The president of the International Association of Universities welcomed participants to a conference on cross-border higher education. He noted that demand for higher education is increasing globally and cross-border education has helped meet this demand, though it also presents challenges. The conference aims to develop recommendations to address issues like lack of data and quality assurance frameworks for cross-border education. The IAU hopes outcomes will inform its future actions and provide guidance to institutions on managing opportunities and challenges of cross-border higher education.

1. Goolam MOHAMEDBHAI
President, International Association of Universities
Introductory Speech
IAU International Conference
Alexandria, Egypt
15-16 November 2005
I have great pleasure, on behalf of the International Association of Universities, to welcome you
all to this International Conference to discuss a topic that is now recognised for its importance
and its implications world wide: namely, cross-border higher education.
It might be useful to look back and ask: why has cross-border higher education gained so much
importance over the past few decades? There are several reasons but perhaps the most
significant one is the huge demand for higher education throughout the world, which will
continue to increase as we move towards a knowledge society. The pressure for student
enrolment is particularly acute in developing countries where it cannot be met solely by
traditional higher education providers, which are mostly public-funded universities. The great
advances in information and communication technologies and the growing tendency, through
WTO and GATS, to consider higher education as a trading commodity, have resulted in a
proliferation of cross-border higher education providers, mostly from developed to developing
countries.
It should be recognised that cross-border education has many positive aspects. It has helped in
increasing enrolment in developing countries, and in promoting lifelong learning and continuing
professional development. And it has made it possible for students to obtain foreign
qualifications locally at a much lower cost, thus not only reducing foreign currency outflow but
also limiting brain drain.
Cross-border higher education, however, has negative aspects as well. Very often foreign
providers do not take into account the cultural values and priorities of the host country, nor do
they contribute to its social and economic development. They hardly undertake any research, so
vital for developing countries. They also, through unfair competition, eventually cause a
weakening of local higher education institutions. And, most importantly, many of them function
on purely commercial grounds with hardly any attention given to the quality of their provision.
It is this situation that has raised concern, as much in the north as in the south, about cross-
border higher education. Meetings and conferences have been held, and books and papers
published to sensitise the stakeholders. The IAU felt that it, too, had to contribute to the debate.
It joined hands with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, the American
Council on Education and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation of the United States,
to prepare a document entitled “Sharing Quality Higher Education Across Borders: A Statement
on Behalf of Higher Education Institutions Worldwide”. The Statement was finalised at the
beginning of this year and it will be presented at this meeting. What is remarkable is that over 30
higher education associations, from all around the world, have formally endorsed the Statement.
The IAU also participated in the preparation of the “Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-
Border Higher Education” jointly elaborated by the UNESCO Secretariat and OECD. The
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2. Guidelines will also be presented at this meeting.
But the IAU felt that, given the importance of cross-border higher education, preparing a
statement was not enough. The time had come for more concrete action. This explains the
holding of this conference. You will see from the conference’s programme that it is very much
action- and recommendation-oriented and the two parallel working groups tomorrow afternoon
are its two main instruments. Their outcome will shape not only the future action of the IAU in
this important area but will also provide institutions with ideas on how to respond to the
opportunities and challenges created by cross-border higher education.
Just before this conference a very successful global meeting of university associations was held
to discuss the same topic. There were representatives of over 20 associations from all over the
world, and most of them are participating at this conference as well. The meeting’s main
recommendations will be presented later at this conference. We believe that this is the first time
that a meeting of university associations, including rectors conferences and vice-chancellors
committees, whether national, regional or international, has been organised globally. The IAU
has always recognised the important role that university associations play in higher education
matters, and in the year 2000, at its General Conference held in Durban in South Africa, it
amended its constitution to allow university associations to become full-fledged members on the
same footing as institutional members. Indeed, two members of its Administrative Board are
elected representatives of university associations. At present the IAU has 23 national and
regional associations as members. Through these associations, as well as through its
institutional members, which currently number about 600, the IAU is in a position to reach out to
a very significant proportion of higher education institutions of the world.
Among the many issues that could be discussed I believe one that requires special attention is
the dearth of information and statistics on cross-border education in most countries; without
such information it would be difficult to formulate clear policies. For example, who are the
providers, what is their country of origin and what mode of delivery do they use? What are the
programmes offered and how many students are enrolled? What arrangements have they made
for ensuring the quality of their provisions? Higher education institutions, in collaboration with
their respective associations and the appropriate national authorities, can help in collecting such
data.
Quality assurance and enhancement of cross-border higher education is another issue that
needs to be considered. Each country needs to put in place a regulatory framework. Yet, most
countries, specially developing ones, do not have such a framework, nor indeed do they know
how to go about setting up such a framework. Universities from different parts of the world could
collaborate in formulating guidelines for setting up such a framework, especially by drawing from
successful experiences of some countries such as Hong Kong (China), Malaysia and South
Africa.
Colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, I am confident that with your valuable contributions we shall
come up with some very positive and meaningful recommendations which can then be
converted into an action plan. This will help not only our respective countries and institutions,
but also the global higher education sector. Let me reiterate the keen interest of the IAU to be
of service to its membership in this area.
Before ending I would like to express, on behalf of the IAU, my thanks and appreciation to the
Bibliotheca Alexandrina and to the Arab Academy for Science & Technology and Maritime
Transport for having so kindly agreed to co-host this conference and the global meeting of
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3. associations that preceded it, and for their assistance and warm welcome. We could not have
chosen a better city than Alexandria, or a more appropriate venue than the Bibliotheca
Alexandrina, for these meetings.
Thank you.
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