The country case studies are part of the empirical data collected for the "Promoting the Relevance of Higher Education" project. Before presenting the case studies, this introductory chapter describes how the 8 case studies were selected, the case study methodology, and provides an overview of the interviewed organisations and experts.…

Past research revealed that International Branch Campuses (IBCs) are simultaneously under two types of isomorphic pressures. On the one hand, they are obliged to conform to the institutions of their host countries, which lead them towards homogenising with the local Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), hence deviate from their parent unit's…

Branding of higher education institutions (HEIs) is an expanding area of research. The existing literature mainly draws on the strategic management perspective that argues that HEIs are pressured to develop brands which differentiate them from their competitors. Past studies, however, do insufficiently take into account that most HEIs are…

The international branch campus is a phenomenon on the rise, but we still have limited knowledge of the strategic choices underlying the start of these ventures. The objective of this paper is to shed light on the motivations and decisions of universities to engage (or not) with the establishment of international branch campuses. As a point of…

The spread of the neo-liberal ideology internationally has encouraged increased marketisation of higher education systems right around the world. With marketisation promoting competition, efficiency and revenue generation, many countries have begun to recruit more foreign students. Higher education has moved towards becoming a profitable commodity…

The aim of this article is to develop a framework that encapsulates the key managerial complexities of running offshore branch campuses. In the transnational higher education (TNHE) literature, several managerial ramifications and impediments have been addressed by scholars and practitioners. However, the strands of the literature are highly…

The Bologna Process is almost at its end and European policy-makers currently reflect on appropriate objectives and policies for the next decade. Given that the Bologna Process is generally seen as an example of unprecedented change in European higher education and that the major overarching objective of the Process was to increase the…

Efforts at cooperation in higher education among Flanders, the Netherlands, and three regions of Germany are discussed, including various initiatives to support cooperation among institutions, research comparing the offerings of the five regions, and government policy in each country to allocate funds for cooperative programs that meet government…