GLOBALIZATION OF EDUCATION: ROLE OF EDUCATION EXPORT

While higher education previously was the priority of national universities and knowledge was generated within the scope of individual institutions of higher education, currently knowledge creation is no longer an exclusive right assumed by universities. In today’s global context, knowledge is rather co-created between multiple institutions of higher education in partnerships with diverse actors form diverse fields, and from different countries. Such joint generation and subsequent international diffusion of knowledge achieved as a result of participation from diverse organizations, is seen as a trend that has come to stay in today’s globalized world. Nevertheless, although cooperation and increasing network creation is providing promising results in the field of higher education, single universities are also experiencing downsides accruing form the internationalization of higher education. Accordingly, institutions of higher education are facing increasing pressures owing to the accelerating competition brought about by the globalization trend of higher education. Given this, universities are forced to find methods to address the growing competition. In such context, education export is seen as a plausible method or strategy to cope in the global competition. There is no doubt that education export has existed throughout centuries in the area of higher education, but it is only recently that it has aroused wider interest among universities as a concept that not only will take the field further, but may also be applied for addressing more practical concerns. Based on the above, this paper tries to increase knowledge about education export building on the literature on globalization of education. In sum, the aim of this study is to explore the role of education export in the context of global education and, consequently, integrate the concept of education export in the theoretical debate on globalization of education.