International Higher Education Hubs in the Global Education Industry

Education hubs are a recent phenomenon in higher education systems of predominantly Asian countries to innovate local systems through the expertise of foreign actors, particularly from English-speaking countries. To understand some of the phenomenon's implications on international higher education, this empirical study compares attempts to create education hubs in Singapore and the United Arab Emirates. Two main research questions guide the comparative study: First, it explores the analytical potential of current approaches to study the phenomenon, and second, it investigates how education hubs change policy and governance in international higher education. To answer these questions, interviews were conducted in both countries and analyzed alongside policy documents. Thus, the study sheds light on how the education hubs lead to the involvement of Global Education Industry actors in local systems and how it creates new dynamics for policy making and research.