The international education industry

The dimension of education concerned with international schools has formed a recognizable industry over the past six decades yet little attempt has been made to conceptualize its nature and scale. A diverse conglomeration of educational institutions has been joined by a myriad of support organizations. There is clearly a need for an `alliance' of this largely fragmented industry and this article explores two possible options. A unified industry with common standards could emerge offering an `alliance of international education' or a looser and more flexible `alliance for international education' could be established which could embrace organizations both within and beyond the industry. The latter option has emerged over the past seven years in the form of the `Alliance for International Education', and this article offers an introductory framework for discussing the potential scale of its operation.