What Explains Universities' Memberships in Regional University Associations? Evidence From a Cross-National Analysis

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Five
  In Roundtable Session: Sense-Making of Organizational Identities and Institutional Agents (Table 6)

Abstract

This study examines university, national, regional, and global factors explaining universities’ memberships in regional university associations (RUAs). Drawing from functional and neo-institutional theories, it finds that public, research-oriented comprehensive universities with high global status tend to be members of all types of RUAs. In addition, universities’ memberships in RUAs are related to their countries’ integration into the global capitalist market, indicating that memberships are driven by gaining competitive edges in the global higher education era. The findings indicate that RUAs are important organizations for universities to signal their identity that aligns with the global trend of university development. Moreover, RUAs might also be tools for prestigious universities to reinforce their global status, which will reinforce hierarchy in global higher education.

Author

• You Zhang, University of Toronto
  Presenting Author