Exploring Emerging Governance Models of Transnational Research Partnership and the Influence of Science Globalism Under the COVID-19 Pandemic—A Longitudinal Study of a PIRE Project in Taiwan and the USA

Abstract

During the pandemic, virtual Transnational higher education (TNHE) became one of the solutions to support researchers and students in continuing academic research collaborations, intercultural competence, and global awareness acquisition via a virtual platform. This case study explores the implementation of the MOST-NSF Partnership for International Research and Education (PIRE) research project between Taiwan and the USA in terms of governance modes and research productivity according to Knight’s Functional, Organizational, a Political approaches (FOPA) model. The study finds that the political and functional models are somehow consistent with the national needs of scientific development. Second, the COVID-19 crisis intensified international collaboration and justified the supremacy of global sciences, which has overridden national and individual interests. The case study provides feasible management modes and research collaboration experiences for the researchers who would like to implement transnational higher education with other foreign partners in the post-pandemic era.