Title: International business and cross-border education: a case of the Janus face of globalisation?

Authors: Gaby Ramia, Simon Marginson, Erlenawati Sawir, Chris Nyland

Addresses: Graduate School of Government, University of Sydney, Institute Building (H03), NSW 2006, Australia. ' Centre for the Study of Higher Education, University of Melbourne, 715 Swanston Street, Victoria 3010, Australia. ' International Education Research Centre, Central Queensland University, Level 8, 123 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne, Victoria 3000, Australia. ' Department of Management, Monash University, P.O. Box 197, Caulfield East, Victoria 3145, Australia

Abstract: Higher education is a global market and universities are increasingly becoming MNEs. This article extends international business studies (IB) accounts of the Janus face of globalisation through a user-perception analysis of higher education services in the world|s most significant per-capita education exporter nation. The analysis is entirely qualitative and does not offer statistically significant conclusions, drawing on experiential data from a programme of 200 in-depth semi-structured interviews with cross-border students enrolled in that country. The central finding is that the global education market delivers positive and negative experiences for students, pointing to the need for more attention on sector governance. Governance change may ensure that the positives are leveraged for continued sector growth for the sake of students and universities. For IB research, the study implies a need for greater inter-disciplinarity, in particular incorporating global governance, globalisation analysis and international education studies.

Keywords: international business markets; international education markets; international business education; cross-border education; cross-border students; social security; economic security; higher education services; universities; Janus face; globalisation; user perceptions; governance change.

DOI: 10.1504/GBER.2011.040727

Global Business and Economics Review, 2011 Vol.13 No.2, pp.105 - 125

Received: 10 Feb 2010
Accepted: 24 Oct 2010
Published online: 23 Sep 2014 *

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