‘Transnational’ and ‘transcultural’: their divergence and convergence in international higher education

Grounded in international higher education, this paper explores the divergence and convergence of the transnational and the transcultural, two widely applied approaches to dynamic processes and phenomena across countries and cultures. As their theoretical foundations, analytical frameworks and discourses are not always fully established in studies of international higher education, the transnational and transcultural approaches are sometimes used interchangeably or in conjunction, without sufficient clarification of their meanings and associations. The inadequate application of these two approaches puts studies that attempt to transcend countries and cultures at risk of reinforcing binary opposites. To address these issues and beyond, this paper begins by reviewing the genealogies of these two ‘trans’ approaches, before focusing on each of their key concepts – transnationality and transculturality. It then explores the convergence of transnationality and transculturality across three major topics in international higher education: mobility, agency and identity, which are discussed in one of the border-crossing contexts, namely the life and experiences of international students. Following this, the paper extends the discussion to a broader scope and provides an alternative analytical framework that embodies the convergence of transnationality and transculturality in the interrelated topics of mobility, agency and identity. This paper concludes by summarising the differences and connections between these two ‘trans’ approaches and their implications for studies of international higher education.