phenomenon has creat-
erally economic, but they also extend an institution’s ed numerous challenges. The Erasmus and Bologna
international visibility and reach, and provide im- programs represent an extraordinary achievement
portant opportunities for students, faculty, and staff in making mobility both more affordable and less
to engage abroad. cumbersome. As noted above, Erasmus has facili-
tated the mobility of thousands of students, schol-
The Internationalization of Knowledge and the Role of ars, and academic staff. The Bologna process has
English. harmonized the structure of higher education sys-
Knowledge creation and communication has be- tems in participating countries, making the incor-
come globalized in unprecedented ways. Informa- poration of international study possible without the
tion technology permits instantaneous need for complex bureaucratic review—and has
communication and facilitates possibilities for glob- dramatically increased academic mobility in
al collaboration. A report published by The Royal Europe.
Society in 2011 indicated the number of articles pub- International mobility has raised concerns
lished in international journals that had been writ- about comparable standards of quality. Universities,
ten by collaborators in different countries had professional licensing agencies, and employers con-
increased markedly over the previous 15 years. fronted with foreign credentials need some mecha-
Perhaps even more significant than the increas- nism to judge their validity. Towards that end, nearly
ing number of international research collaborations all nations have developed accreditation procedures
are the results of an analysis of 1.25 million journal to evaluate domestic activity.
articles that showed that papers written by authors Accreditation is generally accepted as certifica-
from multiple countries are cited more often and tion of at least a minimum level of quality. As a fur-
more likely to appear in prestigious journals (Smith ther layer of quality, INQAAHE (International
et al., 2014). Network for Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher
International collaboration requires a common Education) acts as a “super agency” that requires na-
language. English has become the global language tional agencies applying for membership to under-
of scientific communication, dominating both the go an evaluation. As a result, institutions accredited
journal system and the Internet. Tremendous pres- by national agencies that are INQAAHE members
sure is placed on academics in most countries to reflect a level of international quality control that
publish in the major English-medium journals was non-existent prior to 1991.
Perhaps as a consequence of the dominance of Finally, and regrettably, rankings have provided
English as the language of academic communica- a limited means of comparison that too often are
tion, there has been an upsurge in the number of used as a proxy for international quality. The rank-
graduate programs (and increasingly undergraduate ings phenomenon has encouraged individuals and
programs) taught in English in non-English speak- governments to judge institutions according to lim-
ing countries. This trend aligns with the necessity to ited categories, mainly related to research and pub-
conduct, publish, and collaborate on research with lications, that can easily be measured, while
international peers. Furthermore, without a com- ignoring other key aspects of the academic enter-
mand of English, a scholar has access to only a very prise, such as teaching and learning, that are more
limited percentage of available contemporary difficult to evaluate (Yudkevich, Altbach and Rumb-
knowledge. ley, 2016).
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 7Commodification and Commercialization pipeline to degree programs; and the use of agents
and recruiters, who earn commissions by direct-
The Rise of the Private Sector and Privatization
ing international students to specific institutions.
In order to respond to massification, private postsec-
While many argue that these third-party actors
ondary institutions have expanded dramatically
offer a service that colleges and universities aren’t
throughout the world and represent the fastest
able to offer and that prospective students want,
growing part of postsecondary education. One in
there is limited, if any, oversight, and there have
three students globally is now in the private sec-
been reports of malfeasance and corruption. The in-
tor—48.8% in Latin America and 42% in Asia (Levy
centives (commissions and increased enrollment)
2018).
for agents and institutions often work against the
Limited public funding and growing demand
best interests of students and their families.
have obliged even countries where education was
the sole prerogative of the government to open the
Looking into the Crystal Ball: Perspectives
door to private initiatives. The global private higher
on the Future
education sector is immensely diverse, but the large
majority are “demand absorbing,” mass-access insti- Competition and the World-Class Movement
tutions, often with poor quality standards. Many are A significant trend of the past several decades is the
for-profit. The risk of growing private participation advent of “excellence initiatives,” efforts to create or
in higher education is a potential threat to higher improve research universities around the world.
