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. It is a division of "internationalization of higher education" and can be linked to development cooperation projects, academic exchange programs and commercial initiatives.
Cross-border tertiary (higher) education
Cross-border higher education has emerged to become a very complex phenomenon and has grown at an extraordinary pace. 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. 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" 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 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.
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. The steps involved in setting up cross-border education include:
Collaboration with a local partner where the provider country institution/awarding institution controls much of the program design and delivery
Collaboration with a local partner where the program design comes from the home institution, but program delivery is shared
Collaboration where the program delivery is largely delegated to a local partner
Validation by an overseas awarding institution of a program designed and taught by a local institution
The provider country institution employs a pure distance learning mode of delivery through use of printed materials and/or electronic delivery
Approaches to cross-border higher education
There are four approaches employed in cross-border education. They are --
The mutual understanding approach encompasses political, cultural, academic and development aid goals ;
The skilled migration approach shares the goals of the mutual understanding approach but gives stronger emphasis in the recruitment of selected international students, the United States );
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, the United States.
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.
The attraction of an overseas qualification to students in the receiver country
Insufficient supply of level-appropriate education in the receiver country
Attraction of students studying for an overseas qualification at a lower cost and without having to leave their home country
The attraction of a more flexible mode of study offered by cross-border programmes, e.g. Part-time, distance learning, fast track, intensive mode, etc.
The attraction of a greater variety of more programs e.g. Top-up qualifications
Supply
Developments in technology to facilitate improved remote delivery and remote support of programmes and qualifications
A change in academic and organizational culture in some major education provider countries – an increased emphasis on entrepreneurship and seeking commercial opportunities
Desire to pilot new programs or new modes of delivery in a foreign market
Desire of staff for self-advancement and fulfillment of educational ideals through delivery of education to a foreign country
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. 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. It has become increasingly tied to the market and consumer demand, as well as to the need to make financial returns for providers. 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. This tension can, in turn, give rise to problems with quality and consumer protection issues such as:
A potential increase in poor quality providers
A lack of recognition of foreign qualifications by domestic employers or education institutions along with elitism and the tension it creates.
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. 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
