University's Transnational Expansion: Its Meaning, Rationales and Implications

Abstract

Abstract Transnational education trend took off since the 1980s and is getting popular since it provides internationally recognized education at the doorstep of the students. With internationalization becoming a worldwide phenomenon in higher education, transnational education is observed as one of the important strategies adopted by many universities around the world. University's transnational expansion, in the case of Taiwan, however, serves also as a survival solution for the shortage in students’ recruitment resulted from the low birth rate. A private university in Taiwan is chosen as the studied case and the experiences of its transnational expansion through the forms of offshore programs are reviewed and examined. It is found that identifying the niches in the competitive market of the transnational education mainly dominated by western university at the initial stage has a great impact on its success. However, challenges associated with its implementation are recognized and its managerial implications are explained.