Higher Education Partnerships Research Articles

Sustainability in U.S.-China Higher Education Collaborations: The Case of GUFE-WMU Joint Institute

U.S. and Chinese universities have engaged in four decades of collaboration since the late 1970s, but these partnerships are subject to potentially unstable forces. Only long-term sustainable partnerships have the potential to develop reciprocal relationships that establish “negotiated space” around cultural differences. This paper utilizes a qualitative single case study design to explore the factors contributing to the long-term sustainability of U.S.-China higher education partnerships. The findings indicate that a set of essential enablers must be in place to foster long-term and sustainable global partnerships: Leadership, faculty and staff engagement, and policy support.

Global Higher Education Partnerships: Perceptions of Chinese and Sub-Saharan African Visiting Scholarsof Engagement in US Universities

This paper focuses on the participants’ perceptions of engagement and compares the experiences of visiting scholars from Sub-Saharan Africa and China. We used Mezirow’s (2000) Transformative Learning Theory to explore how the scholars made meaning of their experiences while in the U.S. We employed a qualitative research method and conducted in-depth interviews with visiting scholars from two separate programs. The findings of this study showed that the participants considered their time spent at the U.S. university as a professional development opportunity to help advance their career objectives. Scholars from both groups appreciated the high level of resources available in the U.S.,since it allowed them to increase their research and teaching skills.They aimed to make an impact on their home societies with the knowledge gained abroad. Each set of scholars was interested in building social networks in the U.S. to help propel their career goals. However, Chinese scholars expressed more interest in personal growth and learning English while in the U.S., compared to their Sub-Saharan African counterparts. 
 Keywords: capacity building, Chinese, international visiting scholars, long-term, short-term,Sub-Saharan Africans

University - basis of competitive society

The article shows the connection between higher education and the country's competitiveness. The competitiveness of a country depends on its human capital. Human capital is determined by the key factors - the level of education of the population, scientific potential, experience of successful projects. The authors argued that the role of human capital formation belongs to the modern university. The modern university is faced with the need to find new ways to integrate with the environment of modern economic society, to be competitive.
 For Ukraine's competitiveness to increase, Ukraine's higher education must be included in the system of economic relations. Public policy should accelerate the process of cooperation between universities and corporations.
 The modern mission of the university is teaching, research, the interaction between education, science, business, local communities, and other communities. When the three components of the mission come together, higher education fulfills the goal of modern society. This is the mission of forming an innovative economy. Modern universities are turning into platforms that generate new knowledge, ideas, technologies, strategies of social development.
 In this regard, public administration of higher education, especially public universities, is a factor in increasing the competitiveness of the society. Therefore, public policy should focus on those areas where the state has the main role. This is the development of education and science. The role of the state is to create and maintain conditions for the development of educational, scientific, scientific, and technical, innovative activities of universities, academies, institutes, colleges, as well as the creation of public-private partnerships in higher education.

Higher Education Partnerships between the Global North and Global South

Higher education partnerships between the Global North and the Global South are a recognized as means of developing research and education capacity, especially in the institutions of the Global South. Due to the realities of individual agreements, however, not all partnerships work effectively. This article examines a Norwegian and Ethiopian university partnership named “The South Ethiopia Network of Universities in Public Health (SENUPH)” as a case study to identify key elements in the development of effective, mutually beneficial partnerships from policy and institutional perspectives. The first part of this article outlines the different concepts of aid-focused partnerships and mutuality-focused partnerships. The second part reviews the evolution of the Norwegian Funding Programmes for Higher Education Partnerships. The third part describes the mission and key characteristics of SENUPH. The final part analyzes the policy implications for the development of functional, mutuality-focused higher education partnerships, as learned from the SENUPH case study. The Norwegian case provides three implications for how to make such mutual partnerships functional: 1) the importance of fostering the authorship of the partnership among key actors; 2) the significance of multiple phases and periodic evaluation to assess the progress of the partnerships; and 3) the promotion of knowledge and skill development among recipients so they can promote growth and cause a spillover effect that has a positive regional impact.

