Globalization has had a well-documented impact on higher education (e.g. Giddens, 1990; Ginkle, 2003; Altbach and Knight, 2007). The attendant massive expansion of higher education both globally and at national level has brought with it increasing concerns regarding quality. One context within which such concerns are evident is that of Transnational Higher Education (TNHE). TNHE, also known as cross-border education, mainly refers to education that is provided to students residing in a country other than the one where the awarding institution is located (UNESCO/Council of Europe, 2001). TNHE takes various forms and serves multiple objectives but the multidimensional phenomenon can be described as an example of Policy Borrowing (Phillips and Ochs, 2003). Oman is a country whose modern educational system was established very recently (1970) and is still expanding rapidly. As elsewhere in the ‘developing world’, the Omani government has met the increasing demand for higher education in large part by encouraging private higher education provision. However, this has been associated with an increasing desire to build capacity and assure quality of provision. In response, the Omani Ministry of Higher Education turned to TNHE for solutions: private sector providers in Oman have been required to enter academic partnerships with internationally recognized universities. In this research, I investigate the rationales, approaches and perceptions of this process from a receiver country perspective and address the implications. Most published research on TNHE focuses on providers’ perspectives and activities, and the impact of TNHE has only been studied in a small number of generally sizeable countries. However, the Gulf States, especially Oman, have not received the same attention, mainly due to the fact that TNHE is a recent phenomenon in this part of the world. Research to date in Oman thus remains very limited (Ameen, Chapman and Al Barawani, 2010; Al Barawani, Ameen and Chapman, 2011). The main objective of the research at the centre of this Thesis was therefore to explore the expectations, experiences and conclusions of a sample of staff of three private sector universities in Oman regarding TNHE, within which their university was/is active. The topic is investigated in the context of national policy and institutional TNHE strategy. Data were generated through documentary analysis and qualitative interviews. In-depth face-to-face interviews were conducted in three stages: Stage one: desk research and pilot study to set the direction for the research (8 participants) Stage two: interviews carried out over multiple visits to the three private universities selected as the cases (29 participants) Stage three: interviews with policy- and decision-makers (6 participants), to help in the process of reviewing and contextualizing the data from Stage 2. Data analysis revealed variation from the existing literature on this topic when it comes to defining the concept of affiliation, which is central to the approach taken in Oman to TNHE, as well as inconsistency across the three case universities, highlighting the complex dynamic that exists, with hugely varied expectations, numerous rationales and motivations and varying experiences being reported. Findings also reveal that, as reported by the majority of interviewees, the key rationales for engagement with TNHE are building capacity and assuring quality, alongside other rationales such as generating revenue and increasing student recruitment, which form the main driving force on the part of receiver institutions. This is consistent with the overall national imperative of increasing the number of HE places available for Oman’s young people, although the focus on volume is seen by the informants in the institutions as falling short in terms of capacity building and the enhancement of quality. Many interviewees voiced concerns that foreign partners’ approaches do not necessarily contribute to capacity building and may remain limited in scope, impacting on the quality of teaching and learning in ways that are not necessarily positive. Indeed, concerns were reported that the original overarching educational rationales of improving quality and capacity building may have been displaced by a more instrumental emphasis, for example on income generation. Some informants were firmly in favour of developing indigenized systems and reducing reliance on foreign partners. This point is taken up in a concluding discussion of the implications of the findings for Omani universities currently dependent on Transnational Higher Education, and the implications of this dependency for the Omani higher education system as a whole.

Many of the international, supranational, national, and grassroots development organizations working in the field of education channel their efforts into capacity-building for teachers. My research examines the nexus of such international development by US-based organizations with national schooling systems by naming and theorizing this process as a new field called cross-border teacher education. "Cross-border" is the term employed by UNESCO (2005) and OECD (2007) to describe international cooperative projects in higher education, synonymous with "transnational," "borderless," and "offshore" education (Knight, 2007). I use a critical lens to compare two distinct models of cross-border teacher education: a small locally based non-profit development organization in Guatemala that has worked with one school for several years, and a US government-funded program whose participants are trained in bilingual teaching methods and critical thinking at US colleges and universities, then return to their home communities throughout Mexico and Guatemala. These are programs for inservice teachers and are henceforth referred to as cross-border professional development or CBPD. The research questions for this study are: What institutions shape cross-border professional development in these cases? How are language policies enacted through CBPD? How do teachers make meaning of their CBPD experiences when they return to their classrooms and communities? And finally, What do these case studies tell us about cross-border professional development as a process? These questions generate understandings of national education systems, US-based international development, and cross-border education. Utilizing ethnographic approaches to educational policy that locate regional, class, and ethnic asymmetries (McCarty, 2011; Tollefson, 2002), data was gathered according to the distinct organizational structures of the two agencies. For the larger organization data collection was initiated with electronic open-ended questionnaires and supplemented by semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and program documents. Data on the smaller organization was collected through participant observation in professional development workshops and classrooms, semi-structured interviews, and textual analysis of teacher reflections, organizational emails and documents. The research focuses on the voices of teachers as the target of cross-border professional development efforts, but also maps out the dialogic perspectives of education officials and the organizations‘ administrators to illuminate tensions within the process as well as highlights some surprising roles for teachers as agents of change.

Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the Doctor of Nursing in the Faculty of Health Sciences, Durban University of Technology, Durban, South Africa, 2017. / Background In recent times, the internationalization of nursing education and the collaboration with international academic partners has become a priority of academic institutions’ strategic plans and visions. This coupled with the fact that the world has entered a critical period in terms of addressing health and preparing nurses to address health needs has made this study timeous. In view of these historical challenges, nursing education institutions, nursing colleges and universities with nursing faculties in South Africa have, in recent years, engaged in international partnerships. These collaborative partnerships have influenced the delivery and facilitation of transnational nursing education (TNE) or cross-border nursing programmes, both nationally and internationally. Challenges raised with regards to TNE delivery systems are often related to issues revolving around academic design and implementation. Further issues such as the differences between the host institution’s general goals, the academic programs, student characteristics and social and cultural dimensions as compared to the awarding institution, add to these challenges. Aim The aim of this study was to explore the perspectives and practices and experiences of nursing education institutions, academic leaders and graduates, who were involved in TNE. Based on the findings of this study, the ultimate aim was to develop guidelines for the implementation of TNE in NEIs. Methodology A qualitative multiple case-study approach was employed to explore institutional perspectives and practices related to TNE. The population comprised nursing education institutions, academic leaders and nursing graduates that were involved in TNE programs. In order to draw comparison between South African TNE practices and perspectives with international best operating practices relating to TNE, other global academic leaders and institutions involved in this type of education were invited to participate in the study. Institutional records were analysed for descriptions and patterns related to conceptual issues, structures and processes that are known to impact either negatively or positively on TNE. Results The study findings revealed that access to ‘importing’ and ‘exporting’ of nursing programs are still faced with many challenges by all stakeholders. It was also revealed that the lack of guidance during TNE ventures allude to cross-border nursing education being a ‘for profit’ arrangement. From the findings the researcher was able to propose and develop guidelines for the implementation of TNE for nursing education institutions, academic leaders and students. It is hoped that these guidelines will be considered as a tool to improve TNE delivery in terms of quality assurance, accreditation, registration, and qualification recognition. / D

This retrospective, nonexperimental, quantitative study was designed to explore nontraditional students’ perceptions of satisfaction with their graduate education experience in a customized transnational educational context. This study was undergirded by theories and concepts gleaned from multiple disciplines. Disconfirmed expectations theory of consumer satisfaction derived from expectancy theory, which describes the motivations and behaviors of consumers who purchase a service but cannot fully evaluate the service until it has been consumed, provided the overarching conceptual framework for the research. This research analyzed data from 62 graduates of a customized, transnational Master of Education program in educational leadership. Participants responded to a quantitative instrument that contained 18 questions related to various aspects of the respondents’ educational experience. The qualitative component involved responding to six open-ended questions. Descriptive statistical analyses were conducted on the quantitative data. The analyses performed include frequency distributions, means and standard deviations, Cronbach’s coefficient alpha, and a correlation matrix for the dependent and independent variables and for the six subcategories. To examine whether differences in satisfaction with specified aspects of the program were reflected in differences in subscale satisfaction, t tests were also conducted. Conventional content analysis was employed to analyze qualitative data. Statistical analyses indicated that participants were satisfied with every aspect of their educational experience. This empirical study contributes to the knowledge bank of student satisfaction in a transnational context. When the particular and peculiar needs of nontraditional learners are considered when designing graduate level programs, institutional accommodations are provided, courses that are relevant to students’ needs are taught by instructors with relevant andragogical skills, the appropriate support systems are in place, and the overall goal is to provide education that is relevant to the personal and career goals of the students, students will be satisfied with their educational experience.