トランスナショナル高等教育の展開 : 中東諸国を中心として

Abstract

Over the decades, transnational higher education has grown significantly in developing countries, especially in the Middle East. According to the UNESCO (2001), transnational education refers to the programs in which learners are located in a country other than the one in which the awarding institution is based. Typical examples are branch campuses of foreign universities in which students can follow the degree courses of Western foreign universities without crossing national borders. Two distinctive areas in this transnational development of higher education today are Southeast Asia and the Middle East. Moving toward the 21st Century knowledge-based economies, Gulf countries have become increasingly engaged in human capital training in order to diversify their economies fromoildependent industries. Instead of sending students to study abroad, they have found it quicker and easier to build national scientific power by hosting branch campuses of top-tier foreign universities in their local educational compounds by offering the government's attractive incentives. In 2009, 55 branch campuses among 162 established under the transnational arrangements worldwide were hosted by countries in the Middle East. This paper discusses the cases of two leading countries in the region, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (especially Dubai), by focusing on their large national projects, the Education City and the Knowledge Village from a comparative perspective. After having analyzed the project systems, attribution of providers, students and staff bodies, attainments and facing problems, impacts of the projects on national education will be examined in both cases. Finally, the paper will present a comparative analysis on the functions and rationales of transnational education between and within regions.