New Format of Internationalisation: Joint Universities

Abstract

The paper aims to reveal internationalization of higher education experience by comparative analysis of development joint universities in China with the universities of non-English-speaking countries - Israel and Russia. The objects of the study are: Guandong Technion Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) and Shenzhen MSU-BIT University formed by Moscow State Lomonosov University (Russian) and Beijing Institute of Technology University. First in research literature the paper characterises running and context of internationalization in comparison in the process of formation the joint universities, as well as the competitive environment in higher education sector of Shenzhen, Guangdong, China. The author defines the factors influencing on choice of the partners for joint universities inside and outside the country by Chinese side. For Russian universities the author suggests the new opportunities of usage the rankings (ARWU, THE, QS, US News & World Report) in choosing partners abroad and in China. It is proven that geopolitical and economic factors are the most influential in the decision making process of defining the location of the joint universities inside the certain China's provinces. The innovation activities of the university graduates influence on Chinese choice the partner universities in Israel; the political circumstances are more influential for choosing the partners in Russia. The organizational obstacles to leadership of Russian universities are revealed including institutional separation between research and teaching/learning activities trending their isolation to each other. The implemented comparative analysis allowed to open the differences of such internal internationalisation issues of joint universities as: university governance, priorities in levels and areas of studies of their degree programmes, research and educational activities as well as the specific features of positioning at the world/region research-educational market(s). The measures of competitiveness enhancement of Sino-Russian cooperation in higher education are suggested. The special attention is paid to peculiarities of student and academics enrolment in Sino-Russian and Sino-Israeli joint universities. The dimensions of comparison of joint universities in the paper are: - schedules and deadlines announced; - numbers of student enrolment for each degree level; - partner universities from Israel and Russia in China: Total numbers and positions in rankings (ARWU, THE, QS, US News & World Report); - Chinese investments into each joint universities; - investors (government and/or business structures); - aims; - academic policies' priorities: activities, levels of degree programmes, areas of studies, subjects, language(s); - principles of student and academic enrolment and capacity building (MSU-BIT explored more detail).