education and research as a public good. Private sec- These programs are aimed at creating world-class
tor goals are inevitably different, with a tendency to research universities to take leadership in the knowl-
focus on specific, short-term and largely vocational edge economy and to boost institutional and nation-
results. At the same time, there is a small but power- al status in the global academic rankings.
ful non-profit private higher education sector, com- More than 50 countries have sponsored various
posed of established, often religiously-affiliated, kinds of excellence initiatives, with the most suc-
institutions and some new universities funded by cessful in China (with an investment of almost $14
philanthropic individuals and foundations. billion) and Germany. Others include France, Rus-
The public higher education sector in many sia, South Korea, Japan, and recently, India. These
countries has been “privatized” in the sense that it initiatives have all focused on improving research
receives less government funding and is responsible performance, with little attention paid to teaching,
for its own support. This has led to massive increas- community engagement, or other variables. A relat-
es in tuition fees in many countries and shifts in the ed trend has been to establish new, heavily-funded
mission, orientation, and operation of many research universities in an effort to “kick start” excel-
institutions. lence and build innovative universities. These insti-
tutions have been established in Saudi Arabia, Abu
Third-party Actors Dhabi, Russia, Kazakhstan, Luxembourg, and else-
Massification and the increasing complexity of post- where. Initiatives to build distinguished research
secondary education has given rise to a burgeon- universities will continue, as the need for top-level
ing higher education industry. This includes cram research capacity and universities that can produce
schools that prepare students for entrance examina- the next generation of talent is clear worldwide.
tions key to university admission in the US, China,
India, South Korea, and others; private English-lan- The United States in the Global Postsecondary Context
guage academies, which can be found on nearly ev- After providing global higher education leadership
ery street corner in many Asian countries; pathway for almost a century, the United States for almost a
programs offering a pre-university year in partner- half-century has been losing its international stand-
ship with US colleges and universities to create a ing. While other countries have invested in excel-
8 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13lence initiatives and other efforts to improve their large populations creates enormous economic chal-
postsecondary education institutions and systems, lenges for countries trying to absorb refugees or that
the United States has been falling behind. The US host refugee camps. Education will have an enor-
has engaged in a perverse way, in an “unexcellence mous role to play in mediating these situations if
intiative” by systematically cutting funding for pub- nations, in conjunction with international agencies,
lic higher education, including top, public research can coordinate and finance those efforts. The politi-
universities. These cutbacks portend the slow dete- cal arena is further complicated by interference with
rioration in American domination in the global free access to information. US retrenchment from
rankings and problems evident in the other parts of net neutrality and censorship in many countries
the US system, where large numbers of student such as China, Russia, and Hungary do not bode
drop out or delay completion due to financial stress. well for the future of scholarship.
The United States still dominates the rankings Massification and the global knowledge econo-
with its many distinguished research universities my will continue to grow. Postsecondary education
and elite liberal arts colleges. Our country still at- will continue to be a significant driver of modern
tracts the largest number of international students economies—both in terms of educating the work-
and faculty. But it is slipping. This is to some extent force and producing and transmitting research. Re-
inevitable as other nations invest in postsecondary search universities will continue to be central to the
education and build up their research universities— global knowledge economy. Internationalization will
but the United States is contributing significantly to continue, although perhaps with some new national
its own decline. actors playing a more prominent role.
What is less clear is whether the traditional val-
Conclusion ues of universities, including academic freedom,
If this article had been written just a few years ago, and a commitment to the public good can be main-
it would have been more optimistic about the con- tained in the face of the significant challenges of the
tinued global integration of higher education, pre- current environment.
dicting that student and faculty mobility would
REFERENCES
continue undiminished, scientific research would
continue to be a significant part of the agenda of Altbach, P. G., Kelly, D. H., & Lulat, Y.G.-M. (1985). Research
on foreign students and international study: An overview and
almost all countries, and the scientific community bibliography. New York: Praeger.
would continue to internationalize. Altbach, P. Reisberg, L., Salmi, J. and Froumin, I. (Eds).
