Internationalization VS Regionalization

    

The article by Ogachi (2009) reviews internationalization and regionalization of higher education in East Africa. In this blog post I will present an analysis of this article by giving some facts and concluding it,.

Ogachi (2009) defines internationalization of higher education as a net of connections that tie not only regional but also cross-border bonds that can be either international or intercontinental. And in this context, internationalization of higher education refers to academic mobility, an exchange of international curriculum, building branch campuses, or providing twinning education system. Despite the widely implementation of internationalization in developing countries, specifically, in East Africa, there is inequality in the process of realization at the regional level.

Over the last decades, a high increase in private universities run by foreign institutions as well franchising pushed African countries, namely, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania, toward regional internationalization that became further regionalization. And this process cross over Africa is carried out only in terms of student mobility between these countries (Ogachi, 2009). Consequently, it was expected that inbound student mobility would considerably rise up, but the students still remained to cross the border to get international education. It is very interesting to note that the author expresses uncertainty towards worthwhileness of internationalization of higher education in Africa. This doubt came from the socio-economic condition of the country where the access and quality is on low performance.

            In my opinion, this review paper is quite critical and subjective from an insider’s point of view, albeit, very interesting because it gives food for thought. In future, it can lead to the research on “Regionalization of Kazakhstani Higher Education: does the background history hold Kazakhstan to move forward?” It will be interesting to explore the question because today’s internationalization of HE in Kazakhstan is still on the process with unclear comprehension of it at the national and regional levels.   

In conclusion, East Africa, as other developing countries nearly the world, face some challenges in the implementation of internationalization and regionalization too. The challenges of quality assurance and knowledge production are well discussed and critically reviewed. Overall, this article helped me understand regionalization process more deeply and look through the problems that occurred in quality assurance system.

Ogachi, O. (2009). Internationalization vs Regionalization of Higher Education in East Africa

and the challenges of quality assurance and knowledge production. Higher Education Policy, (331-347).