GlobalNxt University: A New Paradigm in Transnational Education
6.3 GlobalNxt University
According to the estimates of the Global Alliance for Transnational Education in the late 1990s, the demand for transnational education in Asian countries will in- crease to more than 480,000 students by 2020 [5]. Many of these higher education learning opportunities will be delivered through offshore branch campuses, twinning arrangements, international distance education, while students enrolling in transna- tional education will inevitably rely more heavily on information and communication technology.
6.3.1 History and Background
GlobalNxt University achieved university status in 2012; a decade after U21Global Graduate School was established as a global online graduate school. Founded in 2001, U21Global began as a pioneering academic partnership that originally involved up to 21 prestigious universities internationally renowned for their teaching and research. Through a cutting-edge online learning model, U21Global was able to offer its students the same standard of high-quality programmes found at traditional world- class brick-and-mortar universities, but packaged and delivered in an innovative, technology-enhanced format. U21Global enrolled over 9,000 students across 72 countries and developed a distinguished reputation for high-quality, academically- rigorous, online programmes.
At the invitation of the Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia, to build a world- class, technology-enabled university, a new full-fledged university was established.
The new university was named GlobalNxt University and adopted Malaysia as a hub for its global academic operations. As a full, autonomous university in its own right, GlobalNxt University was accorded the rights to apply its pioneering online learning model to a much broader range of programmes and schools where it con- tinues to raise the benchmark for online education with its emphasis on interactive pedagogy, advanced learning technology and use of PhD-qualified global faculty.
Clearly, GlobalNxt University is well placed to take forward U21Global’s original vision of global, borderless education to the next level.
6.3.2 Development and Aspirations
GlobalNxt University is a part of Manipal Global Education (MaGE), an international higher education group providing education and training services to over 300,000 students, from 6 universities and 9 campuses across 5 countries. GlobalNxt Uni- versity is a pioneering academic institution that delivers degree programs through a unique online global classroom pedagogy. Through a state-of-the-art online learning platform, the university offers students highly interactive learning at any time, and from anywhere. GlobalNxt University is fully committed to providing student-centric lifelong learning that delivers meaningful and relevant educational outcomes.
6 GlobalNxt University: A New Paradigm in Transnational Education 51 The university’s globally diverse student population is represented by over 72 different countries. In addition, through close industry partnerships, the univer- sity has talent development programmes with over 100 multinational companies.
Courses currently offered by GlobalNxt University include Masters of Business Ad- ministration (MBA), Postgraduate Diploma of Business Administration and Master of Science in Information Technology Management. The university also develops customised programmes for organisations to meet their specific talent and skill de- velopment requirements. Plans are in the pipeline to offer a suite of undergraduate, graduate research and doctoral programmes, as well as establish new schools in education, media and health sciences over the next 3 years.
6.3.3 Constructivist Pedagogy
The pedagogy at GlobalNxt University is inspired heavily by the constructivist paradigm of learning, which focuses on knowledge construction rather than knowl- edge reproduction. A large majority of students at GlobalNxt University are mature adults having several years of work experience. It is likely that they would have gained rare insights in certain specific domains of expertize. The asynchronous dis- cussion boards in the Learning Management System (LMS) allow for sharing of such tacit knowledge with peers and faculty. The 24×7 availability of the LMS is conducive as the students are scattered across different time zones. A dedicated program executive in every course acts as the first point of contact for the students, in case they face any problem related to technology, textbook, content, or due to any other reason. Every student has to undergo a mandatory orientation program before undertaking a course so as to achieve a level of comfort with the LMS tools and online pedagogy.
The online content created by GlobalNxt University includes a mix of text, anima- tions, multimedia, interactive exercises and hyperlinks. It helps to engage the learner, while allowing ample flexibility for content access even with a weak Internet con- nection. The illustrations used in the content are taken from different continents in order to address the needs of the transnational student population. The e-library is another useful resource consisting of research databases such as journals, industry reports, case studies, e-books, podcasts and videos. Students are expected to refer to these resources while working on their assignments, action learning projects, and the final examination.
Another distinguishing feature of the GlobalNxt pedagogy is the presence of a PhD-qualified faculty. The faculty actively guides the asynchronous discussions, by sharing anecdotes, experiences, and providing additional information. Dis- cussion boards and assignments such as the Action Learning Projects (ALPs), Work-Integrated Projects (WIPs), and Final Reflective Projects are facilitated and evaluated by the faculty on pre-determined evaluation criteria. All faculty members have to undergo a three-week purely online faculty training program (FTP) before commencement of their first class.