Reimagining Global Partnerships in Higher Education through Open Systems Theory

Although global higher education partnerships can promote greater intercultural understanding, establish unique environments for student and faculty development, and generate opportunities for innovative and entrepreneurial ventures, they can be beset with problems that negate their potential effectiveness. This paper proposes that open systems theory offers a constructive lens for reimagining global higher education partnerships so that they not only benefit internal stakeholders, but also society. It begins with the basic concepts associated with systems theory, with particular attention to the differences between rational and natural systems, as well as open and closed systems. To project how open systems theory might encourage global partnerships to embrace institutional outreach with the environment, the relationship of open systems theory with community engagement is then explored. Finally, the paper shows how boundaries can be either reinforced or traversed through deliberate buffering, bridging, and boundary spanning strategies.

The Impact of Evolving Transatlantic Relations on International Partnerships in Higher Education

This paper investigates the impacts of recent, macro-level developments in transatlantic relations on the ability of United States and European Union higher education institutions (HEIs) to leverage international partnerships in achieving their traditional missions of teaching, research, and service. Using literature to place international education within the broader context of transatlantic relations from the post-World War II era to today, the connection between geopolitics and HEI international partnerships is made explicit. Comprehensive internationalization theory is then applied to illustrate the importance of HEI international partnerships in realizing international education outcomes that are congruent with traditional HEI missions. After establishing the link between transatlantic relations, internationalization in higher education, HEI international partnerships and overall HEI performance, recent developments within transatlantic relations are directly analyzed with regards to HEI international partnerships, highlighting impacts on their ability to function. Finding that progressive transatlantic relations result in improved performance outcomes through HEI international partnerships for US and EU HEIs, and that regressive transatlantic relations produce the opposite outcome, the study offers implications for policy makers and HEI administrators.

Critical Perspectives on Global Partnerships in Higher Education

Critical Perspectives on Global Partnerships in Higher Education

Case Studies of Japanese Universities’ Collaborations with ASEAN, China, and Mongolia

This paper elaborates on recent trends in Japanese higher education partnerships through three cases of collaboration between Japanese universities and higher education institutions in China, Mongolia, and the Southeast Asia (hereinafter referred to as ASEAN). Our analysis shows that partnerships were shaped by both top-down government policies and bottom-up institutional visions and past relations. Japan’s educational quality and reputation, particularly in science and technology, is highly regarded by higher education institutions (HEIs) interested in developing competitive international programs to prepare a globally skilled workforce. On one hand, Japan is striving to deepen and expand its partnerships with HEIs, particularly within Asia. A number of domestic and international factors - such as Japan’s population decline; increasing competition among HEIs both on the domestic and international front; an ambition to remain competitive in a twenty-first century, knowledge-based economy; and Japan’s strategy to strengthen its influence in Asia - drive the partnerships. On the other hand, while earlier partnerships were limited to student and faculty exchange or joint research projects, institutions increasingly prioritize more comprehensive strategic partnerships. Such strategic partnerships are important to overcome barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic that limit physical movement and interaction, and they may drive even greater collaboration and integration among Asian higher education institutions.

Economic and Higher Education Partnership of Hungary and Kazakhstan

The aim of our research was to describe, compare, and analyze the development of business and educational co-operation between Kazakhstan and Hungary over the past 19 years. The research was prompted by the university-level co-operation between the two countries that star ted in 2018, which was made possible by the strategic partnership that is the topic of the present article. We started from the hypothesis that both business and educational co-operation has developed linearly and significantly during the last 19 years. Our research methodology was based on gathering and analyzing secondary macroeconomic, trade, and educational co-operation data in the period between 2011 and 2020. The data were obtained from publications, national offices (statistical, commerce, and education), and international bodies (like TempusPublic Foundation, Eurostat, International Monetary Fund [IMF], and the World Bank). In this paper, we intend to link the main political, social, and macroeconomic endowments with business and educational developments of partnership in the two countries, trying to map out prospects for co-operation. One conclusion is that, although in the political communications of the two countries we were able to identify significant governmental efforts on both sides to support and enforce economic and educational co-operation, the data indicate a decrease in the size of business investments. At the same time, however, the educational co-operation between the two parties continues to develop further.

