Business of Borderless Education

Full title

The Business of Borderless Education: UK perspectives.

Published by HEFCE and CVCP, 2000.

The Summary Report is 40 pp.

Authors

Svava Bjarnason, John Davies, Dennis Farrington, John Fielden, Richard Garrett, Helen Lund, Robin Middlehurst and Allan Schofield.

Abstract

The Preface by Sir Howard Newby, CEO of HEFCE at the time, reads:

The new world of global higher education is fast moving and complex. Barely a day passes without an announcement that a major company in the media or entertainment business has tied up a new deal to market and sell educational products across the world.

I am delighted that CVCP [now UUK] took the lead nearly a year ago in commissioning, jointly with the HEFCE, a report that would map these changes and suggest how they might impact on UK universities. The aim of the study was to alert CVCP members to the potential risks and rewards of the new ‘borderless’ environment that they all face. The report, which is the most substantial work of its kind, provides valuable practical guidance about how higher education institutions might respond to these challenges and opportunities. There are also clear indications about how the CVCP itself might continue to support its members in this area. A major example is the need for a continuing source of market intelligence that will help to inform universities’ planning decisions. Such a service would be best organised on an international basis and CVCP will be initiating early discussions with its Australian partners in this project about the possibilities of future collaboration in monitoring developments in the global marketplace.

Borderless education has potentially much deeper long-term implications for the future shape and structure of British higher education. For example, more intense competition raises issues about the number and size of UK universities and the extent to which greater collaboration could help us face the global challenge. The CVCP will be taking the lead in debating these wider issues over the next few months.

Source

The summary report is at http://bookshop.universitiesuk.ac.uk/downloads/BorderlessSummary.pdf