Academic capitalism in the internationalization of higher education: An examination of the organizational consequences of online transnational dual-degree programs

• In Event: Comparative Perspectives on Navigating Higher Education Rankings, Ethics, Competition, and Talent Development

Proposal

Purpose and Rationale

Interest in online education continues to increase as part of the internationalization of higher education (HE) (Knight, 2016). HE internationalization has predominantly depended on student mobility (de Wit & Altbach 2021; Knight, 2016). However, HE institutions finding a niche market began crossing borders in the 1990s to supply their programs to local students (Knight, 2016). Dual/joint-degree programs and online education exemplify such transnational education approaches, denoting the mobility of education providers and programs (de Wit & Altbach, 2021; Knight, 2016). Besides, some HE providers operate blended models, such as online transnational dual-degree programs (TDDPs) (Ghosh et al., 2021; Haupt & Chelabi, 2023; Krusekopf, 2018).

Despite a growth in TDDPs among transnational education provisions (ACE, 2014; Kuder & Obst, 2009), literature paid less attention to them. A few studies on TDDPs analyzed their benefits and challenges (Asgary & Robbert, 2010; Chan, 2021; Chan; 2012; Krusekopf, 2018; Yamutuale, 2024), students’ motivation for TDDPs (Ghosh et al, 2021), and satisfaction (Haupt & Chelabi, 2023). However, previous studies hardly researched TDDPs, considering financial benefits as the salient rationale for HE internationalization (Altbach & Knight, 2007; de Wit & Altbach, 2021; de Wit, 2002). Glass and Cruz (2023) identified that international officers are under pressure from the university to generate revenue, yet their scope is limited to international offices. Thus, the purpose of this study is to determine the organizational consequences of TDDPs as a revenue-generation model in HE.


Theoretical Framework

The theory of academic capitalism explains how HE institutions converge with corporate logic and practices (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004; Slaughter & Leslie, 1997). Due to declining state appropriations since the 1980s (Slaughter & Leslie, 1997), HE institutions have commodified their degree programs and research to overcome financial deficits (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). For example, universities often market themselves to attract international students (Kauppinen et al., 2014) who are considered cash cows as paying more tuition than resident students (Cantwell, 2015), while international offices are put pressure to devise innovative profitable models (Glass & Cruz, 2023).

Such revenue-generation behaviors tend to entail organizational changes. As Hackman (1985) noted, non-academic institutional units satisfying the organizational mission to generate revenue are legitimized to outgrow academic units in HE (Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). For instance, Rhoades and Sporn (2002) underline the share of non-academic staff overturning that of academic staff at universities for an enhanced managerial capacity on the inflow of external resources. Moreover, cheap and unstable academic labors, such as postdoctoral researchers and adjunct faculty, are preferred to be employed for cost reduction rather than tenue-track faculty (Cantwell & Lee, 2010; Slaughter & Rhoades, 2004). Furthermore, faculty feel conflicted with entrepreneurial roles encroaching their academic lives (McClure, 2016).

Given such organizational behaviors and shifts under academic capitalism, this study aims at answering two research questions: (1) How do TDDPs as a novel revenue-generation model affect the dynamics between institutional units? (2) How do TDDPs affect the dynamics within institutional units?


Methodology

This study adopts an institutional case study (McClure, 2016). Alpha University (pseudonym), a U.S. public doctoral-granting research-extensive university, is chosen for the case. Alpha University currently partners with 16 universities in the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, and one in Spain to operate TDDPs online. Alpha University’s faculty offer online lectures, while partner universities provide classrooms, experiment facilities, and local professors for applications of knowledge from the online lectures.

For data collection, interview requests were sent via email to all administrators and faculty in each college of Alpha University involved with online TDDPs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted via Zoom with 23 college deans, department heads, professors and administrators who responded to the requests from December 2023 to March 2024. After all interviews were transcribed, thematic analysis was conducted for data analysis (Saldaña, 2009). The MAXQDA program was utilized for two rounds of coding. The first round was to identify descriptive information about online TDDPs at Alpha University, and the second round focused on detecting institutional dynamics involved with the operation of online TDDPs.


Findings

Top-Down Approach.
13 interviewees shared how online TDDPs commenced with their colleges or departments. Seven of them described it as a top-down approach, said “That was [an international office] suggested at first, both cases. So it was it was a, you know, kind of more of a top down rather than us connecting with the university” (Interviewee 1). Interviewee 2 specified that a request to develop online TDDPs was made at the college level approached by an international office, citing other U.S. university running similar programs. Besides, Interviewee 3 implied that the department’s existing programs are integrated and marketed as a franchise of Alpha University’s online TDDPs.

Cost-Sharing.
Around a third of the interviewees responded that the operation of online TDDPs has increased administrative consumption, with no or lack of personnel recruiting. Interviewee 5 said, “people were, you know, a little bit resistant about it, you know, it's like anything that comes from above that creates more work.” Likewise, Interviewee 4 told that “We have been able with, through partnership with [an international office] to hire a program coordinator finally but didn't do any new hiring in terms of staff support for these programs.”

Unseen Workers at Peril.
Alpha University has hired professors of practice to provide in-person lectures at partner universities where online TDDPs are unavailable due to government regulations. Interviewee 5 supposed that those in-person lecturers may have different qualifications than the professors on the main campus. Meanwhile, a sense of alienation from the departments (Interviewee 9) and microaggressions (Interviewee 8) felt by the in-person lecturers were pinpointed.


Contribution

This study connects the theory of academic capitalism and the internationalization of HE, by providing empirical evidence on how organizational changes are made by internationalization practices. In shedding light on the operation of online TDDPs, including their initiation, this study makes novel contributions to demonstrating the organizational dynamics where an international office with a revenue-generation model overpowers academic units while labors at academic units are marginalized.

Authors

• YoungHoon Koh, The University of Arizona

• Dong Chen, University of Arizona

• John Haupt, The University of Arizona

• Hilary Houlette