But, more recently, diminishing confidence in (2018) Accelerated universities: Ideas and money combine to
higher education generally, and subsequent cuts in build academic excellence. Leiden, Netherlands: Brill.
funding in most countries, have placed pressures de Wit, H. & Merkx, G. (2012). The history of the internation-
alization of higher education. In D.K. Deardorff, H. de
on higher education nearly everywhere. With the Wit, J.D. Heyl & T. Adams (Eds.), The SAGE Handbook of
rise of nationalism and populism in many coun- international higher education (pp. 43-64). Thousand Oaks,
tries, including Italy, Poland, Hungary, Austria and CA: SAGE.
others, the implications of Brexit and of the uncer- European Commission. (2015). Erasmus Facts, Figures &
Trends: The European Union support for student and
tain policies of the Trump Administration in the
staff exchanges and university cooperation in 2013-2014.
United States, and evidence of increasingly closed Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/education_cul-
policies in China, future trends are harder to ture/repository/education/library/statistics/
erasmus-plus-facts-figures_en.pdf
predict.
Contemporary reality has been changed further Garrett, R. (2018). International branch campuses: Success
factors. International Higher Education.No. 93, Spring. P.
with the spread and intensification of violent con- 14-16.
flicts and subsequent waves of refugees. Beyond Levy. D. C. (2018) Global private higher education; an empir-
the humanitarian crises, the mass displacement of ical profile of its size and geographical shape. Higher Edu-
cation, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-018-0233-6
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 9The Royal Society. (2011). Final report-Knowledge, networks The scientific impact of nations: Journal placement and
and nations. Retrieved from https://royalsociety.org/top- citation performance. PLOS ONE. Retrieved from: http://
ics-policy/projects/knowledge-networks-nations/report/ journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.
pone.0109195
Salmi, J. (2016) Excellence strategies and the creation of world-
class universities. in Hazelkorn, E. ed. Global rankings and Yudkevich, M., Altbach, P., and Rumbley, L. (2016). The global
the geopolitics of higher education: Understanding the influence academic rankings game: Changing institutional policy, prac-
and impact of rankings on higher education, policy and society. tice, and academic life. New York: Routledge.
London: Routledge.
Smith, M., Weingerger, C., Bruna, E. M., & Allesina, St. (2014).
Dominant Trends of Online Education in International
Higher Education
Dodzi Amemado
Dodzi Amemado works at the Privy Council Office of Canada in Ottawa and was a visiting scholar at CIHE in the
Winter of 2019, amemadojean2@hotmail.com
O nline education has been topical in higher edu-
cation for about 25 years, starting around the
mid-1990s, just when the world wide web became
Today, across the world, conventional universi-
ties are putting resources online: test-banks, articles,
readings, activities, videos, and animations. Then
popularized, and universities gradually latched onto students come to face-to-face classes for discussion
online education as a trend. While online education and case analysis, problem-solving and prob-
introduced distance education as part of its fourth lem-based learning. Blended learning is gaining
generation – thanks to greater access to Internet re- ground, changing the institutional nature of univer-
sources – it created diverse teaching and learning sities in relation to teaching and learning practices.
practices for on-campus students. This short article Based on some preliminary research findings,
discusses two dominant trends in higher education: an important driver behind blended learning is one
blended learning, and the dual-mode university. of a generational imperative. As one interviewee in a
recent study I conducted on this topic explained,
Blended Learning “The eighteen-year-olds today are used to learning
Simply defined, blended learning is the way of inte- on YouTube, used to learning online, and universi-
grating online course content and tools into a con- ties must teach them online.” Another professor,
ventional on-campus course as a means of bringing who experimented with a flipped classroom, real-
flexibility, enrichment and quality to the learning ized that making course materials available online
experience of conventional on-campus students. for students is simply the best pedagogical tech-
Blended learning happens in different ways through nique to teach some specific academic topics.
