Education Hubs: A Fad, a Brand, an Innovation?

Abstract

The last decade has seen significant changes in all aspects of internationalization but most dramatically in the area of education and research moving across national borders. The most recent developments are education hubs. The term education hub is being used by countries who are trying to build a critical mass of local and foreign actors—including students, education institutions, companies, knowledge industries, science and technology centers—who, thorough interaction and in some cases colocation, engage in education, training, knowledge production, and innovation initiatives. It is understood that countries have different objectives, priorities, and take different approaches to developing themselves as a reputed center for higher education excellence, expertise, and economy. However, given higher education’s current preoccupation with competitiveness, global branding, and rankings, one is not sure whether a country’s plan to develop itself as an education hub is a fad, the latest branding strategy, or in fact, an innovation worthy of investment and serious attention. This article reviews and compares the developments in six countries which claim to be an education hub. It explores the meaning of education hub, introduces a working definition, and proposes a typology of three kinds of education hubs as follows: student hub, skilled work force hub, and knowledge/innovation hub. Furthermore, it identifies issues requiring further research and reflection on whether hubs are a fad, a brand or an innovation worthy of serious attention and investment.

International Education Hubs

“…In order to capture the differences among various hub approaches and allow for a more nuanced understanding and exploration of education hubs, a typology of three categories of hubs is suggested (Knight, 2011). The typology is based on the rationales driving hub development, not on the location or level of hubs.…”

“…Education hub countries have different objectives and characteristics, but in general the term education hub is used by countries seeking to position themselves as centers for student recruitment, education and training, research, and innovation. A variety of factors are driving these efforts and include modernizing the domestic tertiary education system, generating income, creating a skilled work force, remaining or becoming economically competitive, developing a regional profile, promoting knowledge diplomacy, and transitioning to a knowledge-and service-based economy (Knight, 2011).…”

Engaging undergraduates with research to promote cumulative learning

“…It has been noted that there are a number of challenges in transitioning ideas across cultures in education (Magee, Leong, Jin, Luo, & Frey, 2012) In particular, there is a question whether strategies to promote cumulative learning have a particular role to play in the emergence of "education hubs". Driven by the internationalisation of teaching and research, education hubs attempt to build a critical mass participants who, thorough interaction and in some cases colocation, engage in education, training, knowledge production, and innovation initiatives (Knight, 2011). Such hubs are becoming particularly of interest in Asia (Knight & Morshidi, 2011;Sidhu, Ho, & Yeoh, 2011) and offer a potential mechanism to reconsider the combination of teaching and research.…”

Higher Education, Infrastructure and Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan

“…For all these activities, cross-border interactions are being used by various stakeholders. Knight (2011) further studied these hubs by including students, skilled labor and knowledge and innovation hubs. Khan (2007) argues that well-educated skilled workforce is helping countries to move from laborintensive to skill-based, advanced technological countries.…”