The multinational and distance movement does not really contribute to the internationalization of higher education worldwide. Knowledge products are being sold across borders, but there is little mutual exchange of ideas, long-term scientific collaboration, exchange of students or faculty, and the like. Multinational and distance institutions operate in a largely unregulated environment. Accrediting systems are trying to catch up with new developments, and government agencies, both in the sponsoring and in the receiving countries, are concerned and sometimes critical. GATE shows leaving regulation in the hands of those who own and control the new multinational and distance institutions and profit from them may not be the most effective way of ensuring quality.
Higher education is, in general, notoriously difficult to evaluate.
The new phenomena, using new and untried methods and extending across international boundaries, are even more unclear. They provide access at a very low price to those who seek it. It is easy for governments to permit these new institutions to enroll students-every person in a multinational or distance institution will not be attending a traditional university, where the costs are higher and government often foot much more of the bill. While the trends discussed here constitute some of the major trends, there are many truly collaborative academic arrangements aimed at fostering international research, teaching, and enhancing academic programs. For example, the collaborative degree program in management between the 28 American Jesuit universities and Peking University or the longstanding collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University and Nanjing University, both in China, are such cases.