flipped classrooms, online discussion forums, on- This said, blended learning has its challenges.
line testing, online tutoring, online analytics and Among others are setting up the course, getting
simulations, with supporting technology platforms ready, finding the resources, curating the content,
as diverse as Canvas, OnCourse, WebCT, Blackboard, organizing the structures, and uploading the con-
Sky, and Moodle. Blended learning might also hap- tent. The challenges include balancing giving feed-
pen by combining face-to-face classes with videocon- back, how much to scaffold, holding back and
ferencing, or online and video, or face-to-face with allowing students to have control, and how much to
video. Its major characteristic is the rotation between do as a professor. As well, learning the technology,
face-to-face and online experiences.
10 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13choosing the right technology tools and social me- The massive open online courses (MOOCs) and
dia, and keeping students motivated, all constitute open education resources (OER) movements are as-
specific challenges associated with blended sets for these two dominant trends. MOOCs created
learning. by universities, although open to anyone in the
world to take, are also serving the purpose of blend-
The Dual-Mode University ed learning in on-campus courses. OER repositories
While ‘blended learning’ has redefined teaching and are a great support for on-campus students and dis-
learning within conventional universities around tant students alike. To exemplify this, a traditionally
the world, universities have also engaged in provid- conventional university like MIT offers MOOCs to
ing courses to a different body of students and learn- thousands of learners, 75 percent of which are locat-
ers that enroll and pursue their education at a ed outside the United States, and the MIT Open-
distance. Most universities in the US and across the CourseWare of 2,400 courses receives more than
world are effectively single mode universities. How- two million visits per month. At the same time, 99
ever, a strategic focus on targeting distance students/ percent of residential MIT undergraduates take a
learners is gradually introducing an era of dual-mode class or an entire module that uses the edX MOOCs
higher education institutions. This new path, in platform. This example epitomizes how MOOCs
which online degrees can run concurrently with and OERs support these two current main trends in
face-to-face, is not only prevalent, but also tends to higher education: blended learning and
be the way forward for higher education institutions dual-modality.
in developed countries. In middle- and low-income Furthermore, through consortia, many higher
countries, where the demand for access to higher ed- education institutions further the dual-mode univer-
ucation is growing as never before, the dual-mode sity type and provide online courses to, for example,
university concept is being implemented as a 37 million students and learners on Coursera, 18
much-needed support for mass higher education. million on edX, 14 million on XuetangX, 10 million
This swing is becoming expansive in places like In- on Udacity, and 9 million on FutureLearn, based on
dia and is also taking off in some African countries current data by Class Central.
where millions of young people are denied entry to In sum, universities are adapting to new gener-
campus-based higher education institutions each ations of students while making efforts to meet the
year due to lack of infrastructure. In Nigeria, for in- needs of society in terms of access to higher educa-
stance, the dual-mode university concept is being tion and lifelong learning. Challenges are not yet
implemented by the National Universities Commis- completely overcome, and specific innovations on
sion (NUC) and a number of national universities. the horizon, such as artificial intelligence and im-
In many countries, having conventional univer- mersive technologies, are expected to increase qual-
sities shift to dual-mode is considered as a solution ity and enrichment of learners’ and students’
to the issue of access to higher education, and as a experiences.
remediation for the attrition plague, the main Achil-
les’ heel of distance education provided by sin-
gle-mode online universities. In developed countries,
the driver for the dual-modality embraced by exist-
ing conventional universities mainly consists of
meeting the need of ‘retraining on the job’ for pro-
fessionals to upscale through lifelong learning. In
emerging and especially developing countries, how-
ever, the driver is basic access to higher education
for first-degree learners.
