Selecting Cases for Study

5.4.1 Case Study of Two Types of International Partnerships

The main focus of this study is to discover the management approach that best contributes to the success of international partnerships between universities. The eventual goal is to make helpful suggestions to existing universities based on the theoretical framework of a phase- and principle-based management approach. For this purpose, it is considered helpful to study the particularity of real management practices in different types of partnerships and explore the efficacy and limitations of their management model. Thus, a number of case studies with multiple universities from different countries and engaging in international partnerships of different types will be examined. This thesis intends to determine the following in each case study:

ž Are the three essential phases for success actually considered important?

ž Are the three critical principles actually considered important?

ž Which particular practices are perceived to facilitate the three essential phases as well as embody the critical principles?

ž How have the practices in the management structures and processes been developed and improved to maximise the chance of a successful partnership?

The selected cases for this study comprise two types of international partnerships, namely (1) a partial and task-specific international partnership and (2) a comprehensive and organised strategic alliance.

A partial and task-specific partnership is a task-specific alliance relating to a double degree programme (DDP). This type of partnership is a basic and popular type of partnership that many universities in Japan and worldwide are currently implementing. Therefore, it is an appropriate case study of a ‘standard’ management approach of international partnerships. As it is a partial and task-specific partnership, it could be argued that the management of this type of partnership does not involve dealing with significant challenges and difficulties caused by the complexity of the partnership. Accordingly, a partial and task-specific partnership could derive a simple initial-stage management model, and there is plenty of room for development.

The second type is a comprehensive and organised strategic alliance among multiple universities from different countries; the partnering universities collaborate in a broad range of activities, which involve a wide range of people, departments, offices, and other elements among the partners. This type of partnership embraces greater complexity than a partial and task-specific partnership; accordingly, more mature, sophisticated management structures and processes are required to operate a comprehensive partnership. It can also be envisaged that this type of partnership tends to require a certain degree of entrepreneurial spirit to ensure innovation occurs. Thus, a case study of a comprehensive and organised strategic alliance represents an investigation into the ‘best practices’ of management approaches.

The idea behind the ‘standard’ and ‘best practice’ management approaches is an interpretative framework based on a literature review and the author’s own experience as a practitioner. In terms of the literature, use is made of Davies’s concepts: ‘maturity and operational effectiveness’ and ‘capability to control instability caused by the complexity’. These concepts are elaborated in Chapter 4.2.1. A partial and task-specific partnership is bilateral; its scope is simply implementing a DDP, and the range of stakeholders is small. Thus, it does not result in much instability caused by complexity or dealing with significant challenges. This simple initial-stage partnership has considerable potential to develop into a more advanced one. DDPs are the most popular type of international partnership between universities in Japan and other countries.

By contrast, a comprehensive and organised strategic alliance facilitates a much wider scope of activities and more extensive range of stakeholders. Accordingly, this type of partnership

embodies greater complexity, and more matured and sophisticated management is necessary to control such complexity. Thus, this type of partnership may be considered an advance from the partial and task-specific partnership approach, which is in the initial-stage of partnership development. The present thesis argues that the initial-stage model of a DDP partnership should be regarded as ‘standard’; the more comprehensive, organised model should be considered the ‘best practice’, i.e., a model that has evolved from the ‘standard’.

This study focuses on the ‘standard’ practices and the ‘best practices’ of the management approach employed in these two different types of partnerships. Specifically the following partnerships and universities are studied:

(1) A partial and task-specific partnership between a Japanese university and its partner: the two bilateral partnerships of a DDP will be studied. One partnership is between the Faculty of Law of Kyushu University (L-KU) in Japan and the Centre for European Studies of the University of Leuven (AE-KUL) in Belgium. The second partnership is between the Faculty of Engineering of Kyushu University (E-KU) and the Faculty of Engineering of Lund University (E-Lund) in Sweden.

(2) A comprehensive and organised strategic alliance between entrepreneurial universities:

the universities chosen are the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and Monash University in Australia.

5.4.2 Partial and Task-Specific Partnerships of Kyushu University with KU Leuven and Lund University

The two double degree programme partnerships

Both two partnerships between Kyushu University and the University of Leuven (KU Leuven) and between Kyushu University and Lund University fall under the common framework of EU–Japan Advanced Multidisciplinary Master Studies (EU–JAMM), which comes under the Industrialised Countries Instrument–Education Cooperation Programme between the EU and Japan. The EU–JAMM consortium consists of KU Leuven, University of Essex, University of Groningen, Jagiellonian University, Lund University, Tilburg University, Kobe University, Kyushu University, Osaka University, and Nara Women’s University (KU Leuven 2015).

L-KU and AE-KUL are collaborating in a double master degree programme in European Studies and Law, while E-KU and E-Lund are collaborating in a double master degree programme in Engineering and Science.

Kyushu University

Kyushu University is one of Japan’s 86 national universities and is ranked among the top ten national universities. Founded in 1911, the university has 11 undergraduate schools, 18 graduate schools, and 4 research institutes in a wide range of disciplines including Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Medicine, Engineering, Agriculture, and Design. In 2015, student enrolments totalled more than 18,000, with 2,000 academic staff (Kyushu 2016-2017).

