The evolving globalization of higher education

We are becoming accustomed to daily news reports that one US institution of higher education or another is starting a campus or a program somewhere abroad.  We also see a number of other countries (e.g. Australia, England) that have numerous institutions of higher education that are very active in setting up shop in foreign countries, primarily in Asia or Africa.   However,  The Hankyoreh, a South Korean newspaper, recently published an article reminding one that globalization does not work in just one direction.

Seoul National University (SNU) announced on Thursday that it has plans to build a branch learning center in Los Angeles or San Francisco, in the western United States, where there are large numbers of Koreans. The facility will be a place where overseas Koreans and students can take Korean studies courses or where SNU students can go and work as interns or to take classes from professors in the region.

The model for this effort is said to be the National University of Singapore’s Overseas Colleges. Two of these colleges are in the US - a west coast Silicon Valley site affiliated with Stanford, and an east coast Bio Valley site affiliated with the University of Pennsylvania

NUS Overseas Colleges (NOC) is an integral part of the University’s drive to infuse a spirit of enterprise into NUS education, providing NUS students with a globally-oriented educational experience. NOC’s mission is to provide NUS students with education and experience in leading entrepreneurial and academic hubs around the world.

It is clear that both this new branch of SNU and the branches of NOC are primarily focused on providing an international experience for their own undergraduates. As such, both efforts are very similar to offshore programs of hundreds of American institutions.   However, it is interesting that SNU seems also to be testing the local marketplace of “overseas Koreans”, perhaps with the idea of eventually opening a real branch campus here aimed at educating local California students.   Should that happen, we would have a striking example of the field-leveling symmetries of globalization.   

Comments

[Eric]

Malaysia is another interesting example of this 'two-way globalization'. While many studentes go to the UK/USA/Australia for their higher education, they are becoming a major provider of international higher education as well. But more recently, also universities are moving. Lim Kok Wing University and some other privates are setting up branches in the UK and recently also in Africa. See also this post (http://blog.beerkens.info/index.php/2007/05/malaysia-as-an-education-hub/).

[Ruth Carberry]

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