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 11How is Academic Culture Influenced by
Internationalization?
Milena Benitez
Milena Benítez is a research-based doctoral candidate (Ed.R-B.D.) from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, and
a 2018-2019 visiting scholar of CIHE, mbenitez2@uc.cl.
Previously published in IHE, Issue 97 (Spring 2019).
I n a globalized world, higher education systems
(i.e. universities and colleges) have integrated in-
ternational practices into all of the functions, includ-
ence on all four mechanisms. They mark, as interna-
tional gold-standards, teaching strategies as well as
research and service practices. All the latter affirm a
ing teaching-learning processes, research key question that should be addressed: what hap-
administrations. This allows them to more adequate- pens, internally, to universities that decide to seek
ly respond to international demands such as cooper- and adopt internationalization practices? An import-
ation, mobility and development of international ant part of each institution’s unique internal world
networks. Internationalization trends arise within can be found within their academic cultures: their
decentralized contexts; that is to say, they are not an- own set of beliefs, norms, habits and values. In con-
chored to specific cultural or academic sites. Con- gruency, institutional and academic priorities, types
trarily, they come to be given an accumulation of of norms, and validating guidelines, as well as what
global higher education circumstances that lead to is allowed, expected and valued, is likewise influ-
the establishment of mechanisms and priorities enced by ideals of what a “university should be” and
within public policy agendas. As a consequence of what “quality is”. What are the features of research
this decentralization, the objectives, strategies, pow- universities’ academic cultures that are influenced
er relationships and individuals that contribute to by internationalization?
internationalization are scattered throughout differ- Teaching processes of academic institutions
ent higher education systems around the globe. Ulti- that undergo internationalization process are affect-
mately, internationalization processes can be ed in several ways. Beliefs regarding quality in teach-
conceived as “those that belong to no one, but affect ing, teaching strategies and evaluation techniques
everyone”. However, caution must be exercised, for become modified. Within this influx, international
denying that world class universities and education- demands and notions of what “quality teaching is”
al systems of developed nations are key influencers intermingles with academics’ own ideas of what a
of and for internationalization practices would be quality teacher is and what is important to teach
specious. within each discipline, ideas which have been vali-
dated by academics through personal experiences
What Happens to Universities that Seek within their own undergraduate or postgraduate
and Adopt Internationalization? programs. Correspondingly, internationalization
There are four key mechanisms that illustrate the processes can generate new challenges as well as
diffusion of internationalization practices in higher tensions.
education systems and institutions: rankings, coop- Additionally, internationalization processes also
eration, academic mobility, and curriculum reforms. imprint any curricular decisions made. Features
Furthermore, and in congruency with the above, such as undergraduate programs’ learning objec-
world class universities without a doubt exert influ- tives, graduate student profiles and cooperation pro-
12 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13cesses with foreign universities are affected. All the overpower the local? Concerning these last two
former features are, conjointly, marked by the man- questions, higher education institutions can lose
ner in which knowledge is developed and validated sight of their local needs and mission objectives
by research communities, given that international- when shifting their focus towards internationaliza-
ization processes stipulate which forms of research tion trends. Accordingly, some institutions give
are valid and where such valid research must be pro- more importance to international accreditations
duced and disseminated. This international influ- than to national accreditations, prioritizing rankings
ence reroutes academics’ institutional norms and over local needs and policies, as well as over social
values associated with knowledge production. needs. This despite the fact that as a medium
through which institutional quality and education
To What Extent Do International Rankings processes are improved in general, and not as an
Determine the What and How of end goal in and of itself.
