Education hubs are the newest development in the international higher education landscape. Countries, zones and cities are trying to position themselves as reputed centres for higher education and research. But given higher education’s current preoccupation with competitiveness, branding, and economic benefits are education hubs merely a fad, a branding exercise, or are they an important innovation worthy of serious investment and attention? This book tries to answer the question through a systematic and comparative analysis of the rationales, actors, policies, plans and accomplishments for six serious country level education hubs - United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Singapore and Botswana . The in-depth case studies shows that "one size does not fit all". A variety of factors drive countries to prepare and position themselves as an education hub. They include income generation, soft power, modernization of domestic tertiary education sector, economic competitiveness, need for trained work force, and most importantly a desire to move towards a knowledge or service based economy. In response to these different motivations, three different types of education hubs are being developed: the student hub, talent hub, and knowledge/innovation hub. Scholars, policy makers, professionals, students and senior decision makers from education, economics, geography, public policy, trade, migration will find that this book challenges some assumptions about crossborder education and provides new insights and information.

Education hubs are a recent phenomenon in higher education systems of predominantly Asian countries to innovate local systems through the expertise of foreign actors, particularly from English-speaking countries. To understand some of the phenomenon's implications on international higher education, this empirical study compares attempts to create education hubs in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. First, the book explores the analytical potential of current approaches to study the phenomenon, and second, it investigates how education hubs change policy and governance in the higher education systems of Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. The book sheds light on how education hubs lead to the involvement of Global Education Industry actors in local systems and how the phenomenon creates new dynamics for policy making and research. Marvin Erfurth ist Wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter an der Westfälischen Wilhelms-Universität Münster. Arbeitsschwerpunkte: Internationale und Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft, Internationale Bildungspolitik, Hochschulforschung, Bildungsökonomie.

This volume brings together selected articles published in University World News (UWN) and International Higher Education (IHE) between 2011 and 2016. Researchers, policy makers, and practitioners alike further the development of higher education as a field of study through public and ongoing conversations. It is news, analysis, and commentary publications like UWN and IHE that facilitate this dialogue and keep pace with the most up-to-date developments in the field. Together, the articles included in this volume—alongside the section introductions—offer a rich and relevant picture of the dynamic state of higher education globally. While both publications are freely available online, this book provides a thematically coherent selection of articles, offering an accessible and analytic perspective on the pressing concerns of contemporary higher education.

Since the late 1990s, several governments worldwide have launched initiatives to transform their countries into education hubs in order to attract large numbers of foreign students, scholars, education providers, research institutes, and multinational companies. While many observers consider these initiatives as entrepreneurial projects typical of cross-border education, a proper analysis demands a closer examination of the multiple realities of education hub development and their implementation challenges. This thesis investigates the development of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as education hubs. The research examines national initiatives as well as those that are specific to an economic zone (EduCity Iskandar) and a discipline (Islamic finance education hub). What are the rationales driving the development of theses education hubs? What patterns of engagement are evident as these societies forge regional and international ties through higher education? Through policy document analysis and interviews with 36 policymakers and 42 context informants, this study has identified four key rationales: 1) economic benefits, 2) talent development, 3) educational capacity, and 4) soft power. Each rationale generates specific policy objectives and implementation strategies. While Malaysia is keen to generate revenue through student fees and improve its quality of education by injecting competition, Singapore is eager to commercialize research innovations and develop talent in all forms (local, foreign, and diaspora). In contrast, Hong Kong remains skeptical of the economic benefits of an education industry and instead emphasizes talent development while cultivating local institutions. All three societies also aim to exert influence regionally and internationally though ties based on cultural heritage or networks with leading experts (i.e., soft power). These efforts meld a realist approach to international relations with neoliberalism and social constructivism. Nevertheless, serious contextual factors such as the prevailing political climate, deepening ethnic divisions, and the lack of academic freedom present challenges to the development of education hubs.

