International Education Hubs. Policy and Governance of Higher Education in the Global Education Industry. (IEHubs)
Grunddaten zu diesem Projekt
Art des Projektes: Eigenmittelprojekt
Laufzeit: 01.10.2016 - 31.05.2021
Beschreibung
The project focuses on new forms and patterns of international education policy and governance in order to inquire into their potential implications for the provision and organization of (higher) education. The project researches so-called International Education Hubs (IEHs) which have been coined to refer to different types of politico-economic projects attempting to more closely link higher education systems to economic demands for achieving structural competitiveness and increasing innovation for the knowledge-based economy. Well beyond representing plain internationalization strategies, IEHs are seen as geopolitical projects that signal a rearrangement of the relationships between state, economy, society, and higher education within selected territories (and beyond), linking higher education development and governance to global competition. Attending to this link to global competition is important because the rationales for governing higher education is arguably shifting from social or educational categories (such as accessibility, affordability, equity, quality, mobility, open research, progress, and so forth) to economic categories such as revenue generation, the production of patentable, non-open research and knowledge as well as economic competitiveness. The project draws from research on Global Education Policy and on an expanding Global Education Industry. In terms of conceiving of the research object, Cultural Political Economy offers powerful analytical tools to link semiotic-discursive and structural-material dimensions of the topic. In terms of methodological design, Comparative Case Study offers a compelling strategy that allows shedding light on the complexity of the research object, while lending itself to empirical research throughout multiple, geographically separate locales, scales, and temporalities. The research project aims at
first, a comprehension of the emergence of IEHs through an investigation of the discursive practices leading to the selection and retention of the KBE as a political imaginary and its translation into specific IEHs by policy-makers. Here the focus of attention lies on the role of the state as a central player in the education sector and the impact on the understanding of HE and its societal functions;
second, an understanding of the ways IEHs impact higher education. Here a central question is: What are the implications of IEHs - as complex processes that embed higher education in major political and economic projects - for higher education policy and governance.
From the perspective of International and Comparative Education, this phenomenon is a matter of concern because it illustrates the increasing complexity in the practice and theory of education policy, which potentially produces unforeseen, disruptive effects through the interplay of the ‘global' and ‘local'. In the context of global education policy research, IEHs provide an opportunity to study the intricate relations that constitute global discursive spaces. Arguably, the changed relationships of higher education to society, state, and the economy generate far-reaching consequences, with profound implications for higher education policy and governance. For this reason, researching IEHs has the potential to open new vistas for a deeper understanding of ‘global education policy' and of the emerging global education industry.
Stichwörter: International and Comparative Education; Global Education Policy; International Educational Governance; Cultural Political Economy; Knowledge-Based Economy; Global Education Industry; International Education Hubs