As cross-border education continues to evolve, a comprehensive understanding of the latest trends requires an awareness of the behaviours of partner universities and host governments. This case study examines two joint-venture universities in China and compares their institutional approaches to resource acquisition. It compares their strategies in four dimensions: initial launch, choice of name, capacity building, and strategy in leveraging resources from the local government. The divergent strategies show that both universities use their particular advantages to obtain different resources to sustain their development. This study presents a portrait of a dynamic organisational environment for cross-border in China. While the government plays a key role in the establishment of the universities, their resource acquisition effectiveness depends on how successfully they integrate their agendas with local needs.