Kyushu University has been granted all the major national strategic funds for internationalisation including the Global 30, the Top Global University Project, and the Re-inventing Japan Project. These national projects aim to promote Japanese universities’

collaborative programmes for education and research with overseas universities. Thereby, Kyushu University is one of the front-running Japanese universities in internationalisation and it is useful to compare its situation, representing Japanese universities, with that of Western universities. In this way, any underlying problems and hindrances can be identified, as can any necessary improvements for Japanese universities.

KU Leuven

KU Leuven, founded in 1425, is the largest university in Belgium and one of the oldest and most renowned research universities in Europe. They have various faculties, departments, and schools in the area of Humanities and Social Sciences, Science, Engineering and Technology, and Biomedical Sciences. As of 2015, the university had more than 57,000 students and more than 11,000 employees (KU Leuven 2015). The KU Leuven management team is taking a more strategic and concentrated approach to internationalisation by adopting a new policy,

“Internationalisation: Less is More”, declaring that “the pursuance of clear policy objectives leads to leaving out the unnecessary and to concentrating on the essential” (KU Leuven 2013).

Along with the new policy, their international office has re-organised its structure and duties so as to support the core tripartite aspects of the university’s international policy, namely institutional co-operation, mobility, and development co-operation.

Lund University

Lund University, founded in 1666 in the city of Lund, Sweden, is one of northern Europe’s oldest universities. It provides education and research in Engineering, Science, Law, Social Sciences, Economics and Management, Medicine, Humanities, Theology, Fine Art, and Music and Drama. As of 2016, approximately 42,000 students and 7,400 employees were based at their campuses in Lund, Malmö, and Helsingborg. Lund University declares itself to be an international university with global recruitment to achieve internationalisation in global co-operation: “we cooperate with the international higher education community and carry out research and education in global issues of decisive importance to the future of mankind”. The

university is a member of the international networks of the League of European Research Universities and Universitas 21, co-operating with 600 partner universities in over 70 countries (Lund 2016).

5.4.3 A Comprehensive and Organised Strategic Alliance between the University of Warwick and Monash University

The Monash Warwick Alliance

The University of Warwick and Monash University are widely recognised as universities that have developed entrepreneurial cultures. The two universities have worked closely together since 2009 and entered into a globally integrated university alliance to launch the Monash Warwick Alliance in 2012. The alliance is backed by annual budgets of AUD$4.5 m (Monash) and GBP£3 m (Warwick) for jointly appointed staff, research projects, education collaboration, and student activities. The alliance is operated using shared resources and governance, and it is similar to a joint venture in the corporate sector. The strength of the alliance lies in its collaboration on sustainable chemistry, nanomedicine, advanced imaging and materials, and understanding cultures, while the universities are also making innovations in learning and teaching through joint academic positions, online learning, and joint Ph.D. and master’s programmes (Monash Warwick Alliance 2015). Its achievements in just 5 years are remarkable as over 600 academics have been involved in 64 alliance-supported projects, and over 1,000 students have engaged in alliance activities. The alliance has been renewed for a further 5-year term and received the Australian Financial Review Higher Education Award for International Education in 2016 (Monash Warwick Alliance 2016). From all this, it can be said that the Monash Warwick Alliance is one of the most matured advanced global models of its kind, from which we can learn much.

The University of Warwick

The University of Warwick was founded in 1965 as a research university in Coventry, England. As of 2015, they offer undergraduate and graduate courses in the Arts, Science, Social Sciences, and Medicine to more than 23,000 students. The staff population totals approximately 5,600 employees (Warwick 2015a). Since its establishment, the University of Warwick has enjoyed a history of developing innovative allied activities with the local community and industries. The university is proud of its entrepreneurialism: “Warwick is a leading university, somewhere forward-looking and ambitious where the starting point is always ‘anything is possible’. …We strive to lead rather than follow and are renowned for our entrepreneurialism and global outlook” (Ibid., p.2). Clark (1998, p.38) comments on the university’s entrepreneurialism in his book, highlighting strengthened administrative capacity

as an element upon which university transformation can be built: “…we take Warwick seriously as a powerful model of the contemporary reformed university, …Warwick teaches us much about what organisational changes enter into the making of entrepreneurial universities.” The university places high value on international partnerships and such relationships represent key aspect of their mission: “Collaborating with other universities and sharing knowledge and resources with universities and academic communities throughout the world is an important part of Warwick’s international mission” (Warwick 2015b).

Monash University

Monash University, founded in 1958 in Melbourne, is a member of the Group of Eight coalition of Australia’s eight research-intensive universities¹⁴. As of 2015, they accommodate more than 70,000 students and more than 14,800 staff members. They offer courses in a wide range of disciplines including Arts, Design and Architecture, Business and Economics, Education, Law, Medicine, Science, and Engineering (Monash 2015a). The university enjoys high international exposure and participation in international alliances, with overseas branch campuses in China, Italy, and India in collaboration with local institutes, and two independent overseas campuses in Malaysia and South Africa.

Monash University published their international plan in 2014 with an emphasis on global collaboration, stating that such alliances are necessary, “to improve the University’s position on international rankings, grow opportunities for students, researchers and collaborative partners worldwide, and expand participation in the Monash global community” (Monash 2015b). Monash adopted a research-led international strategy targeting a small number of relationships with top institutions around the world in globally significant locations such as China, India, the United States, the United Kingdom, Continental Europe, and the United Arab Emirates. They have selected three partners in its Global Partnership Framework, one being the University of Warwick (the other two are Arizona State University in the United States and Sichuan University in China) (Fielden 2011, p.41).