Reconceptualising ‘internationalisation’ in higher education: The case of Hong Kong

Abstract This article examines the meaning and features of ‘internationalisation’ in higher education in the social and historical contexts of Hong Kong. From a perspective of shifting geopolitics of higher education aligned with a historical perspective of evolving academic traditions, this article discerns parallel developments featuring the transition of Hong Kong universities along two pathways—benchmarking Western universities’ internationalisation agenda, and converging with China’s projection for national integration and global outreach. The HK case provides a critique of liberal views of internationalisation of higher education based on the logics of neoliberalism, soft power, global citizenship, and internationalisation at home, suggesting a closer look at statist instrumentalism in conjunction with neoliberalism as competitive strategies in a realistic international higher education community.