The west, the rest and the knowledge economy: a game worth playing?

ABSTRACT

The unprecedented geopolitical and economic shifts across the world have triggered much debate over the re-thinking of internationalisation of higher education (IoHE). This article discusses how a deeper understanding of the knowledge economy paradigm contributes to re-thinking IoHE, and how it reshapes the relations between the west and the rest in the international education industry. In the global knowledge race, the rules are set by the knowledge economy agenda, but these rules could be changed through appropriate IoHE strategies. The knowledge economy promotes a predominantly western-oriented knowledge paradigm, and IoHE contributes to its dissemination. For this reason, it is important to consider how the western theoretical underpinnings of IoHE and the knowledge economy are transformed and integrated in a given local context and if this game is worth playing.

KEYWORDS:

• Internationalisation of higher education
• knowledge economy
• africanisation
• regional collaboration
• Asia

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Svetlana Kostrykina is a doctoral student in the School of Learning Development and Professional Practice of the University of Auckland. Her research interests include internationalisation in higher education and the knowledge economy.

Kerry Lee is Associate Dean International Student Experience and Director of Postgraduate Taught, at the Faculty of Education and Social Work of the University of Auckland. Her research interests include innovation in education, digital literacies and internationalisation in higher education.

John Hope is Associate Dean International at the Faculty of Education and Social Work of the University of Auckland. His research interests include internationalisation in higher education, e-learning, and education leadership.

ORCID

Svetlana Kostrykina http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3874-2395

Kerry Lee http://orcid.org/0000-0002-6410-3688

Notes

1 As of 1 February 2017, the Independent newspaper listed on its website, an ideology of ‘corporate autocracy with a populist façade’.

2 The Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC).

3 Our understanding of the term ‘knowledge economy’ is consistent with Chen and Dahlman’s (2006, 4) definition, as the ‘one that utilizes knowledge as the key engine of economic growth where knowledge is acquired, created, disseminated and used effectively to enhance economic development’.

4 The fellowship program is sponsored by Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY) with the administrative support of the US-based Institute of International Education in collaboration with Kenya-based the United States International University-Africa.

5 The term ‘Chicago Boys’ remains closely associated with the orthodox neoliberal adjustment implemented in Chile by the Pinochet dictatorship. The conventional portrayal of the Chicago Boys is of a group of US-trained, technocratic economists who institutionalised neoliberal principles and technocratic prerogatives in public policymaking in Chile (Clark 2017, 1350).

6 Knight (2011, 227) positions student, talent and knowledge/innovation hubs as intentionally and strategically built capacity for ‘education, training, knowledge production, and innovation initiatives’.