Research? Given all the above presented, internationaliza-
tion processes unquestionably affect academic cul-
Within the process of internationalization, rankings
tures by establishing new challenges within
are important. They weigh on decisions being made
teaching-learning processes, research as well as ad-
by academic institutions; for example, they control
ministrative functions. Likewise, they also affect the
the type of research that is prioritized and funded,
forms of producing and socializing new knowledge.
forms of international cooperation, dissemination of
Internationalization, while it does generate tensions
knowledge (e.g. the academic journals that are con-
and conflict, should push academics to reevaluate
sidered relevant), and the way academic output is
their teaching and research strategies. Similarly, it
measured (e.g. the number of peer-reviewed articles
should increase the quality of higher education in
that an academic must publish per year). As a conse-
order for it to better respond to local demands that
quence, a prudent question to pose would be: to
are being pressured by a globalized context. Interna-
what extent do international demands determine the
tionalization should become part of the daily affairs
what and how of research?
of higher education intuitions and not an isolated or
Against a backdrop of “academic autonomy”,
imposed cluster of practices.
international trends without question reprioritize
areas of knowledge that should be considered as rel-
evant for the better positioning of academics and
their schools and institutions. This rearrangement
happens, in part, due to the number of indexed jour-
nals in specific publications with more perceived
value, and by drawing professors to ascribe to partic-
ularly highly valued editorial groups of particular
indexed journals. As such, higher education institu-
tions do have local autonomy but are situated within
an international scene that influences the forms in
which information is both produced and
disseminated.
Does the International Overpower the
Local?
Continuing with compelling questions, what hap-
pens to local needs and demands during interna-
tionalization processes? Does the international
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 13The Eroding Relevance of Private Universities in Korea
Edward Choi
Edward Choi is a doctoral student and research assistant at CIHE, choief@bc.edu.
I n most regions of the world, private universities
help grow higher education (HE) capacity and
support economic development, where govern-
tural reform. While no institution type in Korea is
immune to the sweep of government reform, a fo-
cus is placed on discussing private universities be-
ments cannot commit further resources. Such was cause a consideration of other institutional types,
the historical case of South Korea (hereafter re- such as junior colleges, requires further understand-
ferred to as Korea). A financially-encumbered gov- ing that goes beyond the scope of this article. The
ernment encouraged the increasing involvement of key takeaway is that, within Korea’s current political
private actors in higher education delivery. During climate, the survival of many private universities is
the 1980s and 1990s, private universities were inte- at stake. Analyzing this risk is a key focus of this
grative to Korea’s ascendency to universal higher contribution.
education and paved the way for robust economic
activity. Their contribution, together with private ju- Current Political and Environmental
nior colleges, has led to the growth of a significant Circumstances
private sector. About 75 percent of the higher educa- Across all institution types, the Korean government
tion system in Korea is private in status. exercises strong controls in a broad array of opera-
However, the importance of private universi- tional affairs: budget development, faculty salaries,
ties has become increasingly irrelevant in Korea’s admissions standards, faculty tenure requirements,
changing climate. Decreasing educational demand student enrollment quotas, curriculum, and tuition
and an economy oversaturated with skilled labor (Byun, 2008; Grub et al., 2009; Weidman & Park,
(leading to high unemployment) have cast private 2009; Shin & Koh, 2005). Recently, these steering
universities in a new light. Today, they are not as mechanisms have intensified with stringent regula-
relevant as they were in the past. They are no longer tory requirements, articulated under the University
considered central to economic planning. Restructuring Plan (URP).
In fact, the current government perceives them The URP has been Korea’s premier and ongo-
as burdening a higher education system that has ing evaluative framework designed to address key
become increasingly difficult to manage and over- problems facing Korea’s HE system. These prob-
see. In this new reality, private universities have be- lems relate to educational quality issues, high un-
come an easy target of government reform. They employment in the labor market (Kim, 2008), and
confront intensifying pressures to conform to so- important demographic changes. Several scholars
cially-determined mandates around educational (e.g., Byun, 2018; Mok, 2015) project a gradual drop
quality, financial performance and enrollment lev- in the domestic demand for HE over the next few
els. These pressures have placed many, if not most, decades, brought on by one of the world’s lowest fer-
private university leaders on edge. This is not only tility rates, as of 2016 (CIA World Fact Book, 2016).