52 K. Bedi and A. Wong
6.3.4 Mode of Examination
GlobalNxt University adopts the Open Book and Open Web (OBOW) examination system for final assessment in a course. Students are allowed to refer to books, online content, Internet resources, and other academic resources in the e-library during the 24 h of time available for exam completion. Keeping in view the global student base, a window of 72 h from Friday morning of the East (Malaysia time) to the Monday morning of the West (USA West Coast) is provided. The question paper for the OBOW examination is an authentic assessment instrument created exclusively by the faculty. It is based upon a real life case covering topics discussed in the course. Students, playing the role of consultants, are asked to suggest a pragmatic and implementable solution to solve the problem depicted in the case. As such, there is constructive alignment of pedagogy, curriculum and assessment in that a case-based, problem-solving approach is complemented by an authentic assessment regime.
6.3.5 Quality Assurance
GlobalNxt University has put in place an Academic Council, which is instrumental in ensuring that the university fulfils its mission. Through standards, frameworks and process, the Academic Council ensures that key decisions are discussed amongst academic stakeholders and that high standards of academic quality are maintained.
It also provides a structure to support and promote continuous innovation in teaching, research and external engagement.
The online content developed for the courses is authored by an international faculty with strong credentials in the subject matter. It is double-blind reviewed to ensure its quality and relevance to the global student base. The content is continually updated and reviewed by the in-house faculty experts to include latest developments in the field.
As part of quality assurance, there are three mandatory surveys in place. The student evaluation of faculty (SEF) consists of 21 criteria divided into 5 categories such as personal attributes, learning facilitation, quality of feedback, overall rating, and overall satisfaction level. The performance of the faculty is regularly monitored by the Subject Chair as well as the Dean of Faculty Affairs for future appointments.
The other two surveys include the student evaluation of the subject (SES) and the faculty evaluation of subject (FES), which provides feedback for quality control and continuous improvement.
6.3.6 Challenges and the Way Forward
GlobalNxt University is essentially a new institution registered as a full private univer- sity with the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia and its programmes are therefore internationally recognised. In terms of transnational education mode,
6 GlobalNxt University: A New Paradigm in Transnational Education 53 it is neither a franchisee arrangement, nor a branch campus of an existing institu- tion in another geography. Despite that, it faces most of the challenges typical of transnational institutions discussed earlier.
Regulation poses a challenge for GlobalNxt University, as MaGE had already started a brick-n-mortar university (Manipal International University—MIU) in Malaysia in 2010. In addition, the other online institutions in Malaysia were not doing very well. Even with an invitation from the Malaysian government to establish an online university, it took about 2 years for GlobalNxt University to receive its final approval. In regulating the university, MOHE has to comprehend the unique transnational model involving students as well as faculty based out of different coun- tries. Fortunately, GlobalNxt was able to benefit from the experience of MaGE in its establishment of a Medical College in Malaysia a few decades back, which resulted in its strong standing with the Malaysian government due to its contributions in the field of medical education.
In terms of quality assurance, U21Global helped GlobalNxt University show- case established systems of quality assurance such as EFMD CEL accreditation and AACSB membership. Nevertheless, GlobalNxt University has to align these systems to the requirements of MOHE, which was a time consuming but beneficial experi- ence. Recognition, which relates to the issue of accreditation, is another challenge for GlobalNxt University. The university prides itself in its leading-edge online peda- gogy and highly experienced faculty. In order to gain further recognition, GlobalNxt University is establishing itself as a research-led institution and collaborating with premier institutions throughout the world. It has set up an International Advisory Council (IAC) for advising the university on a range of issues such as educational trends, industry needs, research focus, international partnerships and learning in- novation. Members of the IAC are respected leaders and authorities drawn from business, academia and government. The IAC is international in its composition reflecting the university’s desire to maintain globally diverse perspectives.
In terms of student outreach and awareness, GlobalNxt University has to allocate its marketing budgets judiciously in order to reach out to its potential students world- wide. The presence of MaGe recruitment network/offices, particularly in South Asia, the Middle East and North America helped support such activities. Another challenge faced is the lack of awareness about the effectiveness of online learningin most parts of the world except North America. GlobalNxt University tackled this issue by target- ing various corporations for training their executives in online/blended pedagogy so that these potential employers would spread positive feedback about online learning.