Purpose

This article aims to provide a timely examination of and reflection on the impact of COVID-19 on the neo-liberal paradigm that has been prevalent in international higher education (HE) for two decades since the late 1990s.

Design/methodology/approach

Methodologically, this paper deploys conceptual mapping as an analytical tool to explore and examine the global news updates that provide timely (i.e. early 2020) record of the fast-moving pandemic.

Findings

It unfolds four pairs of contradictions occurring in the Western universities during the pandemic outbreak, i.e. HE as cross-border services vs border control, the state's shrinking public funding vs universities under financial threat, increased reliance on foreign students' tuition fee vs decreased international enrolment and the user-pays philosophy vs the rising force of user says.

Research limitations/implications

It is argued that the pending crises facing Western universities are not merely financial issues; they reveal the shortcomings that are inherent in business model of HE driven by economic globalisation but triggered by coronavirus pandemic to erupt. The pandemic should be temporary, but its spill-over effects may alter the overarching landscape of the international HE relations, which is part and parcel of the changing geopolitical order featured as de-globalisation.

Practical implications

The paper has practical implications for acting on international HE in the time of coronavirus pandemic. They mainly consider four aspects: (1) travel distance as new determinant of study abroad, (2) the renewed significance of a state's role in policymaking and financial undertaking, (3) shortcomings in market mechanism and (4) East Asia as an emerging regional hub of study abroad.

Social implications

This paper is expected to leverage three lessons learned from the upending situation. First, it is conceptually misleading to define international HE as a form of market-led “transnational service” and cross-border tradeable product undermining a state's control. Second, a state's supervising model needs to be reviewed, to embrace the renewed relationship between a state and universities in the new context of global pandemic. Third, the global landscape of international HE may be altered.

Originality/value

This conceptual paper provides a timely critique of the neo-liberal paradigm in HE and shedding light on the changing global landscape of international HE along with the changing geopolitical relations reshuffled by COVID-19 and its spill-over effects.

中文翻译：

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COVID-19和高等教育的新自由主义范式：不断变化的格局

目的

本文旨在提供对COVID-19对新自由主义范式的影响的及时检查和反思，自1990年代后期以来，这种自由范式在国际高等教育（HE）中已经很普遍了二十年。

设计/方法/方法

从方法上讲，本文将概念映射用作分析工具，以探索和检查可提供及时（即2020年初）快速流行病记录的全球新闻更新。

发现

它揭示了在大流行爆发期间西方大学发生的四对矛盾，即高等教育作为跨境服务与边境管制，国家不断缩减的公共资金与受到经济威胁的大学，对外国学生学费的依赖程度增加，国际入学率下降用户付费的理念与用户的崛起力量说。

研究局限/意义

有人认为，西方大学面临的悬而未决的危机不仅是财务问题，更是金融危机的根源。它们揭示了经济全球化驱动但冠状病毒大流行爆发引发的高等商业模式固有的缺陷。大流行应该是暂时的，但其溢出效应可能会改变国际高等教育关系的总体格局，这是以去全球化为特征的不断变化的地缘政治秩序的重要组成部分。

实际影响

本文对在冠状病毒大流行时对国际HE采取行动具有实际意义。他们主要考虑四个方面：（1）出行距离是出国留学的新决定因素；（2）国家在决策和金融事业中的作用的新意义；（3）市场机制的缺陷；（4）东亚正在崛起区域留学中心。

社会影响

预期本文将利用从正当形势中汲取的三个教训。首先，从概念上将国际高等教育定义为市场主导的“跨国服务”和破坏国家控制的跨境可交易产品的形式具有误导性。第二，需要审查州的监督模式，以在新的全球大流行背景下接受州与大学之间的新关系。第三，国际高等教育的全球格局可能会发生变化。

创意/价值

这份概念文件及时地批判了高等教育的新自由主义范式，并阐明了国际高等教育的全球格局变化以及COVID-19改组的不断变化的地缘政治关系及其溢出效应。