Domestication of global higher education policies : legitimating narratives in advocating student mobility in Finland and Vietnam

Abstract

The spread of global higher education policies has recently drawn much attention from scholars in social sciences. Much research conducted on this topic refers to the ritual enactment of world culture as the account for the diffusion of global higher education policies, that is research based on the world society theory perspective. However, the existing research fails to explain how such global policy models become domesticated as part of national higher education policies. It also leaves the important role of local actors with little attention. The intention of this thesis is to fulfill these limitations by approaching the topic from a different angle and that is from the domestication theory perspective.

The thesis is organized as a case study, which examines how a global policy idea became part of national higher education policy two countries Finland and Vietnam through the review and analysis of government documents. The central research questions posed in this thesis are: How is student mobility advocated in Finnish and Vietnamese higher education policy debates? What are the different justifications used when actors promote student mobility as a domestic higher education policy objective? Are there differences in the justifications used? If so, what is the explanation for these differences? These questions are answered by applying the notion of discourse by Michel Foucault and the theory of rhetoric by Chaïm Perelman to identify different justifications used in governmental documents to advocate a global policy idea in the two local contexts. These justifications are referred as “legitimating narratives” to illustrate stories or imaginaries which are used by local actors to justify a proposed policy model.

The findings of the thesis indicate various justifications or legitimating narratives which Finnish and Vietnamese policymakers have used to advocate student mobility as part of their national higher education policies. Further the findings indicate there are not only commonalities but also differences in the justifications identified. It is also seen from the study that whilst the global education policy idea of student mobility does not originate from either of the two countries in question, it disperses through the nations with justifications directly linked to national interests and gradually develops into a domestic matter. In addition, the findings reveal that local policymakers within both countries, Finland and Vietnam, make use of justifications which are widely shared and accepted within their local societies to advocate student mobility as part of their national higher education policy. This strengthens the domestication theory viewpoint that countries do not construct themselves as imitators. Rather, local policy actors in the domestication process build their justifications for the adoption of global policy models so that they are not be seen to merely imitate what other countries have done.

In general, the study has contributed to current discussion about the adoption of global higher education policies and complemented the domestication theory in terms of national higher education policy making. However, future research is recommended with focus on global policies in other fields and different sources of data to discover more comprehensive findings, which will further complement the domestication theory.