Cross-border education explained

Cross-border education is the movement of people, knowledge programs providers and curriculum across national or regional jurisdictional borders. It also refers to dual and joint degree programs, branch campuses, and virtual, on-line education.[1] It is a division of "internationalization of higher education" and can be linked to development cooperation projects, academic exchange programs and commercial initiatives.[2]

Cross-border tertiary (higher) education

Cross-border higher education has emerged to become a very complex phenomenon and has grown at an extraordinary pace.[3] The last two decades have seen a significant growth in the mobility of higher education programs and providers through physical and virtual modes of delivery.[2] This presents many new opportunities such as improved access to higher education, strategic alliances between countries and regions, as well as the expansion of human resource and institutional capacity. May students in cross-border education are "glocal students"[4] who seek global education at local cost.

Provider and receiver country

The provider country is the source country of the program, qualification or other intellectual property (e.g. component of a course of study) that is delivered in another country. The receiver country is the host country to which the programme, qualification or other intellectual property sourced overseas is delivered.[5]

Forms

Cross-border education or Transnational education comes in a variety of forms ranging from twinning programs, branch campuses, joint and dual degrees and online education.[6] The steps involved in setting up cross-border education include:

Approaches to cross-border higher education

There are four approaches employed in cross-border education. They are --

  1. The mutual understanding approach encompasses political, cultural, academic and development aid goals (e.g. Japan, Korea, Mexico, Spain);
  2. The skilled migration approach shares the goals of the mutual understanding approach but gives stronger emphasis in the recruitment of selected international students (e.g. Canada, France, Germany, the United Kingdom (for EU students), the United States (for post-graduate students));
  3. The revenue-generating approach shares the rationales of the mutual understanding and skilled migration approaches, but offers higher education services on a full-fee basis, e.g. Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom (for non-EU students), the United States (for undergraduates).
  4. The capacity building approach encourages the use of foreign post-secondary education as a way of building an emerging country’s capacity, e.g. China, Hong Kong, Singapore.

Factors which drive supply and demand for cross-border education

Demand

Supply

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges of cross-border education is striking a balance between quality and access. Given the diversity of regulatory environment, it is often difficult to assure quality at the same time protect students' interests.[9]

The increasing movement of education between countries means education is becoming increasingly “globalized”. As a consequence, educational products have been regarded as a trade commodity.[10] It has become increasingly tied to the market and consumer demand, as well as to the need to make financial returns for providers.[11] When consumer demand and the need to make financial returns become factors in influencing the offer of educational provision, it can create tension with other priorities such as academic standards, autonomy and integrity.[12] This tension can, in turn, give rise to problems with quality and consumer protection issues such as:

Diploma mills and poor-quality programs

One big problem that can arise is the proliferation of the so-called "diploma mills." These establishments offer qualifications for little or no study, at a price.[1] Often the qualifications "bought" at a diploma mill are of little or no value to the students.

Another are poor-quality programs resulting from institutional failures which can have huge impacts on the reputation and value of a country's education system.

List of organizations involved in cross-border education

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Knight, J. (2003). GATS, Trade and Higher Education. Perspectives 2003: Where Are We? April 2003 report of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, London.
  2. KNIGHT, J. (2006) Higher Education Crossing Borders: A guide to the implications of the General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) for cross-border education. France, Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO.
  3. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (2004a). Quality and Recognition in Higher Education: The Crossborder Challenge. Paris.
  4. Web site: Know your international student – Global or glocal?. Choudaha. Rahul. April 2013. University World News.
  5. UNESCO/OECD (2005). "Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education" UNESCO and OECD, Paris.
  6. Web site: DrEducation: Global Higher Education Research and Consulting: Transnational%20Education. Choudaha. Rahul. 2016-06-28.
  7. UNESCO-APQN Toolkit: REGULATING THE QUALITY OF CROSS-BORDER EDUCATION A collaborative project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN)
  8. UNESCO-APQN Toolkit:REGULATING THE QUALITY OF CROSS-BORDER EDUCATIONA collaborative project of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Asia-Pacific Quality Network (APQN)
  9. Web site: Webinar on Transnational Education: Recording of the Online Discussion with Global Experts ~ DrEducation: Global Higher Education Research and Consulting. Choudaha. Rahul. www.dreducation.com. 2016-06-28. 2016-05-26.
  10. Larsen K., R. Morris and J. Martin (2001). Trade in Educational Services: Trends and Emerging Issues. Working Paper. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Paris
  11. Knight, J. (2005). Borderless, Offshore, Transnational and Crossborder Education- Definition and Data Dilemmas. October 2005 report of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education. London.
  12. night, J. (2005). Borderless, Offshore, Transnational and Crossborder Education- Definition and Data Dilemmas. October 2005 report of the Observatory on Borderless Higher Education. London.

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