Policy borrowing and the making of transformative higher education spaces: A comparative study of the UAE and Oman

• The study explored how policy borrowing, internationalisation, and QA reshaped UAE and Oman’s HE systems. • The study analysed how internationalisation and QA shaped new spatial identities in GCC higher education. • The findings show UAE’s stratified globalised model, while Oman pursued a gradual, policy-centric pathway. • The findings reveal that QA advanced GCC HE harmonisation but also limited autonomy and identity formation. Positioned within the broader literature on higher education (HE) regionalism and policy transfer, this study investigates how policy borrowing has shaped the transformation of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman’s HE landscapes, particularly through internationalisation strategies and quality assurance (QA) mechanisms. Using Phillips and Ochs’s education policy cycle model as a theoretical lens, the study employs a comparative historical case study approach to trace the evolution of these HE systems through policy borrowing across three distinct periods. The analysis demonstrates how both countries have adopted and adapted international policies and QA frameworks to reform their HE sectors, increase institutional capacity, and engage in international collaboration. These mechanisms have played a role in developing the UAE and Oman into distinct, transformative HE spaces that transcend rigid territorial boundaries and establish new spatial identities. The analysis revealed that while shared objectives, such as system harmonisation and international alignment, have emerged, the study also identifies ongoing tensions and limitations in building cohesive regional HE spaces. These tensions have contributed to the plurality of regional logics that define spatialising strategies within the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC) regional HE space. By unpacking the mechanisms through which HE transformation occurs, this research contributes to the scholarship on variegated regionalism. The insights offered by this study have implications for policymakers, HE stakeholders, and researchers interested in the dynamics of rapidly transforming regional HE spaces globally.