Agents and Third-Party Recruiters in International Higher Education

This study explores the spatial dynamics of higher education (HE) integration in China’s Greater Bay Area (GBA), focusing specifically on short-term cross-border academic mobility. Informed by Lefebvre’s (1991) spatial theory and Marginson’s (2022b) glonacal agency heuristic, a mixed-method convergent design was employed, integrating infrastructure and funding statistics, policy documents, and interviews with cross-border faculty. Findings identify three clear spatialities shaping the GBA HE space: innovation-oriented spatiality, mainland-inclined integration spatiality, and integrated everyday-life spatiality. These spatial configurations are influenced by global, national, and local forces. In response, academics engaged in reflexive practices across multiple scales, using their agency to navigate and reshape the space, creating hybrid spaces that transcended top-down planning. The study contributes to the global discourse on academic mobility and cross-border collaboration in HE, demonstrating how scholars’ mobility can transform a policy-driven HE integration into a more adaptable, collaborative, and inclusive environment. The findings offer valuable insights for other regions prioritising cross-border HE collaboration, particularly those seeking to balance local development with global aspirations.

Internationalization in higher education has been the recurring theme of the global academic community in preparing the future world leaders and workers – from the developed to the developing countries. Faculty diversification, which is the primary arm of internationalization, covets an array of geopolitical and geocultural interdisciplinarities that may hinder its prime purpose. This study discerns the determinants of internationalization and faculty diversification in higher education: the exposure of the student-learners to an array of ideas, cultures, behaviors, experiences and standards. Diversification benefits the academic environment by offering optimal educational experiences to a community that promotes peace and harmony in preparing students for their global tasks as future leaders and workers in the acumen of internationalization in education and work globalization. Hence, it benefits the student-learners as diversified teachers are imperative to the need and the focus on extending tertiary education as a vehicle for long term human resource development.

This article discusses the new Brazilian government strategy aimed at the internationalization of higher education—the program Networks for Institutional Internationalization (CAPES-Global.Edu)—launched in July 2025. The objective is to analyze the directions of the internationalization of Brazilian higher education over the past 10 years, with some initial reflections on the characteristics of the new initiative and, specifically, its prospects for marking a new paradigm of internationalization for Brazil.

The Internationalisation of Higher Education in Brazil: Analysis of a Spanish-Brazilian Scientific Cooperation Project in CAL

The purpose of this publication is to provide a reference source on key topics in higher education. Chapters in the first volume cover central themes in the study of higher education, while contributors to the second volume focus on contemporary higher education issues within specific countries or regions. Part one 'Global themes and contemporary challenges' contains the following chapters: Introduction / Philip G. Altbach and James J. F. Forest; The academic profession / Jurgen Enders; Accountability and quality assurance: new issues for academic inquiry / Elaine El-Khawas; Curricula in international perspective / Lisa R. Lattuca; Doctoral education: present realities and future trends / Philip G. Altbach; Higher education finance: trends and issues / Arthur M. Hauptman; For-profit higher education: US tendencies, international echoes / Kevin Kinser and Daniel C. Levy; Globalization and the university: realities in an unequal world / Philip G. Altbach; Governance and administration: organizational and structural trends / Barbara Sporn; History of universities / Harold Perkin; Internationalization: concepts, complexities and challenges / Jane Knight; Higher education management: challenges and strategies / George Keller; Reflections on the transition from elite to mass to universal access: forms and phases of higher education in modern societies since WWII / Martin Trow; The private fit in the higher education landscape / Daniel C. Levy; Beyond private gain: the public benefits of higher education / David E. Bloom, Matthew Hartley, and Henry Rosovsky; Research and scholarship / Grant Harman; Student politics: activism and culture / Philip G. Altbach; Teaching and learning in higher education / James J. F. Forest; Rhetoric or reality?: technology in borderless higher education / Svava Bjarnason; Part two 'Regions and countries' contains: Section one 'Regional perspectives': Higher education in the Arab world / Linda Herrera; Higher education in Central and Eastern Europe / Peter Scott; Higher education developing countries / David E. Bloom and Henry Rosovsky; European integration in higher education: the Bologna Process towards a European high education area / Hans de Wit; Higher education in French-speaking Sub-Saharan Africa / Juma Shabani; Latin American university transformation in the 1990s: altered identities? / Marcela Mollis; Higher education in Scandinavia / Evanthia Kalpazidou Schmidt; Higher education in Southeast Asia in the era of globalization / Molly N. N. Lee; Higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa / Damtew Teferra; Section two 'National perspectives': Argentina / Ana M. Garcia de Fanelli; Australia / Simon Marginson; Brazil / Simon Schwartzman; Canada / Glen A. Jones; Chile / Jose Joaquin Brunner and Anthony Tillett; China / Ruth Hayhoe and Qiang Zha; Egypt / Iman Farag; France / Christine Musselin; Germany / Barbara M. Kehm; India / N. Jayaram; Indonesia / M. K. Tadjudin; Iran / Abbas Bazargan; Israel / Yaacov Iram; Italy / Roberto Moscati; Japan / Akiyoshi Yonezawa; Kenya / Charles K. Ngome; Korea / Namgi Park; Mexico / Hugo Casanova-Cardiel; The Netherlands / Egbert de Weert; Nigeria / Munzali Jibril; Poland / Wojciech Duczmal; Russia / Anna Smolentseva; South Africa / Chika Trevor Sehoole; Spain / Jose-Gines Mora; Turkey / Hasan Simsek; United Kingdom / Michael Shattock; United States / Peter D. Eckel and Jacqueline E. King.

