International University Partnerships Research Articles

Japanese Universities’ International Medical Partnerships: Reciprocity and Stratification

Recently, study abroad and elective programs have been facilitated via university partnerships based on student-exchange agreements. This study examined international medical student exchange agreements, focusing on reciprocity and stratification in the Japanese context. An empirical analysis was conducted using 581 agreements involving student exchanges with medical institutions in foreign countries based on a survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Education. We found that the average reciprocity rate via mutual tuition waivers was 52.84%: equivalent in Asia, slightly lower in Europe (49.61%), and higher in North America (58.06%). Europe has a balanced inbound and outbound exchange, Asia has a higher inbound exchange, and North America has an excess of outbound exchange from Japan. Moreover, selective institutions, such as former imperial or medical universities, have more than twice the number of agreements per university compared to others. In conclusion, it can be observed that international medical university partnerships are stratified, and reciprocity is intertwined with tuition waivers and the number of exchange students in the partnering institutions. As the results highlight the distinct characteristics of international education partnerships in Japan’s medical field compared to partnerships in all academic fields, it is necessary to investigate and develop international partnerships separately by field.

Challenges and Opportunities of International University Partnerships to Support Water Management

Challenges and Opportunities of International University Partnerships to Support Water Management

“What can I offer America?” A postcolonial analysis of faculty motivations and perceptions in North-South university partnerships

International university partnerships are a prevalent internationalization strategy for both North American and African higher education institutions, yet the predominance of discourses that reflect the inequities of the global knowledge economy among participants perpetuate the very challenges that they are designed to address. Using a postcolonial framework, this study provides a critical analysis of qualitative interviews conducted with faculty members from one West African and one U.S. university participating in an international higher education partnership. The paper examines the motivations and perceived benefits of the partnership among participants at both institutions. It argues that the history of inequitable relationships perpetuated by globalization continues to shape understandings and pose challenges to achieving mutuality in North-South university partnerships. Findings show, for both institutions, motivations for partnership participation are based on the expectations and anticipated benefits to their institution as well as an alignment with the individual’s personal goals and objectives. Furthermore, perceptions of power imbalances between participants at the two institutions are evident. Despite the partnership’s intent for mutuality and reciprocity, the narratives of both West African and U.S. participants reinforce inequitable hierarchies. However, they also highlight opportunities for working toward greater mutuality and intercultural learning through North-South partnerships. Recommendations for cultivating reciprocity in North-South university partnerships are provided.

Enhancing an International Perspective in Public Health Teaching through Formalized University Partnerships.

Teaching in the field of public health needs to employ a global perspective to account for the fact that public health problems and solutions have global determinants and implications as well. International university partnerships can promote such a perspective through the strengthening of cooperation, exchange, and communication between academic institutions across national boundaries. As an example for such an academic network in the field of public health, we introduce the International Public Health Partnership—a collaboration between a university in Germany and universities in India, Turkey, and Nigeria. Formed in 2005, it facilitated the exchange of information, fostered discussion about the transferability of public health concepts, contributed to the structural development of the universities involved, and promoted an intercultural dialog through a combination of local and distance learning activities. Although well accepted by students and staff, different obstacles were encountered; these included limited external funding, scarce own financial, time and personnel resources, and diverging regulations and structures of degree programs at the partnership sites. In the present article, we share several lessons that we learned during our joint collaboration and provide recommendations for other universities that are involved in partnerships with institutions of higher education or are interested to initiate such collaborations.

Mapping International University Partnerships Identified by East African Universities as Strengthening Their Medicine, Nursing, and Public Health Programs

BackgroundInternational university partnerships are recommended for increasing the capacity of sub-Saharan African universities. Many publications describe individual partnerships and projects, and tools are available for guiding collaborations, but systematic mappings of the basic, common characteristics of partnerships are scarce. ObjectiveTo document and categorize the international interuniversity partnerships deemed significant to building the capacity of medicine, nursing, and public health programs of 4 East African universities. MethodsTwo universities in Kenya and 2 in Tanzania were purposefully selected. Key informant interviews, conducted with 42 senior representatives of the 4 universities, identified partnerships they considered significant for increasing the capacity of their institutions' medicine, nursing, and public health programs in education, research, or service. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed. Partners were classified by country of origin and corresponding international groupings, duration, programs, and academic health science components. FindingsOne hundred twenty-nine university-to-university partnerships from 23 countries were identified. Each university reported between 25 and 36 international university partners. Seventy-four percent of partnerships were with universities in high-income countries, 15% in low- and middle-income countries, and 11% with consortia. Seventy percent included medicine, 37% nursing, and 45% public health; 15% included all 3 programs. Ninety-two percent included an education component, 47% research, and 24% service; 12% included all 3 components. ConclusionsThis study confirms the rapid growth of interuniversity cross-border health partnerships this century. It also finds, however, that there is a pool of established international partnerships from numerous countries at each university. Most partnerships that seek to strengthen universities in East Africa should likely ensure they have a significant education component. Universities should make more systematic information about past and existing partnerships available publicly.

