Transnational higher education (TNHE) has expanded rapidly as universities seek to internationalise beyond student mobility, yet the governance mechanisms through which host-country institutions manage the structural tensions of TNHE partnerships remain poorly understood. Existing scholarship concentrates predominantly on outcomes such as programme quality and graduate employability, whilst neglecting the deliberate institutional design work that makes cross-border collaboration sustainable. This paper presents an ongoing qualitative study examining how three types of Chinese universities, namely public research universities, private universities, and Sino-foreign cooperative universities (SFCUs) as a distinctive TNHE form, design governance mechanisms to navigate the competing regulatory, cultural, and strategic demands of glocalized internationalization. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with twelve senior university leaders and employing thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke (2006), the study maps the institutional arrangements through which each university type manages dual accountability to Chinese and foreign regulatory bodies whilst sustaining coherent educational identities. Two complementary theoretical frameworks guide the analysis. Market design theory (Roth, 2007, 2008) reconceptualises TNHE governance as a deliberate design problem requiring systematic institutional solutions. Glocalization theory (Robertson, 1995; Miani, 2025) foregrounds how structural position within a national higher education system shapes the hybrid arrangements that emerge from global-local interpenetration. Preliminary findings reveal systematically different governance logics across institutional types, with SFCUs facing the most complex design challenge. The paper contributes a novel theoretical synthesis applicable to TNHE governance beyond the Chinese context, offering transferable insights for universities and policymakers navigating comparable cross-border partnership pressures globally.

Authors:
Echo Zhao, City University of Macau, Macau
Que Ling, Shenzhen University, China

About the Presenter(s)
Dr. Zhao Ye (Echo) is an Assistant Professor at the School of Education, City University of Macau, with research interests in transnational higher education governance, internationalization policy, and student leadership development.

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