Development and Quality of Higher Education in Transnational Cooperation: Some Cases from China, Japan, Malaysia

Abstract

The theme of this thesis is to discuss the emergence of the transnational collaborative higher education (TNHE) model in the context of the internationalisation of higher education. A secondary qualitative research and literature review approach were used for the study, which focused on China, Japan and Malaysia. The literature review involved understanding the reasons why TNHE was able to emerge in these countries and the development of transnational collaborative higher education institutions (THEI) in these countries. In addition to this, attention is paid to the governance, quality and some of the challenges of inequality in these countries in TNHE. From the extensive literature obtained, we learn that China is opening up to enhance its higher education; Japan, traumatised by the economic crisis, is trying to recover its position by relying on transnational cooperation; and Malaysia is striving to internationalise higher education and pursue a high-quality higher education system. In addition, the paper analyses the monitoring and quality assurance issues of TNHE and the need for governments or institutions in different regions to take into account local educational development, culture, regional development and resource mix. More importantly, where the value of postcooperation  eucation will be focused and whether they have the capacity and systems to face these challenges.