Hybridity and sustainability of international joint universities: Implications from the German and Japanese experiences in Egypt

• In Event: Exploring Higher Education Collaborations: Examining Internationalization, Partnership Dynamics, and Sustainability

Proposal

Perspectives and objectives:

The international joint university (IJU) is an emerging form of institutional mobility. IJU is defined as “an HEI co-founded and established in the host country involving both local and foreign sending HEI/providers who collaborate on academic program development and delivery” (Knight & McNamara, 2017). The extent of “jointness” of IJU is wide, and there is no monolithic model in the engagement of HEIs and governments, either in provider or host countries. This “jointness” is a key to IJUs’ sustainability for which the differences between provider and host countries need to be coordinated in terms of the academic culture, governance style, decision-making processes, faculty’s roles, academic freedom, university autonomy, among others. In Egypt, Germany has been assisting the German University in Cairo (GUC) since 2003 and Japan has been supporting the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology (E-JUST) since 2011. Both institutions are categorized as IJUs. This presentation identifies the lessons and implications from the exploration of “the best mix” cases of the ideas and approaches between provider and host countries for ensuring the sustainable operation of German and Japanese IJUs in Egypt. This research employs the concept of “educational lending and borrowing” in which collaborative IJUs are good examples.

Theoretical framework:

This research employs the concept of “educational lending and borrowing” in which collaborative IJUs are good examples. Phillips & Ochs (2004) and Steiner-Khamsi (2004) both explored and examined the phenomena of lending and borrowing education policies and practices. Both volumes argue that borrowing is not merely copying, and that successful educational lending and borrowing is a result of complex negotiations between borrowers and lenders in the absence of one-fits-all models. The former text approached it from a historical perspective identifying various cases of borrowing and lending: e.g., when a ruling country imposed its education model on the ruled country; when a country was in a situation in which it must borrow foreign models; and when foreign experiences were introduced as one of the options for education reform in another country. On the other hand, the latter volume is structured from a multidisciplinary perspective, containing contemporary and geographically diverse case studies. It focuses on the political aspects in the process of educational lending and borrowing at bilateral and multilateral levels.

Research method:

Based on the nature and aims of this study, a qualitative approach and case study design were employed (Yin, 2018). “A case study is an examination of a specific phenomenon such as a program, an event, a person, a process, an institution, or a social group” (Merriam, 1998, p. 9). This is an instrumental case study where the case used instrumentally illustrates the issue (Creswell, 1998). The cases are German and Japanese model universities and the issues are the roles IJUs play. According to the case study tradition, multiple sources of information were sought. Data were collected in Egypt, Germany and Japan between 2018-24 by conducting semi-structured interviews at government agencies, donors, and higher education institutions, and by reviewing their reports and documents. The data gained through interviews are used in an aggregated form to protect the anonymity of the informants.

Conclusions:

This research explored the roles IJUs play in the internationalization of higher education in Egypt with a focus on the German and Japanese model universities as a case in point. GUC has been in operation for 21 years and E-JUST for 13 years. GUC as the first IJU in the world has played a pioneering role in the internationalization of Egyptian higher education. It has set a precedent and standards for E-JUST founded later. Although there are certain risks on both sides of provider and host regarding administering IJUs, GUC exemplifies a German IJU model with a clear distinction from the international branch campus (IBC) model. From the perspective of educational lending and borrowing, the university’s programs based on German models were not imposed on Egypt, but instead the Egyptian side voluntarily decided in 1998 to introduce the German model as an effective way to enhance its higher education sector. This also applies to the case of E-JUST built on Japanese education model.
As each institution evolved over time, GUC and E-JUST have different results and directions. GUC has been supported by Egyptian government and German sides (DAAD and German HEIs), and GUC appears to have achieved a sustainable operation more or less with no fixed-term funding mechanism. Egyptian and German sides mitigated the differences in academic cultures, education approaches, decision-making styles, etc. creating a kind of “hybridity” through their adjustments for more than two decades. On the other hand, E-JUST has been supported by Egyptian government and Japan (JICA and universities in Japan). JICA’s project cycle is normally 5 years, and usually 10 years is a limit. Currently JICA’s E-JUST project is in its 3rd and final phase, and it is expected for E-JUST to “take off” without Japan’s support. E-JUST was established as a showcase of Japanese style of education to Egypt and beyond, and its challenge is how to maintain Japanese components in its education at undergraduate and graduate levels without the explicit engagements of Japanese partners. There is a concern that Japanese education elements at E-JUST may fade away eventually because Egyptian and Japanese higher education systems and cultures are so different. Perhaps GUC’s relative success on sustainability may be attributed to Egypt’s historical relationships and close economic ties with Germany. It seems “education lending and borrowing” itself evolves over time, sometimes creating a new landscape of hybridity as a saturated best mix moment.

Significance and relevance:

This study would contribute to comparative higher education because it investigates IJUs as the new form of TNHE which is emerging globally and understudied.

Author

• Takao Kamibeppu, Fukuyama City University