Globalisation

The term globalisation was initially coined by Modelski when he referred to the
European drive to conquer non-European regions and integrate them into one global
trading system. This concept evolved over time and gave birth to a new breed of
internationalisation: contemporary globalisation. This new concept describes the
process of widening, deepening and speeding up world-wide integration of all
aspects of contemporary life. The aspects referred to may vary in nature, ranging
from social phenomena such as language, religion or culture; to more world
encompassing matters such as the global economy or political ideologies. There are
numerous media responsible for the rapid spread of globalisation, starting with trade
and empirical expansion prior to the industrial revolution, and further distributed by
channels such as transportation, communication and acculturation.
The application of the term globalisation varies within the context that it is being
used. Therefore, when applied to an economic viewpoint, it refers to the essence of
making business conductivity an easier practice. According to UN-ESCWA, within
the economic function of globalisation, it represents the removal of barriers at
transnational borders thus facilitating the flow of goods, capital and labour.
Interestingly, Palmer (2002) noted that in order to have any power, globalisation has
had to diminish or eliminate state enforced restrictions and replaced them with an
increasingly integrated and complex global system of production.
The constant features of contemporary globalisation manifest themselves in two
dimensions: time and space. It aims to decrease both time and space through
establishing global institutions which produce manuscripts on consensual global
governance practices.

Bibliography & References

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Last accessed 23rd March 2011.
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Classes and Nation States 1760-1914. Cambridge: Cambridge University
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Tokyo: President Publishing Co.
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Effects, Normative Governance. International Sociology, 15: 151-79.

The market for transnational education (TNE) has doubled in size since 2000 and continues to grow
steadily. As higher education professionals with extensive experience in TNE, it is great to see a
resurging interest in the nature and experience of TNE and focus our attention on its changing nature
and impact.

Transnational education in a nutshell

For those less familiar with the concept, TNE is a complex mix of engagement activities occurring in
culturally diverse markets, embracing both virtual and physical forms of cross-border education. It is
distinct from the standard forms of international student mobility where a student from country X goes
to study in country Y in order to undertake a degree or course of study, or where the international
student is briefly mobile, eg on a semester-based exchange or short-term study programme. In the
TNE space, we are concerned with educational service arrangements or courses of study, in which
learners are located in a country different from the one where the awarding institution is based.
Students experience their education, or some significant part of it, at distance from the home campus
of the awarding institution.

A variety of forms of transnational education

As an illustration of one form of TNE, international franchises and validation agreements tie together
institutions from different countries in contractual arrangements based on licence and/or mutual
recognition. The aim of these is to enable students to study for the degree of a foreign university
without being taught on the home campus of that university. The TNE student derives many
advantages from staying at (or closer to) home but is unlikely to be taught by the core faculty of the
supplying university, or to undertake a course of absolute equivalence to the one on the campus of
the foreign university. In the validation model popularised by UK universities, there may merely be
recognition of a degree which has been designed and taught elsewhere, so long as the quality of the
degree is tested by the awarding institution. Other types of TNE arrangements such as twinning and
articulation provide an element of this experience but generally require students to study on the home
campus of the awarding university for at least part of the time. Here there are parallels to joint and
dual degree education, where time is split between partner institutions home and away. International
branch campuses and flying-faculty models are also part of the broad set of TNE engagement
models. In these cases the awarding (foreign) university has either a direct or indirect presence in an
overseas market. This may be either fixed or temporary. Over-and-above these familiar examples,
distance and online education provide a virtual platform for students to study for the degree(s) of a
foreign university. This is an increasingly popular way of delivering education internationally or
transnationally and does not require the supplying university to establish a physical presence in its
international markets.

Transnational education landscape and stakeholders

The TNE landscape is a complex one, with multiple stakeholders, each having different perceptions,
expectations and motivations. Differing starting points and expectations have spawned a vibrant and
diverse range of engagement models. Some have been more successful than others, but all have
contributed to the rich fabric of international higher education and in most cases benefited their
stakeholders either directly or indirectly.
For institutions looking to get involved in TNE or reassess their existing TNE arrangements,
understanding stakeholder attitudes and how their context is reshaping perspectives is critical to
ensuring a programmes viability. It is now more important than ever to ensure that TNE programmes
are aligned, not just to the strategic goals of the foreign degree provider, but also to the needs of the
stakeholders in the hosting country. In their simplest form TNE stakeholders can be categorised into:

Academic partners as providers

Faculty and staff engaged in delivery (potentially across different institutions)

Students and their families as consumers

Government as enablers and regulators

Employers and the community as beneficiaries

Local institutions as potential competitors and collaborators

The needs and desires of each group are not necessarily aligned with the others and lots of boxes
need to be ticked to make a TNE arrangement successful. Tension is likely to arise between the
interests and objectives of different stakeholders and if not tension, points of misunderstanding and
uncertainty. Those familiar with TNE projects will recognise the challenges in fully uniting these
different stakeholders and/or engaging all of them fully in effective, sustainable TNE projects. Across
this spectrum, stakeholder attitudes towards TNE are strongly influenced by:

Their personal motivations

Their perceived quality of local education provision

Their experience of different types of TNE

The economic development status of the country

Conclusions and signposts

TNE has produced many graduates who have subsequently entered the workforce, some of whom
now hold senior management positions in government and private industry. Through these alumni,
employers get more exposed to TNE programmes and the quality of their output. This is opening
doors for greater industry engagement, which in turn can open up new opportunities to reshape
stakeholder attitudes to TNE.
As some of the early TNE pioneers have discovered, their international arrangements are now
resulting in unforeseen positive outcomes beyond those originally envisaged. The impacts of these
developments are more immediate and apparent to stakeholders in the hosting countries, rather than
to those associated with the home campus. Communicating these changes and navigating the new
expectations arising from these outcomes make up a critical part of the maturing TNE arrangement.
Sustainable TNE arrangements adapt to the changing environments in the host countries and those
that adopt new forms of engagement and embrace evolving stakeholder needs, are most likely to
benefit now and in the future.