This book reviews and analyses the issues and policies of internationalization and exportation of higher education and investigates the strategies and models of education hub development in the context of globalization, with Hong Kong in the Asia-Pacific region as a case study. It examines the close relationship between education hubs and higher education, as well as the strategic functions of an education hub in the future development of a society in a competitive global environment. It also analyses the major strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of Hong Kong’s higher education in relation to its potential for exporting higher education to Asian markets. In particular, it reviews the current state of higher education services offered by Hong Kong in three target markets and their segmentation and proposes the most appropriate market entry strategies for education service providers.

This volume delivers a cutting-edge analysis on vernacular globalization, or how local forces mediate global trends. It delves into the vital facets of the quest for global competitiveness, including: Global university rankings World-class universities University mergers Quality assurance Cross-border higher education International education hubs. The authors situate their topics within current international scholarship and demonstrate the myriad avenues through which local actors in higher education may respond to global competition. They pose critical questions about the impact of global competition in an increasingly hierarchical higher education environment, interrogating the potential for social injustice that arises. By providing an alternative perspective to the descriptive, normative approach that dominates the scholarship on global competition in higher education, the chapters in this volume open a fresh and invaluable dialogue in this arena. This is the 168th volume of the Jossey-Bass quarterly report series New Directions for Higher Education. Addressed to presidents, vice presidents, deans, and other higher education decision makers on all kinds of campuses, it provides timely information and authoritative advice about major issues and administrative problems confronting every institution.

This book addresses the understudied phenomenon of why and how contemporary international higher education, research and innovation can contribute to strengthening international relations. The author proposes the concept of knowledge diplomacy and carefully examines its fundamental rationales, actors, principles, instruments, and strategies. This is the first book that compares the similarities and differences between knowledge diplomacy and related terms such as soft power, cultural diplomacy, science diplomacy and public diplomacy to capture the expanding role of international higher education and research in bilateral and multilateral relations. The analysis of initiatives from around the world helps to ground and illustrate the key features of a knowledge diplomacy approach. "This book makes a highly original and important contribution to the study of knowledge diplomacy and soft power. It brings together the latest thinking and trends in the study of contemporary diplomacy and international higher education. The author is well known for the clarity and perspicacity of her definitions and analysis and this applies to her in-depth examination of knowledge diplomacy which she convincingly distinguishes from soft power and other forms of diplomacy. The discussion of issues and challenges which require further exploration and research will be valuable to international relations and international higher education scholars, policy makers and students.” Professor Ruth Hayhoe, University of Toronto, and President Emerita, the Education University of Hong Kong "This timely book offers a sound framework for studying the expanding role of higher education, research and innovation in international relations. A key strength is that viewpoints and experiences from all of the world’s regions have been included in this lucid, interdisciplinary contribution to our understanding of knowledge diplomacy.” Professor Jan Melissen, Leiden University and University of Antwerp, Editor-in-Chief The Hague Journal of Diplomacy “This is a must-read book for scholars, policy makers and diplomats who want to understand how international higher education, research and innovation can help to address the complexities of contemporary global challenges through knowledge diplomacy.". Professor Chika Sehoole, Pretoria University, South Africa

This open access volume raises awareness of the histories, geographies, and practices of universities and analyzes their role as key actors in today's global knowledge economy. Universities are centers of research, teaching, and expertise with significant economic, social, and cultural impacts at different geographical scales. Scholars from a variety of disciplines and countries offer original analyses and discussions along five main themes: historical perspectives on the university as a site of knowledge production, cultural encounter, and political interest; institutional perspectives on university governance and the creation of innovative environments; relationships between universities and the city; the impact of universities on national and regional economies and cultures; and the processes of internationalization through student mobility, the creation of education hubs, and global regionalism in higher education. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.

Internationalization is a pervasive force shaping and challenging higher education as it faces the new realities and turbulence of globalization. In a thoughtful and provocative way, this book provides a critical perspective on the rationales, benefits, risks, strategies, and outcomes of internationalization.