because of frequent government evaluations, but The outlook has led the government to recon-
also because most of Korea’s private universities sider overseeing and supporting what it perceives as
possess significant disadvantages. a bloated and unmanageable higher education sys-
This article discusses these disadvantages rela- tem. Excess higher education supply is understood
tive to the dangers of top-down government struc- to burden educational progress with public resourc-
14 center for international higher education | perspectives no . 13es spread too thin. In Korea, all institutions includ- short history of operations, to name a few. These
ing private types receive some form of direct characteristics are common to most private univer-
assistance, though the level of public funding is very sities. Importantly, these characteristics are under-
low in the private sector. stood as disadvantages in a landscape favoring the
The URP was designed to address this issue by organizational performance of center institutions.
raising educational quality while cutting supply
through mergers, acquisitions and exit strategies. Korea’s Elite
The idea is to concentrate public resources in high Generally, most private institutions (for that matter
performing institutions (Kim, 2008) while simulta- most institutions) in Korea are not well-known.
neously penalizing under-performing counterparts. This is because they are eclipsed reputationally by a
Penalty schemes range from forced enrollment cuts handful of universities holding the coveted elite sta-
to the withdrawal of government student financial tus. These institutions are also known internation-
aid, and even include embargoes placed on private ally. They are Seoul National University (SNU),
loans. Students attending penalized institutions Yonsei University, Korea University, and Korea Ad-
cannot borrow from commercial banks. These sanc- vanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST),
tions are meant to cripple the financial performance to name a few.
of flagged institutions and force underperforming The concentration of reputation in these insti-
institutions out of the market. tutions disproportionately shapes HE demand in
In the long-term, the URP seeks to eliminate as Korea. The demand is pyramid-like and focused on
many as 160,000 student seats across all institu- elite institutions. Students pin their academic hopes
tions, public and private, by 2023 (Byun, 2018). Nat- and aspirations on gaining admittance into these
urally, the primary target of the URP are private institutions.
institutions, given their majority presence in the Unfortunately, this reality makes it very diffi-
system. cult for less-prestigious universities to recruit stu-
dents, not to mention attract qualified faculty. The
Challenges Facing Private Institutions shrinking youth population only adds to the chal-
Intensifying government scrutiny has sharpened lenge. Less students to go around means intensify-
the division between, to borrow from Riesman ing competition around meeting enrollment
(1958), center and periphery institutions. Korea’s quotas.
center institutions are national/public institutions
receiving robust government financial support (Kim The Regional-Urban Divide
& Lee, 2006; Weidman & Park, 2002); a handful of Most private universities in Korea are based rurally.
well-funded private institutions founded by major Their provincial status lends to their inherent inca-
corporations or religious groups; institutions located pability to disrupt an intranational student migra-
in major cities; and elite institutions cutting across tion pattern favoring Korea’s major cities. Thus,
all of these categories. These institutions have sig- urban institutions are at a significant advantage
nificant advantages in the form of, for example, fi- compared with their rural counterparts. For most
nancial stability and deep applicant pools. They are urban institutions, the ability to attract students and
well-adapted to manage increasing regulatory pres- faculty is less about the effectiveness of their mar-
sures from the government. keting strategy than about a geographic factor. Stu-
However, most private universities in Korea are dents (whether living in cities or migrating from
poorly positioned to effectively address intensifying provincial areas) want to attend institutions where a
government requirements. This is because they diversity of attractions abound. These attractions in-
have a periphery status. Several characteristics/real- clude job and internship opportunities, entertain-
ities define the periphery university type in Korea: ment venues, and opportunities to supplement
rural base of operations, financial instability, and a formal learning with private tutoring, among oth-
the boston college center for international higher education , year in review, 2018–2019 15You can also read
