1. International Higher Education Across Borders: Opportunities
and Challenges
Alade, Adeyanju (ADE)
SID-MBA Program
2011 Leppävaara

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International Higher Educationacross Borders: Opportunities and Challenges
Definition:
According to International Baccalaureate Organization, „international education‟ can be defined as
an education that seeks to develop students on the followingbasis:
 Cultural awareness, foreign language appreciation, and successful co-existence with others.
 Recognition of universal human values and identity.
 Encouragement of inquisitiveness towards inspired learning and discovery.
 Individual or collectiveacquisition of knowledge and skills towards application in diverse
disciplines.
 Adoption of international approach in response to local needs and concerns.
 Application of flexible and diverse approach in learning and pedagogy.
 Provision of proper mode of study assessment, international regulation and standardization.
Higher education can be referred to as a post-secondary education that awards qualifications either
at a polytechnic or university level.
Opportunities:
Opportunities derivable from international higher education are quite numerous to both service
providers (academic institutions) and service consumers (students). Many countries of the world
have realized the benefits inherent in opening their borders to international cross-exchange of
knowledge and culture towards sustainable development, globalization and socio-economic
advancement. The importance of a well-managed multicultural diversepopulation cannot be
overemphasized. Indeed there is strength in diversity especially givena sincere appreciation and
integration of well-educated, law-abiding, and resourceful individuals of diverse socio-cultural
background in any country‟s system e.g. Canada. A whole lot of colors, different perspectives,
experiences and multiple problem solving skills towards growth, development and innovation

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comein handy for host countries through international higher education across borders.
International graduate students often form a veritable source in boosting manpower within academic
settings and other industries thereby engendering profitable internationalization and global
competitiveness.
Ways of stimulating international education across borders:
There is a need toemphasize approaching international education mobility as a public responsibility
and not as a commodity to be traded mainly for commercial gains. On the contrary, Finland as a
country has succeeded in playing down excessive commercialization of international education as
obtained with other countries. Finnish tuition free education policy must have been responsible for
the current high level of literacy being recorded among Finns and educational-driven inhabitants of
Finland. It is also noteworthy that quality and international education standard have not been
compromised given this affordable education for all(tuition free) systembeing practiced in Finland.
This remarkable feat of Finland speaks volume and it should serve as an enviable standard and
challenge to other countries of the world. Nonetheless, Finland still needs to make concerted efforts
towards making the best use offoreign talents which form the pool of its literate society. By so
doing, Finland will not only have played a good role in being in the forefront of deploying quite
affordable international higher education to students the world over; it will also succeed in
exploring and reaping the benefits for its own good.
The World Trade Organization (WTO) framework seeks to stimulate international trade in
education and service-related industriesas part of its General Agreement on Trade in Services
initiative (GATS) of January 1, 1995. The implementation of this agreement partly or in full mainly
concerns WTO member countries. This agreement canpromote education services and academic
mobility through the following modes:

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1. “Cross- border supply” – distance learning education (e-learning/virtual) and study program
franchising.
2. “Consumption abroad” – traditional international higher education method such as the
category in which this writer belong e.g. A Nigerian studying in Finland.
3. “Commercial presence” – establishment of physical facilities in foreign countries, as well as
satellite campuses and partnership with local institutions e.g. Netherlands Business School
presence in Nigeria in partnership with African Leadership Forum (not-for-profit
organization).
4. “Presence of natural persons” – Academic personnel such as professors, researchers and
other categories of educational providers are deployed temporarily to foreign countries to
provide educational services.
Any model as stated abovewith which international education mobility can be achieved can be
adopted and explored extensively by any interested country/continent.
Findings have it that higher education across borders occur mostly throughmigration from southern
part of the globe to the North. African and Asian students are notable among theinternational higher
education consumers in Europe, US and Canada. Australia also attracted some students; however,
this has been reported to be on the decline due to immigration related matters which relatively
concern other western countries.
Challenges:
There are quite a number of challenges facing international higher education across borders. In a
nutshell, I shall briefly explore some of these challenges as follows:
1. Issue of insecurity and political circumstances: among the security problems that could
inhibit international higher education are anxiety and fear of terrorism by students and host
countries,and its resultant bureaucracy on immigration process.

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2. High cost of tuitions& accommodation, stiff general requirements, and unfavorable
government policies to foreign students.
3. Quality assurance, regulation and control: this affects the assessment, acceptance,
accreditation and recognition of cross border educational providers, their programs,
standards, and qualifications being awarded across different countries, regions and
continents e.g. E-learning/virtual programs
4. International education policies: e.g. whether the EU will be more accommodating to non-
EU students in terms of requirements? EU protection of its higher education pace at the
disadvantage of developing countries, and other related interests.
5. Host country openness and acceptance of foreign students: For instance, there have been
reported cases of racial attacks on foreign students in some countries e.g. Russia and
Australia.
In conclusion, there lie greater opportunities ahead for students, employers of labor, participating
countries, and the world at large in a well-organizedprogram on international higher education
across borders provided its challenges are tackled systematically and conscientiously.
Reference:
Altbach, P., 1999. What Higher Education does Right: A millennium Accounting, The Boston
College for International Higher Education publication, Number 18. Available on:
http://www.um.edu.mt/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/39485/UoM_stipend_system.pdf
Accessed on: 10.11.2011 @ 13.00.
Altbach, P.,& Knight, J. 2007. The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motivations and
Realities, Journal of Studies in International Education, Vol. 11 No. 3/4. Available on:
http://jsi.sagepub.com/content/11/3-4/290.full.pdf+html. Accessed on: 12.10.2011 @ 18.00.
Altbach, P. 2004. Higher Education Crosses Borders. Available on:
http://connectedconference.org/pdf/research/Higher%20Education%20Crosses%20Borders-
%20Change.pdf . Accessed on: 12.10.2011 @ 18.25.
International Baccalaureate Organization. (2005-2011) Available on:
http://www.ibo.org/programmes/slideb.cfm. Accessed on: 9.11.2011 @ 17.15
Racist Attacks in Russia (on students). 2010. Available on:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IfLx-ry51I. Accessed on: 9.11.2011 @ 18.00.

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World Trade organization. 2011. Available on:
http://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/gatsqa_e.htm. Accessed on: 10.11.2011 @ 13.00