The 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China clearly proposed that "it is necessary to improve the higher education and training system, deepen the integration of industry and education, and school-enterprise cooperation", which shows that entering the new era to promote the integration of higher education and industry is not only the need for the transformation and upgrading of the industry and the restructuring of business formats, but also the only way for higher education to solve imbalance, inadequacy and rapid development.Throughout the development process of higher education, the coupling and coordinated development of higher education and industrial structure is not only a static process, but also a dynamic development change.By reviewing and sorting out the relevant data of the Hunan Statistical Yearbook, this paper sorts out the current situation of higher education structure and industrial structure in Liaoning Province, and then calculates the degree of coupling and coordination between the two, divides the coupling coordination degree according to the relevant standards of coupling coordination, and then analyzes the relevant factors affecting the relationship between the two, in order to achieve the trend of coordinated development between the higher education structure and the industrial structure in Hunan Province.

The most important competition of the 21st century is that of talents. How to make higher education and the cultivation of talents contribute to the long-term national development agenda and the construction of a community of a shared future for mankind is a significant task and mission of higher education in China. The Belt and Road Initiative is one of the means to share the Chinese experiences, Chinese wisdom and bonus of reform and opening-up. Construction of the core area of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the implementation of the Open Up West Program call for talents to contribute to the regional development. It has brought both opportunities and challenges to foreign language education in universities and colleges in Xinjiang. The cultivation of talents in foreign language education must integrate into the scope of internationalization in national higher education and meet its expectations of talents by focusing on fostering character and civic virtue, maintaining and serving regional social stability and long-term security and pursuing development in the long run. The tripartite route of development is as follows. Firstly, it is expected to design and carry out the tasks and agenda in line with China’s Ministry of Education’s concern of internationalization in higher education. Secondly, it is vital to focus on important aspects with a deep awareness of opportunities and challenges of internationalization. Thirdly, it is of practical significance to explore various potentials of development through Sino-Russian cooperation in faculty training and development, cultivation of talents, scientific research and cultural exchange with the help of platforms of cooperation in operation. With the joint efforts of both parties, there is hope that the cultivation of talents in foreign language education will bolster mutual capabilities in serving the Belt and Road Initiative.