Mutuality in Cambodian international university partnerships: looking beyond the global discourse

This study examines the mutuality issue in international partnership programs between Cambodian universities and universities in France, the USA, Japan and South Korea. It adopts Galtung’s and Held’s four aspects of mutuality as its conceptual framework and follows a qualitative case study research design. The study finds that most partnership programs between Cambodian universities and their French, American and Japanese counterparts manifested each aspect of mutuality to some degree. In those partnerships, academics from all sides had already built close relationships with each other before moving to establish formal institutional agreements. By comparison, the degree of mutuality varied among Cambodian–Korean university partnerships, mostly established with few prior people-initiated connections. The findings suggest not only a greater maturity in the international experience of French, American and Japanese universities, compared to South Korean universities, but also the importance of human agency in international academic activities. The study concludes that shaped by the patron–client practice, the concept of mutuality within the Cambodian context was viewed more in terms of the degree of “acceptable harmonious relationships” than as a matter of precise equality or the same degree of power dynamics, as commonly portrayed within the global/international discourse.

Seeding Change through International University Partnerships: The MIT-Portugal Program as a Driver of Internationalization, Networking, and Innovation

Higher education systems around the globe are experimenting with different strategies to foster internationalization and networking, achieve critical research mass, and strengthen innovation and labour market integration. This paper discusses how Portugal, since 2006, has pursued a distinctive international collaborative strategy to induce critical changes in strategic focus areas at its leading institutions. Utilizing survey and interview data from the MIT-Portugal Program, this paper demonstrates how international collaborations are used to raise student internationalization and selectivity rates, to create national clusters of excellence, and to re-orient engineering education towards innovation and entrepreneurship. The data show that MIT-Portugal has created significant spillovers into Portuguese institutions, underscoring the potential of international collaborations to be drivers of systemic change. We argue Portugal's collaborative approach represents a model strategy for building a targeted human resource, research, and innovation base suited for long-term economic growth. Our findings are relevant for other countries facing similar transition challenges.

Issues and Procedures in Forging International University Partnerships

Partnerships between U.S. universities and institutions in other countries have often been problematic. Some universities think they have achieved partnership when they agree to cooperate on a project or even a proposal. Others feel they have a partnership when they sign a memorandum of understanding. The nature of any particular partnership, however, is often understood differently by the two (or more) institutions involved in the partnership. This difference in understanding often leads to miscommunication, frustration and strained relationships between the institutions and their representatives. The purpose of this article is to explore issues related to developing university partnerships across national boundaries. The two co-authors approach these issues from different points of view and from different experiences. Pooling those different perspectives, they draw conclusions about forming successful partnerships.

Forging International University Partnerships: One Approach

In a previous article (Etling & McGirr, 2005) the authors identified and discussed a number of issues with partnerships between U.S. universities and institutions in other countries. These partnerships have often been problematic. The purpose of this article, a model-building case study, is to describe one approach to forming such partnerships. This approach consists of a process that grew out of the conclusions in that previous article. Those conclusions were combined with 1) a review of literature on partnerships and coalitions and 2) opinions of a panel of experts. Experts were questioned by e-mail to determine key questions and issues that should be addressed during partnership formation. From the three sources, guidelines for building partnerships were developed, organized into a Partnership Exploration Instrument, and then tested with six different institutions in five different countries.

The InstitutionS of Education: Compare, Compare, Compare!

L'auteur se livre ici a une reflexion personnelle sur les institutions de l'education et sur ce que peut et devrait etre le champ qui mene a l'etude de l'education contemporaine, mais revient aussi sur son experience et ses rencontres personnelles avant de se lancer dans un historique comparatif.

Comparative Education and World-Systems Analysis

This essay is a call for world-systems analysis of education. Increasingly, the field of comparative education is moving toward more sophisticated examinations of education in relationship to economic, political, and social forces. Studies of the ecology of educational institutions and processes, however, often fail to take into account an international context of transactions. To date, most macro studies of education have taken the nation-state as the basic unit of analysis.' An examination of the international forces impinging upon education systems is no less essential than an examination of the international economic order would be to an