Beyond internationalisation and isomorphism – the construction of a global higher education regime

National higher education systems are undergoing profound
changes, discussed in many but unrelated studies as outcomes of
internationalisation dynamics and institutional isomorphism
pressures. We propose to link these studies by emphasising the
influence of both internationalisation and isomorphism on the
formation of a global educational regime. Through a broad range
of indicators, we describe the growth of the discursive, normative,
and regulatory dimensions of such a global higher education
regime. We find evidence of the following developments: (1) a
rapidly growing network of international organisations focused on
conferences, initiatives, and programmes supporting a global
higher education agenda; (2) a striking increase in the number of
international and national accreditation agencies, their mutual
cross-national recognition as well as the number of universities
that are nationally and internationally accredited; and lastly, (3)
parallel increases in regional qualification frameworks and in the
implementation of national qualification frameworks. These
developments create integration pressures manifest in the mutual
recognition of higher education degrees, for which a new
generation of regional conventions has emerged worldwide in the
past two decades. We discuss these processes and their
implications for understanding ‘national’ higher education as well
as the threats and limits to the burgeoning higher education regime.