Cosmopolitan imaginaries in the context of internationalisation of higher education in Vietnam and Indonesia: cultural hybridity and tensions

Cosmopolitanism regards allegiance to the human community as essential to fostering human solidarity and tolerance of cultural otherness. In contexts where the Western model of cosmopolitan universalism dominates, vernacular cosmopolitanism, often suppressed by the dominant discourse of economic rationale and market logic, continues to shape the cosmopolitan visions and ethics of people from the Southern hemisphere in hybrid ways. These visions and ethics are reinforced by the internationalisation of higher education, which is intended to mould global citizens. This research explores the cosmopolitan imaginaries that guide the internationalisation of higher education in Vietnam and Indonesia. It reveals the hybridity underpinning internationalisation efforts, which is unique to the postsocialist and postcolonial cultures in Vietnam and Indonesia. It argues that, despite internationalisation being widely embraced, it continues to create a privileged space for local elites while marginalising and excluding vulnerable groups, through the universalist economic rationale and market ethics.