Enablers facilitating industry-academia, transnational education and university-community partnering agility in higher education

PurposeThe study has a two-fold purpose: first, to identify the enablers of partnering agility in higher education, and, second, to analyze the interplay between the enablers.Design/methodology/approachTotal interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to construct a theoretical model of partnering agility enablers, and cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification (MICMAC) analysis was used to rank and segregate the enablers into independent, autonomous, dependent and linkage zones on the basis of their driving and dependence power.FindingsThe study helped in identifying eight enablers that can be instrumental in driving partnering agility in higher education. According to the TISM model, clarity on roles and responsibilities of partners was found to be the most crucial and vital enabler followed by resource sharing.Practical implicationsThe conceptual model provides a new direction on how to develop and strengthen higher education partnerships. The model has prioritized all the crucial enablers that the management can work around in order to drive partnering agility in higher education institutions.Originality/valueStudies in the past have majorly focused on academia–industry partnerships. This research has tried to provide a comprehensive view of the enablers and the multidirectional interplay between the enablers that can facilitate partnerships between academia and industry, Indian and international universities, and academia and community.

U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Funders' Briefing Program, January 19, 2021.

U.S. Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation Funders' Briefing Program, January 19, 2021.

International program and provider mobility in Japan: policies, activities and challenges

Japan has traditionally emphasized international student recruitment and exchange as priorities in its internationalization strategy. However, little attention has been given to the increasing importance of international program and provider mobility (IPPM), which includes international branch campuses, franchise programs, international joint universities and joint/double degree programs. This article analyzes the policies, status and role of IPPM to meet future needs of Japanese higher education. The study reveals that the full potential of IPPM is not realized given the government's restrictive regulations for the establishment of Japanese programs and international branch campuses abroad as well as foreign higher education providers in Japan. While regulations are necessary to ensure quality and achieve the multiple benefits of IPPM provision, there is a need to re-examine and relax some of the government regulations that serve as barriers. The success of the three Japanese international joint universities provides evidence that Japanese universities are motivated and experienced in working collaboratively with international partners and looking for new IPPM opportunities. Scholars, policy analysts, and academics interested in Japan’s engagement with the rest of the world through collaborating with foreign higher education partners will benefit from this analysis of current and past IPPM activities and policies and the call for further research.

Looking Back: Reviewing the Challenges of Policy Development During the COVID-19 Pandemic for a TNE Partnership in Higher Education

This paper takes a retrospective view of the year 2020, with a focus on how Higher Education policy development was undertaken on a Transnational Education (TNE) program between the University of Glasgow (UofG) and the University of Electronics, Science and Technology in Chengdu (UESTC), China in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It explores the approach to policy development under normal circumstances, contrasting this with the approach taken during the emergence of the epidemic and how the unfolding situation impacted on those policies. It demonstrates how the application of management tools for scenario planning and crisis management can be used effectively to develop a clear and prescriptive policy for staff. It also demonstrates how the use of such tools, combined with careful analysis and planning, can minimize disruption to student learning, teaching, and assessment. The paper then goes on to explain the creation and implementation of policies addressing three main areas: learning and teaching, Final Year Projects, and assessment. Finally, it reflects on the student and staff perspectives on the policies, considering how this information might be used to enhance the policy development process in future.

