International Education and Transnational Education Corporations

A major development in international schools since the first decade of the 21st century is the growth of global firms operating revenue-oriented schools. Whereas international schools were once community organizations serving the needs of expatriate communities, the landscape has been transformed into an education industry. Transnational corporations and revenue-oriented nonprofits have acquired schools and built new ones. The result is that there are now corporatized chains of international schools. The growth of transnational school operators points to the need to study international education as a business.

International schools operated by global firms are concentrated most heavily in Asia. While local school systems in Asia have often had strict regulation, international schools have tended to be regulated separately and less strictly. That policy environment created an opportunity for private school operators.

The trappings of a business sector have emerged around international schools. International education has become a sector for investment, with private equity firms specializing in this area and trade journals being published. Corporatization has also shaped the management of international schools. International schools devote more energy and resources to the business of education than in the past. They experiment with strategies, in areas such as branding, marketing, and recruitment, that are similar to those in coffee or fashion.

There are consequences to this form of corporatized international schooling. An important one is that many Asian countries are experiencing educational market creation without an open debate over the process. Compromises made to accommodate global education firms have quietly created school markets.