Abstract
This paper calls for rethinking international education towards a transformative agenda to engender international students’ self-determination, self-reflection, agency and citizenship that would enable them to make valuable personal and social change for them and their communities when they return to their homeland. It argues for a reconceptualisation of the vision of international education to include both the instrumental objectives of skills development and jobs procurement, as well as the intrinsic value of creating substantive opportunities for people to live the lives they value. It further argues that there is a need to move research from institutional perspectives of international education providers to those of international students and graduates focussing on their personal and civic commitment within their home communities.
 In the context of this paper, the terms “West” and “Western” generally refer to countries in the geographical regions of Europe including the United Kingdom, North America, and Australia and New Zealand in the Pacific region. The terms “Anglo-West” and “Euro-America” are also used interchangeably with the same meaning. The terms “Asia” and “Asian” generally refer to countries in the geographical regions of East and South East Asia, and South Asia.
 This paper has four parts. The first part sketches the current discourses on international education in the emerging knowledge societies of Asia. It critiques the parochial Anglo-Western values in international education discourses and calls for contending viewpoints that consider diversity of students’ cultural and social values. The second part presents Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach (CA) as an alternative framework for viewing and evaluating international education. The third part discusses the operationalising aspects of the CA in the practical contexts of its philosophical status and considers the potential of its epistemological benefits. The last part concludes the paper by summarising the discussion about the merits of the CA as a conceptualising and evaluating tool for international education.
Highlights
I reflect on de Wit’s (2014) call for reconceptualising the vision of international education to articulate and justify purposes that are worthy of educational efforts and can serve as a valuable reference point for educational policies
I argue for a rethinking of international education towards focusing on its role in expanding people’s agency to enable them to be directors and actors of their own lives, who are able to conceive their own self-esteem in the global world and can realise their possibilities with local values and traditions
There is a space and place for connecting international education between Asia and the West to presuppose a tradition of cultural plurality, and ethical dimensions of development beyond the Western values of modernity, humanity, knowledge and learning
Summary
There has been a tremendous growth in student mobility in higher education in the last two decades as universities in the West respond to globalisation, economic growth and capacity building strategies of Asian countries. The delivery of international education as a market based commodity is as prevalent in Asia as it is in Western countries, where policies and practices have been predominantly focused on developing human capital to meet economic growth, and duplicating Western ideas of a university.. The nationalistic agenda determined by economic rationales and institutional interests leads to low priority of preparation of young people to understand social needs and challenges, and participate ethically in their local societies and be global citizens.10 It is not surprising, that research about international education has been mainly conducted by host countries and universities that offer international education focusing on the economic imperatives of demand and. The last part concludes the paper by summarising the discussion about the merits of the CA as a conceptualising and evaluating tool for international education
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