International Cooperation in Higher Education: Theory and Practice

The massification of higher education beginning in the 1960s and increasing market-isation of education have quickened the pace and, in some cases, changed the nature of international university cooperation. Today, universities form linkages with each other for one reason or another, but most important, they strike alliance in order to be able to compete. Massification and marketisation of higher education have led to severe competition, and globalisation has also led to more and more strategic alliances among multiple partners across national borders. Coupled with the advancement of information technology, the forces of globalisation have transformed the concepts of time and space, and universities are now operating across spatio-temporal boundaries. But what are the models and approaches to international university cooperation today? Under what circumstances are institutional linkages most likely to succeed or fail? What are some of the strategies involved? What kinds of organisational structures are needed?