A Study On Cross-border Higher Education

Cross-border higher education has become a worldwide focus of international concerns, is an important component of tidings of broad internationalization of education. It’s also be an inevitable result of education reform and development in the context of globalization. Building an innovative country is a key mission and an important goal of modernization construction as to our country, and this result in urgent need to construct a more open system of higher education for further enhancing the level of Chinese higher education. Thus current development of cross-border higher education has become the demands of Chinese social development. In-depth study of cross-border higher education has important theoretical and practical magnificence helping to enhance the understanding of laws of cross-border higher education, deepening the study of the theory and practice research of cross-border higher education, enriching and perfecting the theory system of international theory system of cross-border higher education. This paper utilizes comparative study, historical analysis, case studies and other methodologies, and targets to cross-border higher education in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other regions, deeply researches into the evolution of cross-border higher education development, major types, and the strategies of implementation and development trend of cross-border higher education. The dissertation places great effort to explore common properties, laws and the inherent of development of cross-border higher education in the world. It also presents deep implications to development of higher education in China.Cross-border higher education means mobility of any form of personnel, programmes, institutions and so on in the field of higher education between countries crossing national judicial boundaries and geographic boundaries. Cross-border higher education has rich connotation. It is not only a phenomenon of cross-border higher education and a process of higher education, but also is an activity and a kind of supply model of higher education. Cross-border education possesses characteristics of trans-nation, mobility, diversity, complexity, trade, and its values epitomize enhancing capacity-building, fostering resources development, gaining economic benefits and promoting international understanding.Cross-border higher education rise rapidly with the development of higher education.It can be traced back to ancient Egypt and Rome’s transnational tour for"teaching"and "learning"of higher education. Cross-border education occurred in the12th century, which has undergone three stages: the first initial formation stage from the12th century to the late19th century, the second stage of fast development in early20th century to1980s, and the third stagy of prosperity after1980s, leaving a string of clear lesson of the trajectory. At different stage of development, cross-border higher education pervaded strong flavors of times and characteristics. Cross-border higher education is restricted by many external factors, such as economic globalization, regional cooperation, liberalization of education services of trade, but international organizations’inflence is especially strong.As a new growing point of the global higher education, cross-border higher education’s manifestations are complex and varied. There are three primary forms, namely the cross-border mobility of personnel, programme mobility and institutions mobility. The cross-border mobility of personnel include the mobility of students, professors, scholars, experts and other roles of identities, and students cross-border mobility constitute the largest part of the cross-border higher education. The programme cross-border mobility are the second largest in the form of cross-border higher education; mainly include the franchising arrangements, Twinning programme, double degree/joint degree programme, cohesion project, authorized programmes,and long distance/virtual education programmes and so on. Institution cross-border mobility is smaller than students’cross-border mobility and programme cross-border mobility, but its momentum of development is very rapid in recent years. Overseas campuses, independent institutions, corporate university, virtual university, acquisition/merger, centers of learning/teaching point, international education institutions, are the most common forms of cross-border institution mobility.At present, the worldwide cross-border higher education’s implementation is drive mainly by three forces, namely super-national government organizations, national governments and higher education institutions. However, these three forces to promote the implementation of cross-border higher education, have taken different strategies. Super-national governmental organizations are mainly through enacting policies and standards, promoting the mutual recognition of diplomas and degrees, holding international conferences, implementing international exchange programme of personnel, giving full play to the non-governmental organization-the association of college’s forces and so on to promote cross-border higher education in the world. The national government, including governments of cross-border higher education exporters and importers, though all of them are with certain policy instruments and administrative approaches to push cross-border higher education forward, but their implementations of cross-border higher education strategies have their owe emphasis. Higher education institutions are major roles to implement cross-border higher education; the strategies of cross-border higher education implementation involve two levels of activities and organizations.The world of cross-border higher education development accumulated rich experience: government’s support is an important precondition of cross-border higher education, the pursuit of economic gain is the main motivation for its development, reform of the higher education system is an important condition, international cooperation in school running is the effective strategy for its development, the construction of quality controlling mechanism is the important guarantee. Cross-border education also brings with a range of issues such as cross-border management, education justice, quality assurance, accreditation, internationalization and localization, the brain drain and so on. The development trend of cross-border higher education in the world is mainly reflected by:the focus shift from students mobility to programme and institutions mobility, from the emphasis on the education aid to the development of the education trade, from"governmental domination"to"colleges and universities domination",and pay more attention to quality assurance and the construction of international quality standards, daily tend to favors cross-border distance education.Cross-border higher education is a new pattern of education appearing in the course of our country’s open policy of reform, especially after jointing WTO.It’s a rational and organic component of our educational enterprise. Promoting cross-border higher education is a key procedure for continuous development of social economy, for fostering development level of higher education and exerting functions of higher education. Cross-border higher education is a profound reform movement of higher education, and deeply influences our present higher education systems having far-reaching impacts on instruction, scientific research, social services and cultural heritage of higher education institutions. International cross-border higher education have deep implications for Chinese higher education to speed up the reform of higher education, to realize great-leap-forward development, and to promote the total level of higher education and competitive capacity:first, innovation of concept of higher education; Secondly, improvement of quality assurance mechanism of higher education; third, strengthening of Sino-foreign higher education cooperation; fourth, implementation of "going out" strategy for higher education.