Globalisation and higher education: from within-border to cross-border

Abstract

Globalisation, the shift to a knowledge economy, and changing demographics are increasingly challenging higher education systems. The move from elite through mass to universal education, coupled with the internationalisation of higher education, has profoundly influenced the system, especially in terms of academic mobility. It has created new fields and challenges for policy-makers. New forms of international education have emerged, including cross-border education. Commercialised for-profit cross-border degree mills and rogue providers have gained new grounds and jeopardised the quality of higher education services and qualifications because of the worthless qualifications and shoddy service levels that they may provide. The focus of national quality assurance agencies, which was previously not related to the assessment of the quality of ‘imported’ and ‘exported’ programmes, has been challenged. This paper provides a theoretical overview of the main developments in the cross-border education level. It focuses on cross-border education opportunities and threats, and on the various international frameworks that regulate these new forms of higher education.

Keywords:

• international higher education
• cross-border education
• transnational education
• trade in education
• quality assurance
• policies and practices
• distance education
• e-learning
• web-based education
• degree mills

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Greville Rumble for his advice and help in producing the final version of this paper. I am also grateful to Professor Hayat Al Khatib for her continuous advice, guidance and support.