Rethinking Internationalization of Higher Education under Geopolitical Shifts: Comparative Perspectives from Asia and the West

Date: June 9

Time: 10.30am - 12pm.

Online and offline 

Over the past decade, the internationalization of higher education (IHE) has undergone significant transformation. Once seen as a collaborative and liberal project fostering mobility, knowledge exchange, and cross-cultural understanding, it is now increasingly shaped by geopolitical tensions, national security concerns, technological competition, and demographic shifts in a multipolar world. These changes have challenged earlier assumptions and prompted renewed debate about the purpose and practice of internationalization.

This presentation explores how major higher education systems across Asia and the West—including China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom—are redefining internationalization in this evolving context. Drawing on comparative policy analysis and research, it highlights how institutions balance openness with security, and collaboration with competition, while aligning global engagement with national priorities. It also examines emerging concepts such as managed openness, responsible internationalization, strategic regionalism, and lived geopolitics.

The presentation argues that internationalization is no longer a universal, Western-led process but reflects diverse national trajectories and context-specific approaches. It calls for moving beyond binary geopolitical narratives toward a more pluralistic understanding of global higher education, recognizing multiple centers of knowledge production. The conclusion considers implications for universities and policymakers, particularly in shaping future cooperation, mobility, and knowledge systems in an increasingly fragmented yet interconnected world.