Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management

Geopolitical influences on institutional practices

The Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management (JHEPM) is an international journal that advances the scholarship of working and policymaking in higher education.

We invite submissions for a special issue focused on institutional decision-making and strategy formulation in the context of and as a response to global events. The special issue is timely in light of current regional and international political turbulence and offers an opportunity for discussions on geopolitical developments as they shape higher education policy and practice. We wish to engage a diverse and international pool of scholars and practitioners who will bring a broad range of perspectives and contexts. The outcomes will contribute to our understanding of the challenges of higher education management and strategy at the intersection with complex and competing geopolitical factors.

• Closing date for abstract submissions: 31 August 2025 (23:59 GMT/UTC)
• Planned publication for this Special Issue: October 2026

All abstracts must be submitted to Dr Carroll Graham, Special Issues Editor, at carroll.graham@atem.org.au

Brief rationale and scope

The rationale for this special issue is to focus research on the geopolitical influences on institutional practices in higher education, contributing to knowledge insights and outcomes to support university leaders and policymakers in evidence-based decision-making.

Higher education institutions are generally considered to be key contributors to socio- and economic development, but they are themselves changed by the competing demands from the state, civil society and market forces (Calderon, 2018).  In a recent paper on the New Geo-politics of Higher Education, Marginson (2024) argues that increasing government intervention and re-norming of cross-border relations in universities and science is destabilising institutions as they attempt to respond to the changing external environment.  The political, socio-economical changes experienced at global, regional or sub-regional levels may infringe on institutional autonomy, academic freedom, approaches to internationalisation and academic mobility, to name but a few.  Whilst activities of universities in the past were generally compatible with national policy agendas, Marginson (2024) notes a rising tension between nationalism and globalism. A rise in nationalism and a more ‘nativist nationalism’ (Tamtik & Felder, 2024) is evident within countries like the United States and China, clearly exposing their differences in the knowledge production chain. Additionally, it has been posited (Lee, 2021) that internationalisation can itself be viewed as a geopolitical power.

The hegemony of the Global North in assumptions around geopolitics has been problematised through the lens of critical geopolitics scholars (Kuus, 2010) and, when deconstructed into multi-faceted and nuanced parts (Moscovitz & Sabzalieva, 2023), the geopolitical environment is one where institutions pursue actions and projects ‘in circumstances only partly of their own making’ (Marginson, 2018). Outside the Euro-American sphere, other regions experience different effects of the globalisation of higher education. For instance, the global rise of China and other Asian countries is encouraging new economic and political combinations and is argued to be weakening American hegemony (Rizvi, 2022). Within the African context, the impacts continue to shift and include social economic challenges and the accentuation of academic xenophobia (Tomaselli, 2023; Naidoo, 2022). A stagnation of international student enrolments in some African universities remains, with very few universities having the ability or motivation to attract more international students or staff (ARUA, 2022).

In summary, the intersection of higher education with (new) geopolitical forces impacts the sustainability of higher education institutions as key players in contributing to skills training, knowledge production and socio-economic transformation.

For this special issue, we invite international authors to bring their diverse perspectives from across all disciplines. We are equally keen to encourage contributions from academics, professional services staff or those working between traditional higher education boundaries (i.e., third-space professionals).  We will prioritise papers that focus on empirical research using qualitative, quantitative or mixed-method research design. We also invite conceptual theoretical framing, for example, through the lens of critical geopolitics, which can offer practical insights to decision-makers and practitioners.

In particular, we seek contributions that unpack any of the following or related issues:

Geopolitics/Internationalisation:

1. Geopolitical influences on institutional practices, the contextual understanding of geopolitical influences and how they affect or effect institutional practices and institutional culture.
2. The role of the internationalisation of higher education in shaping educational and institutional policies and building institutional co-operation.
3. The influence of global alliances, structural and policy initiatives on academic/scholarship exchanges and collaboration: e.g. the European Union, African Union.
4. The impact of geopolitics on higher education in war-torn regions and that of refugees in host countries.
5. Socio-political phenomena such as xenophobia and the dehumanisation of academics in certain regions.
6. The intersection between geopolitics and the politics of sustainability in all its facets: for example, the financial sustainability of institutions, curriculum change for sustainability, climate change and technological advances.

Diversity and Institutional Cultures responding to geopolitical influence

1. Perspectives, strategies and interventions that can help promote diversity and inclusion in different contextual settings.
2. Curriculum design and integration of cultural and diversity studies that promote global citizenship and tolerance of others.
3. Equitable access to higher education and its outputs, irrespective of demographic characteristics or geographical region.
4. Contributions to social justice, co-designed curricula, transformative agendas.

Impact and Future Directions for Research and Curriculum

1. The role of higher education in addressing socio-economic and social justice issues, including climate change in the context of geopolitical pressures.
2. Practical examples of enablers of creating sustainable communities that are also financially stable.
3. Developing enablers and practices, as well as policy recommendations, to navigate the challenges of diversity, inclusion, governance and globalisation.
4. The future of academic mobility, academic excellence and the autonomy of higher education institutions.