Significantly impacted education, necessitating effective integration into teaching practices. This study examined the application of the Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model to evaluate ICT integration in English Language Teaching (ELT) at the tertiary level. The research aimed to determine whether the SAMR model could enhance pedagogical practices beyond mere technology substitution and how it compared with the Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) model. This study addressed the issue of stagnant ICT integration in ELT, hypothesizing that the SAMR model provided a more robust framework for transformative technology use compared to the TPACK model. The study’s purpose was to assess the SAMR model’s effectiveness in advancing ICT integration in university-level ELT. Objectives included comparing SAMR with TPACK and identifying barriers to effective ICT use. A systematic literature review was conducted using six electronic databases covering the past decade (2013-2023). The review followed PRISMA guidelines with defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Preliminary results revealed that while the SAMR model offered the potential for enhancing teaching practices, many educators remained at the substitution stage, mainly replacing traditional methods with technology without significant pedagogical changes. Challenges included insufficient training, institutional resistance, and lack of support. The findings underscored the need for extensive training, supportive policies, and continued research to improve ICT integration in higher education. This study contributes to understanding effective technology integration and provides recommendations for institutions seeking to elevate their teaching practices through meaningful ICT adoption. This research offers insights and practical recommendations for enhancing technology integration in higher education, focusing on overcoming current limitations and advancing teaching methodologies through the SAMR model.

This article examines the roles of university elites in enhancing internationalisation agenda in Indonesian higher education. This is done by exploring the relationship between internationalisation and cosmopolitanism. Drawing from two stages of field studies of the internationalisation of Indonesian universities, interviews with key correspondents in the sector, and an analysis of related documents, I argue that there is a tension between the way the university elites see themselves as the agents of cosmopolitan culture and the way they are positioned as intermediaries of global interest and agenda. Cosmopolitan culture that appears to be symbolic, universal, and democratic as represented by the university elites belies the instrumental purpose of internationalisation that yokes higher education into the global marketplace. A shift from mere cosmopolitanism to cosmopolitics would equip the university elites with the analytical tools of global geopolitics regarding the internationalisation of higher education.

This paper examines two of the major conceptual and empirical aspects of internationalisation in the higher education area from contemporary and collaborative perspectives. It also explores a number of factors---academic and non-academic ---which influence both the provision of outstanding academic programs by tertiary institutions and the educational achievements of students. The paper draws on high-level expertise in intercultural understanding and practice and on longstanding involvement in cross-cultural curriculum development, teaching and research. It provides examples of principles and practices that contribute to, and sometimes determine, the success or failure of internationalising educational services and the achievement of excellence in the higher education sector.

As a response to globalization, internationalisation of higher education could be accomplished by the forms of a series of national policies and institutional strategies to strengthen the global competitiveness of universities. The history of Japanese higher education spans approximately over 130 years, experiencing both flourishing time and stagnant period. Driven by the increasing pace of internationalisation and great pressure originated from global competition, Japanese government has already taken concrete measures to get its higher education better merged into internationalization. However, higher education in Japan is now at a crossroads maintaining its sustainable and steady development. As Japan’s neighboring country, China came much more slowly of breaking the ice for the internationalisation in dimension of higher education if compared with Japan. As gradually playing an important role internationally, China has invested massively into internationalisation of higher education as well. However the direction of development in Chinese higher education seems to be blur or too early to tell. The current status of higher education in China and Japan are both characterized by profoundly historical roots. Better understanding on the ‘historical internationalisation’ in both countries sheds light on the understanding of higher education in contemporary China and Japan and their developmental progress. Therefore the present dissertation examines the originally authentic sense of internationalisation which could be traced back to the middle to late 19th century. During the middle of nineteenth century China and Japan were both undergoing the threat from invasive West with countries’ independence and traditional culture in danger. In response to expansion of the West, Chinese and Japanese’s reactions varied enormously in polity subversion, economic construction, attitudes towards foreign culture and educational reform. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 in Japan rapidly foster its modernization by successfully ‘using the barbarian to control the barbarian’ to achieve the equal standards with the West eventually which opened a brand-new page for the beginning of Japanese modern history. Unlike Japan, Chinese failure in Self-Strengthening Movement which was supposed to be the preparation of modernization in China, stroke China back to the abyss of bureaucratic governance, leading Chinese modernization and first step accepting western culture and technology almost half a century later than Japan. In this sense, historical roots of internationalisation in China and Japan would be taken into serious consideration in this dissertation because it shaped countries’ status quo and would probably insert a far-reaching influence on the prospective development.

