From the late seventies, a fundamentally new wave of international activity has emerged which will be referred to in this study as the formation of “cooperative ventures.” In such ventures, an institution (usually of higher education) in one nation seeks to expand its international activities through obtaining either a partial or a controlling interest in a foreign higher education institution.
This study seeks to outline the forces behind the new wave of “international cooperative ventures” in higher education, as well as the challenges they pose, through a systematic focus on the Japan-United States transactions.Broadly, two prototypes provide focus for the study: (1) U.S. accredited institutions which set up a cooperative venture in Japan to offer U.S. accredited courses, and (2) Japanese institutions which set up either a cooperative venture or an autonomous institution in the United States to offer courses that will receive credit in Japan.