About the Guest Editors

Professor Sibusiso Moyo is the DVC Research, Innovation and Postgraduate Studies at Stellenbosch University from 1^st September 2022. She has published widely on differential equations and their applications.  She holds a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Natal (now UKZN) and a master’s degree in Tertiary Education Management (with distinction) from the University of Melbourne, Australia. Her previous Executive Leadership experience spanning over 15 years at Durban University of Technology (DUT) includes DVC Research, Innovation and Engagement, Director for Research and Postgraduate Studies and Head of the Department of Mathematics, Statistics and Physics. In these roles, she has continued to play significant thought leadership roles nationally and internationally. She was a thought leader on a number of innovative projects and initiatives, including supporting undergraduate research excellence. She has been guest editor of a number of mathematical sciences journals published by Springer-Verlag, John Wiley & Sons and the American Institute of Physics and has been invited as keynote speaker on a number of occasions dealing with Mathematics, promoting Science, Technology and Innovation and topical issues in Higher Education.

Currently, she serves on the editorial board for the Taylor & Francis Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management and Agenda.  She is also a two-time recipient of the South African Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET) Entrepreneurial Development in Higher Education leadership award (2019 and 2021) and was instrumental in establishing DUT’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation ‘innobiz’ incubator. She was also appointed as Honorary Dean of the School of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Tianjin Vocational Institute, Tianjin, China, from 2021 to 2023.  Currently, she is serving on the Stellenbosch University Enterprises Board, Innovate Durban, the African Institute for Mathematics (AIMS South Africa), the Centre for the Advancement of Science and Mathematics Education (CASME) and the Warwick University International Advisory Board from 2025 – 2026.  She has an interest in higher education management and policy issues and has published on selected topics on internationalisation, decolonisation and entrepreneurship, amongst others.

Dr Rachel Birds is the Director of Registry and Academic Development at the University of Huddersfield, UK.  Rachel has nearly thirty years’ experience in the further and higher education sectors where she has been involved in the delivery and management of teaching, research and knowledge transfer activities.  She holds a doctorate in Education from the University of Sheffield and a master’s in Management Studies from the University of Northumbria.  Over the course of her career, she has worked at seven UK universities in a range of roles and has also undertaken research and delivered teaching in higher education.

Rachel is currently serving on the editorial board of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. She is a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute and a chartered manager. A passionate supporter of the Association of University Administrators (now the Association of HE Professionals) and graduate of the Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education Administration and Management, Rachel has served as both a Council member and a trustee of the Association. She is currently a member of the national executive committee of the Academic Registrars’ Council (ARC) and chairs the ARC Postgraduate Practitioner Group.

Rachel’s research publications and interests include higher education policy, management and leadership, organisational culture and the experiences of third-space professionals in higher education.

Dr Xiaoli Jing is an assistant professor at the Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, having received her doctorate from McGill University in 2022. Her research focuses on the geopolitics of higher education, particularly its impact on internationalisation, and she has published extensively on topics such as international student mobility and transnational education. Funded by the National Office for Education Sciences Planning, Xiaoli is conducting a research project that explores the diversified approaches adopted by the major world powers to achieve internationalisation at home in this turbulent time and China’s approach to building a global education hub. Currently, she serves as an editorial board member of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, as well as a reviewer for many SSCI journals. Xiaoli is also the winner of the Best Article Award 2023 of the Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management.

References

• Africa Research University Alliance (ARUA) (2022, December, 20) University Research Profiles Report: 2022 https://arua.org/research-profiles-arua-universities-phase-ii/
• Calderon, A. (2018). The geopolitics of higher education: pursuing success in an uncertain global environment. In B. Cantwell, H. Coates and R. King (Eds), Handbook on the Politics of Higher Education (pp. 187-208). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://doi.org/10.4337/9781786435026.00019
• Kuus, M. (2010). Critical Geopolitics. In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of International Studies. International Studies Association and Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190846626.013.137
• Lee, J. J. (2021). International higher education as geopolitical power. In J. J. Lee (Ed.), US power in international higher education (pp.1-20). Rutgers University Press. https://doi.org/10.36019/9781978820814-001
• Marginson, S. (2018). The new geo-politics of higher education: Global cooperation, national competition and social inequality in the World-Class University (WCU) Sector. 34. CGHE Working Paper Series. London: Centre for Global Higher Education.   https://www.researchcghe.org/publication/the-new-geo-politics-of-higher-education/
• Marginson, S. (2024). The New Geo-Politics of Higher Education 2: Between Nationalism and Globalism. Centre for Global Higher Education, University of Oxford. https://www.researchcghe.org/publication/the-new-geo-politics-of-higher-education-2-between-nationalism-and-globalism/
• Moscovitz, H., & Sabzalieva, E. (2023). Conceptualising the new geopolitics of higher education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 21(2), 149–165. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2023.2166465
• Naidoo, A. (2022). Xenophobia against non-national academics employed at higher education institutions in South Africa: a legal perspective. [Doctoral thesis, University of the Free State] https://scholar.ufs.ac.za/items/0b8fc678-805f-4c37-98b0-36018e11d792
• Rizvi, F. (2022). Rise of Asia, geopolitical shifts and higher education. In M. Parreira do Amaral & C. Thompson, (Eds.), Geopolitical transformations in higher education: Imagining, fabricating and contesting innovation (pp. 89-104). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-94415-5_6
• Tamtik, M., & Felder, A. J. (2024). How Geopolitics Shapes Higher Education Internationalization: Institutional Responses to the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. Journal of Comparative and International Higher Education, 16(3), 163-177. https://doi.org/10.32674/jcihe.v16i3.6712
• Tomaselli, K. G. (2023). Academic xenophobia in South Africa – issues, challenges and solutions: Reflections on an ASSAf Roundtable. South African Journal of Science, 119(7/8). https://doi.org/10.17159/sajs.2023/16278