Towards a pedagogy of capacity development

This third post reflecting on issues of inequalities of global knowledge production owes its existence to a coincidence. Sitting down earlier this week to start collecting my thoughts for a day to be spent with Michael Crossley from Bristol honing a research bid on our planned partnership with the University of the South Pacific, I …

Do we want knowledge without borders?

Preparing a workshop on writing for journals in Suva, Fiji, and working on a research bid with Pacific Island colleagues, I was struck by the realisation that I could only think of one journal article in the leading international and comparative education journals that had been written by an author from the region, and that …

A university’s ‘international’ brand must be more than just spin to attract the best academics

Universities are constantly bombarding us with their ‘global’, ‘international’ and ‘worldwide’ credentials. You can barely visit a website or pick up a prospectus without reading about their global reach, world changing activity or international impact. These assertions have become every much a part of their brand as academic excellence, outstanding research reputation and an exceptional …

The global financial crisis and the internationalisation of higher education

This post was first published in the ‘From the Vice-Chancellor’s desk’ blog on January 20, 2012 I am often asked about the impact of the global financial crisis on the internationalisation of higher education. Given Nottingham’s unique global footprint, that is not a surprise. As the sub-title of Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff’s outstanding book This Time …

The Nottingham Global Network

The growth in transnational higher education is well documented, with UK institutions playing a leading role in delivering degree programmes outside of their home market. International research collaborations have also seen significant expansion in recent years with more and more institutions looking to build strategic partnerships to enhance the quality of research and magnify its …

The growth of TNE in SE Asia: Challenges and Realities

While attending the recent UK-Vietnam Partnership Workshop, organised by the University of Nottingham in conjunction with the British Council and the Vietnam National University, I was struck by the many similarities between the Vietnamese experience and that of other SE Asian nations. While the event was held in Hanoi, and attended by largely Vietnamese delegates, …

Why we need to recapture ‘marketing’ from the ‘marketisation’ of higher education debate

Critics of marketing in higher education (HE) argue that a fundamental and inexorable conflict exists between the intrinsic purposes and values of education and what has been described as an increasing shift towards ‘marketisation’ or ‘corporatisation’ i.e. treating HE as a commodity open to market forces with students as its primary customers. Some have asserted …