National policy requires private colleges in Oman to have an academic affiliation with a foreign university. How this policy is received and acted on was investigated through an interview-based study involving colleges with affiliates based in England, Scotland, India, Malaysia and Jordan. The study draws on social practice theory, Bourdieu's concept of capital and ecological systems theory and finds examples of affiliate partnerships that are evolving constructively in response to the ongoing development of the local institutions, the accumulation of capital and the agency of local actors, and the dynamics of the environment. These partnerships are perceived and experienced by local HE colleges as an ongoing journey. This evolution of partnerships, which is facilitated by historically loose policy requirements, offers a promising and contrasting narrative to that of relatively static transnational education (TNE) arrangements in which receiving nations and institutions are perceived as likely victims of educational and cultural imperialism.
BamberV.TrowlerP.SaundersM. (2009). Enhancing learning, teaching, assessment and curriculum in higher education: Theory, cases, practices. Open University Press / SRHE.
2.
BeckK. (2021). Beyond internationalization: Lessons from post-development. Journal of International Students, 11(S1), 133–151. https://doi.org/10.32674/jis.v11iS1.3847
3.
BourdieuP. (1997). Education : Culture, economy, and society. (A. H. Halsey Ed.). Oxford University Press.
4.
BronfenbrennerU. (1979). The ecology of human development [electronic resource]: Experiments by nature and design. Harvard University Press.
5.
ChasiS. (2020). Partnerships with universities in South Africa: Challenges and opportunities for student and staff mobility. In MogajiE.MaringeF.HinsonR. E. (Eds.), Understanding the higher education market in Africa (pp. 89–107). Routledge.
6.
DjerasimovicS. (2014). Examining the discourses of cross-cultural communication in transnational higher education: From imposition to transformation. Journal of Education for Teaching, 40(3), 204–216. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2014.903022
FanghanelJ. (2009). The role of ideology in shaping academics’ conceptions of their discipline. Teaching in Higher Education, 14(5), 565–577. https://doi.org/10.1080/13562510903186790.
9.
FinardiK. R.SembianteS.AmorimG.VeronezT. (2020). Internationalizations in the two loci of enunciation the south and global north. Educação Temática Digital Campinas, 22(3), 591–611. https://doi.org/10.20396/etd.v22i3.8659311
10.
HealeyN. M. (2018). The optimal global integration-local responsiveness tradeoff for an international branch campus. Research in Higher Education, 59(5), 623–649. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-017-9480-0
11.
HealeyN. M. (2020). The end of transnational education? The view from the UK. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 24(3), 102–112. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2019.1631227
12.
IsmailO.Al ShanfariH. (2014). Management of private higher education institutions in the sultanate of Oman: A call for cooperation. European Journal of Social Sciences, 43(1), 39–45. Retrieved from http://www.europeanjournalofsocialsciences.com.
13.
KhanchelH.Ben KahlaK. (2013). Mobilizing Bourdieu's Theory in organizational research. Review of General Management, 17(1), 86–94. Retrieved from http://www.managementgeneral.ro/pdf/1_2013_7.pdf
14.
KnightJ. (2006). Crossing borders: A guide to the implications of the general agreement on the trade in services (GATS) for cross border education. A report prepared for the commonwealth of learning and UNESCO. Commonwealth of Learning and UNESCO, Paris, France.
15.
KnightJ. (2015). International universities: Misunderstandings and emerging models?Journal of Studies in International Education, 19(2), 107–121. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315315572899
16.
KnightJ. (2016). Transnational education remodeled: Toward a common TNE framework and definitions. Journal of Studies in International Education, 20(1), 34–47.https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315315602927
17.
KosmützkyA.PuttyR. (2016). Transcending borders and traversing boundaries: A systematic review of the literature on transnational, offshore, cross-border, and borderless higher education. Journal of Studies in International Education, 20(1), 8–33. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315315604719
18.
LeathwoodC.ReadB. (2013). Research policy and academic performativity: Compliance, contestation and complicity. Studies in Higher Education, 38(8), 1162–1174. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.833025
19.
LeungM. W. H. (2013). ‘Read ten thousand books, walk ten thousand miles’: Geographical mobility and capital accumulation among Chinese scholars. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 38(2), 311–324. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00526.x
20.
LeungM. W. H.WatersJ. L. (2013). Transnational higher education for capacity development? An analysis of British degree programmes in Hong Kong. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 11(4), 479–497. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2013.834180
21.
LindsayV.AntoniouC. (2016). Applying foreign entry market strategies to UK higher education transnational education models: Finding fifty shades of Green. Perspectives: Policy and Practice in Higher Education, 20(2-3), 51–58. https://doi.org/10.1080/13603108.2015.1062058
22.
Miller-IdrissC.HanauerE. (2011). Transnational higher education: Offshore campuses in the Middle East. Comparative Education, 47(2), 181–207. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2011.553935
23.
Ministry of Higher Education, Oman (2010). Handbook of Academic Affiliation Specifications between Private Omani Higher Education Institutions and Their Affiliates. Unpublished.
NgS. W. (2012). Rethinking the mission of internationalization of higher education in the Asia-pacific region. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 42(3), 439–459. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2011.652815
27.
OAAA (2009-2016). Quality Audit Reports. Available on request from: http://www.oaaa.gov.om/Institution.aspx#Inst_ReviewDwnld.
TeelkenC. (2012). Compliance or pragmatism: How do academics deal with managerialism in higher education? A comparative study in three countries. Studies in Higher Education, 37(3), 271–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2010.511171
32.
Trevor-RoperS.RavziS.GoodliffeT. (2013). Academic affiliations between foreign and omani higher education institutions: Learning from quality audits. International Network of Quality Assurance Agencies in Higher Education, 2013. Available from: http://www.oaaa.gov.om/About.aspx#Conference.
33.
TrowlerP. R.TrowlerP. R. (2002). Higher education policy and institutional change : Intentions and outcomes in turbulent environments. Open University Press/Society for Research into Higher Education.
34.
UNESCO/Council of Europe (2000). Code of practice in the provision of transnational education. UNESCO/CEPES.
35.
WilkinsonR.Al HajryA. (2007). The global higher education market: The case of Oman. In MartinM. (Ed.), New trends in higher education. Cross-border higher education: Regulation, quality assurance and impact (pp. 129–180). International Institute for Educational Planning, UNESCO.