Leading technology integration in higher education requires an inquisitive, reflective approach. This chapter discusses key questions that university administrators, policy makers, faculty, and other stakeholders must address in order to effectively integrate technology into higher education. The questions are divided into three categories. First order question are conceptually simple questions that can be answered with basic information and little controversy. First order questions primarily relate to the cost, availability, and capabilities of technology. Second order questions build on first order questions and require more data, greater participation, and deeper analysis to be effectively answered. Examples of second order questions include how to effectively implement technology, the costs and benefits of technology, the unintended consequences of technology, and how to move from operational to strategic planning. Third order questions involve the most complex, controversial, and profound issues of technology and higher education. These questions will likely never be definitively answered but force us to continually reassess and evaluate our fundamental beliefs about higher education. Third order questions relate to the role of higher education in society, the control and ultimate impact of technology, and how technology affects the essential elements of the higher education experience.

The problem of interdisciplinary educational integration reflects the realities of the modern world. Rapidly changing technologies set new requirements for the training of specialists capable of innovation. The study of the vertical and horizontal interdisciplinary integration resources for the disciplines of the humanities and management cycle is the purpose of this work. The structure of the article includes a theoretical and methodological analysis and an empirical part, represented by two stages of research (for socio-humanitarian and management disciplines). The article presents the results of modern views on the problem of interdisciplinary integration in higher education. The results of the theoretical analysis showed a mismatch between the depth of the theoretical study of the problem and the success of their practical implementation in the conditions of modern higher professional education. The complexity of the implementation is due to the changed psychological and socio-psychological characteristics of Generation Z students. Based on the theoretical analysis, a typology of interdisciplinary competencies was proposed. The aim of the empirical part of the study was to study the resources of vertical and horizontal integration at a technical university. Based on the empirical research, the possibilities of vertical and horizontal integration of the disciplines of the socio-humanitarian and management cycle were identified. An integrative matrix is presented. A promising direction for this topic is the development of an integrative module “Management workshop”.

The internationalization of higher education in the last decades reigns highly on the agendas of higher education systems worldwide. Universities in Europe, as well as in other regions, are expected to become key players in a global knowledge network. In addition to state-to-state academic relationships, there are a growing number of higher education institution-to-institution collaborative ventures, operating beyond national jurisdictions. Both higher education systems and individual higher education institutions are forced nowadays to navigate between contrasting trends. This paper examines five pairs of contrasting trends along which higher education systems, as well as individual higher education institutions, have to navigate in defining their missions and in shaping their operational strategies: serving national priorities vs. operating within an international setting; government steering vs. institutional autonomy; increased diversity vs. harmonization policies; competition vs. collaboration; and intellectual property vs. intellectual philanthropy. On the continuum of these five contrasting trends, each higher education institution has to define today its functioning in its national context and in the international higher education network.

The article focuses on internationalization of higher education. It analyzes the European experience of implementing internationalization strategies on the examples of Aston University (United Kingdom) and Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). The authors present the results of the research on defining the level of internationalization conducted at Russian higher education institutions under Erasmus+ project “Development of approaches to harmonization of comprehensive internationalization strategies in higher education, research and innovation at EU and partner countries (HARMONY)”. The project partnership is comprised of 14 higher education institutions of different types (classical universities, institutions of applied sciences) from 9 countries of the world, namely Spain, United Kingdom, Germany, Portugal, Italy, Greece, Russia, Belarus, and Armenia. In Russia the questionnaires were sent to 119 universities located in four Russian federal districts including the Central, North-Western, Volga and Southern federal districts. The survey was based on data of 2015–2016 academic year. Finally, the article analyzes the cooperation between Russia and European Union in the framework of Erasmus+ programme and the role that the programme plays in internationalization of higher education.