Experiential examination of higher education partnerships in the UK: a knowledge management perspective

PurposeHigher education institutions possess a plethora of knowledge at the institutional, departmental and individual levels. Therefore, knowledge management plays a vital role in assisting partnerships to synergise knowledge and strengthen market competitiveness when working collaboratively. The purpose of this study is to identify and critically discuss the role of knowledge management concepts that support development of UK higher education partnerships. This knowledge management research was undertaken with the purpose of exploring components of behavioural constructs in assisting the development of successful partnerships between higher education institutions.Design/methodology/approachThis research embraces a qualitative methodology and makes use of an expert panel method to gather field data and assess the relevance, robustness and applicability of a conceptual model developed in the context of higher education partnerships. Guided by two research questions, the researchers elicited knowledge from eight experts, academics and practitioners, who had initiated and led partnership development between UK higher education institutions. The experts were invited and selected to attend the panel using the criteria of “Years of Experience in the Higher Education sector”, “Job Positions and Experiences” and the “Partnership Scope and Impact”.FindingsDepicting in a tree analogy, the conceptual model indicates that effective knowledge management will require higher education executives, managers and practitioners to centre on nurturing “tree roots” presented as behavioural knowledge management constructs and include institutional culture, trust, absorptive capacities and communication channels. The research findings elaborate on previous research and provide a categorisation of partnership outcomes between higher education institutions, explaining that partnership outcomes can be of an “Academic”, “Marketing and Finance” or “Managerial” nature. Importantly, practical use of the model could be implemented using audit methods or benchmarking methods, whereby the categorised elements of the model are used as a criterion of assessment for audit teams.Originality/valueThe conclusion extracted experiential insights to provide guidance as to how higher education executives, managers and practitioners can make use of knowledge management behavioural constructs and activities to assist collaborative undertakings in the higher education sector. This paper provided a new, modified, knowledge management higher education partnership tree, thus giving researchers and academic practitioners a holistic viewpoint of important partnership knowledge management factors.

Partnership in Higher Education: Trends between African and European Institutions

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Development of a European competency framework for health and other professionals to support behaviour change in persons self-managing chronic disease

BackgroundHealthcare and other professionals are expected to support behaviour change in people living with chronic disease. However, effective behaviour change interventions are largely absent in routine encounters. The Train4Health project, a European strategic partnership for higher education, sought to address this problem. The primary aim of this study, which is part of an early work package, was to develop an interprofessional competency framework for health and other professions to support behaviour change for the self-management of chronic disease at a European level. A secondary aim was to derive a set of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) from an established taxonomy to link with framework competencies.MethodsThe study comprised two interlinked parts. Part 1 involved a two-round e-Delphi study with an interprofessional panel of 48 experts across 12 European countries to develop the behaviour change competency framework. Preparatory work included drafting a list of competency statements based on seven existing frameworks.Part 2 involved an expert panel of six behavioural psychologists deriving a set of BCTs to link with framework competencies. Their feedback was based on preparatory work, which focused on seven high priority chronic diseases for self-management, identified through European projects on self-management and identifying five relevant target behaviours from key clinical guidelines. A literature search yielded 29 effective BCTs for the target behaviours in the selected chronic diseases.ResultsTwenty-seven competency statements, were presented in Round 1 to the Delphi panel. Consensus was achieved for all statements. Based on comments, two statements were removed, one was added, and 14 were modified. All 15 statements subjected to Round 2 were consensus-approved, yielding a total of 12 foundational competencies for behaviour change in self-management of chronic disease and 14 behaviour change competencies. Four behaviour change competencies related to BCTs. Behavioural psychologists’ feedback led to a core set of 21 BCTs deemed applicable to the five target behaviours across the seven chronic diseases.ConclusionsA behaviour change competency framework comprising 26 statements for European health and other professionals to support self-management of chronic disease was developed, linked with a core set of 21 BCTs from an established taxonomy.

Double Agendas in International Partnership Programs: A case study from an Ethiopian University

ABSTRACT This paper explores the policy discourses underpinning an international higher education partnership involving a large Ethiopian university. Particular attention is given to a partnership programme established between an Ethiopian (EU) and a Norwegian (NU) university, and the main ideas and practices expressed and negotiated from an Ethiopian perspective. This study employs a theoretical framework based on critical policy analysis and a qualitative case study design using interviews and document analysis. The results illustrate how a loosely defined policy for international partnership in higher education frames the conditions and possibilities for this programme. Partnership in EU is based on policies that emphasise flexibility in various possibilities, but also with ambitions, foremost, to partner with a Northern university. In the EU, this partnership is viewed, mainly, as a means of academic growth and development while also convoluted with concerns about resource dilemmas and dependency. This partnership programme, therefore, appears to be based on contradictions from which a double agenda emerges: striving for mutuality versus avoiding dependency, and local needs versus global achievements.

