Education hubs in a globalized world: The emergence of China

Education hubs represent the third generation of crossborder education activities, which emerge onto the landscape of our more globalized world. As a new phenomenon in higher education, education hubs are appearing in different locations around the globe. In the literature on education hubs, most research studies have focused on Southeast Asia and Middle East. To address this gap in the literature, we seek to explore the emergence of China as an international education hub, especially with respect to its impact on development. Against the backdrop of China’s national strategy to develop its international competitiveness in education, we conduct case studies of three education hubs in China: (i) the International Collaborative Education Exemplary Zone by the International Campus of Zhejiang University (iZJU) in the Yangtze River Delta; (ii) the International Higher Education Demonstration Zone in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area; and (iii) the International Education Innovation Pilot Zone in the Hainan Free Trade Port. Overall, our paper draws implication on how education hubs developed through university-industry-government collaboration can help the region to shift to a knowledge and service-based economy, and gain a competitive edge within the country and beyond.