Sherene Milizia

Abstract: As artificial intelligence accelerates across global higher education, one question grows more urgent and more human: what does it actually take to build international partnerships that last? This roundtable brings together Hitotsubashi University (Japan), Kyung Hee University (South Korea), and the University at Buffalo, State University of New York (USA) not to present answers, but to open a genuinely collegial conversation. Drawing on active bilateral frameworks, undergraduate mobility initiatives, combined degree pathways, and early assurance programs across East Asia and North America, our institutions offer three distinct yet complementary perspectives on a shared conviction: technology can accelerate partnership, but it cannot generate the trust, reciprocity, and sustained institutional commitment that make partnerships endure.Four anchoring questions will guide our dialogue: How do we build trust across cultures in an AImediated world? What structures best support students across the full arc of their international journey? How do institutions sustain partnership commitment when priorities shift? And how do we transform disparities in research capacity from a source of imbalance into a foundation for mutual scholarly growth and shared purpose? Participants are warmly invited to bring their own experiences into the room. Attendees will leave with practical insights, meaningful peer connections, and a sharper framework for designing international partnerships that are not merely efficient but enduringly human. Learning objectives: - Articulate the human foundations of trust, reciprocity, and institutional commitment that distinguish enduring international partnerships from transactional ones in an AI-mediated landscape. - Compare cross-cultural approaches to partnership-building across East Asian and North American contexts, drawing on active bilateral frameworks among Hitotsubashi University, Kyung Hee University, and the University at Buffalo. - Evaluate structural models including undergraduate mobility initiatives, combined degree pathways, and early assurance programs that support students across the full arc of their international journey. - Identify strategies for sustaining institutional partnership commitment through leadership transitions and shifting priorities. - Develop a practical, peer-informed framework for designing international partnerships that leverage technological acceleration without sacrificing the relational and cultural intelligence that technology cannot replicate. Target audience: International partnership officers, mobility coordinators, senior academic and administrative leaders, and professionals designing pathway or combined degree programs;particularly those navigating institutional strategy, cross-cultural relationship management, and AI integration in global higher education.

Abstract: As transnational education (TNE) expands across the Asia-Pacific, institutions face mounting pressure to ensure that diverse program models remain academically rigorous, culturally responsive, and institutionally coherent. Few settings illustrate this challenge more vividly than Singapore Institute of Management Global Education (SIMGE), a single campus hosting degree programs from universities across the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, and France, each operating within its own governance framework, curricular architecture, and quality assurance expectations. This panel draws on the partnership between the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York and SIMGE, now spanning more than two decades, as an anchor case study to examine how one institution navigates the complexity of hosting multiple higher education systems simultaneously. Presenters will explore how institutional trust, adaptive governance, and curriculum alignment sustain high-quality program delivery across vastly different educational cultures. Moving beyond institutional promotion, the session offers comparative analysis of structural differences among TNE models, including delivery formats, faculty engagement, student mobility pathways, and regulatory compliance, and identifies transferable strategies for institutions designing or scaling partnerships in the region. In an era where AI is reshaping program delivery, the human dimensions of partnership, namely relationship, adaptability, and mutual accountability, remain the irreplaceable foundation of sustainable TNE. Learning objectives: - Examine how SIMGE operationalizes multiple TNE models across five countries within a single institutional platform, including the governance structures that sustain this approach. - Analyze curricular architecture, faculty engagement, and quality assurance mechanisms across diverse national education systems through comparative institutional analysis. - Draw on the University at Buffalo and SIMGE partnership as a longitudinal case study of relationship-driven program delivery in Southeast Asia. - Identify practical strategies for managing a diverse TNE portfolio, including partnership design and risk mitigation. - Recognize the foundational role of human-centered practices; trust, responsiveness, and adaptability in sustaining TNE success amid rapid technological change. Target audience: International education professionals in partnership development, TNE governance, program design, and institutional strategy, particularly those evaluating Asia-Pacific engagement, as well as quality assurance officers and senior administrators with interests in transnational education innovation.