Asia vs. the ‘others’: how to bridge the intercultural gap in cross-border higher education

‘Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet’, Rudyard Kipling told us in 1892. However, since the millennium, China and India have evolved from developing to emerging economies and the number of Asian students, seeking diplomas in higher education in the Western world is on the increase. Keeping the significant economic contribution of these

‘migrating’ students in mind, attending to the latter group’s distinct needs poses a challenge in a culturally diverse classroom. While a substantial body of research on Quality Assurance (QA) in higher education, especially on external

quality assurance and international accreditation institutions and guidelines are readily available, there is a critical lack of evaluating QA from an educational and particularly, intercultural perspective. In this paper, the authors propose specific strategies and recommendations to create a more inclusive

environment for Indian and Chinese students in Western business schools.