A North\u2013South-South partnership in higher education to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo: the challenge of finding a common language

BackgroundGlobally, increasing numbers of higher education institutions (HEIs) in non-English-speaking countries have adopted English as a medium of instruction (EMI), because of the perception that this provides opportunities to attract high-calibre students and academic staff, and engage with the international research community. We report an evaluation of a North–South-South collaboration to develop health research capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by establishing a postgraduate programme in nutritional epidemiology at the Kinshasa School of Public Health (KSPH), where EMI was adopted. We report experiences and perceptions of stakeholders, facilitators and students about using EMI.MethodsIn-depth qualitative interviews were conducted between October and December 2019 among convenience sampled stakeholders (8), facilitators (11) and students (12) involved in the programme from all three partner institutions (University of Kinshasa; University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; University of Bergen, Norway). Interviews were conducted in participants’ language of preference (English or French), audio-recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English when required. Analysis employed a thematic approach.ResultsMost participants viewed EMI positively, reporting that studying in English created opportunities to access relevant literature, improve interactions with the scientific community and advance their careers. As a result of adopting EMI, some students had opportunities to present research findings at international conferences and publish their research in English. English-speaking researchers from partner institutions were able to participate in supervision of students’ research. However, inadequate English competency, particularly among students, was challenging, with some students reporting being unable to understand or interact in class, which negatively affected their academic performance. Further, EMI created barriers at KSPH among academic staff who were not proficient in English, leading to poor participation among non-English-speaking staff and lack of integration with other postgraduate programmes. Participants suggested additional English language support for EMI.ConclusionPartnerships between HEIs could be a powerful tool to develop research capacity in low-income countries in line with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. EMI could be a solution to language barriers faced by many such partnerships, but wide-ranging support to develop English proficiency among staff and students is essential to ensure that the challenges do not outweigh the benefits.

Role of knowledge management in developing higher education partnerships: Towards a conceptual framework

AbstractThis research study discusses the role of knowledge management (KM) in facilitating the composition and development of higher education (HE) partnerships. The paper identifies and discusses the KM behavioural constructs, in other words, the fundamental elements that indicate the behaviour of higher education institutions (HEIs) and that impact the development of a partnership. Furthermore, this work explores institutional and partnership factors that affect the development of partnerships and compiles a list of KM activities deemed necessary to assist HEIs in exchanging knowledge in a partnership setting. The proposed conceptual framework can serve as a diagnostic instrument, assisting HE executives, managers, practitioners and researchers in being able to assess institutional capabilities for collaborative undertakings. The work presented in this paper aims to encourage further academic discussions as to how KM concepts can be used to assist HEIs in working together and overcoming challenges for sustainable development in the digital era.

Aqu@teach—The First Aquaponics Curriculum to Be Developed Specifically for University Students

Aquaponic food production requires a broad spectrum of knowledge in order to understand and manage the processes involved, and for commercial aquaponics to develop its full potential, it will require an appropriately trained workforce. Devised in collaboration as an Erasmus+ Strategic Partnership for Higher Education, Aqu@teach covers the basics of aquaponics with a focus on transferable and entrepreneurial skills. The aquaponics curriculum can either be taught using blended learning—combining digital media and the internet with classroom formats that require the physical co-presence of the teacher and students—or as an e-learning course. The supplementary entrepreneurial skills module was devised on the basis of two surveys: of aquaponics companies around the world, in order to get a broad overview of the skills that are important in the early years of a business; and of European higher education institutions that teach subjects where aquaponics could be incorporated as an optional module. The entrepreneurial skills curriculum introduces the main processes involved in developing a business idea into a start-up company. All of the Aqu@teach resources—the e-learning modules, textbooks, module guides for students, curriculum guides for teachers, best practice guide for teaching aquaponics, and toolbox of innovative didactic practices—are open access.