From crisis response to structural reconfiguration: a bibliometric analysis of joint and dual master’s education, 2020–2025

The COVID-19 pandemic induced a systemic shock to transnational higher education, disrupting joint and dual master’s programmes. Grounded in disruption theory, this study maps the epistemological shifts and structural reconfiguration of global scholarship on collaborative master’s provision between 2020 and 2025. Utilizing bibliometric analysis of 962 Web of Science records, contrasted against a pre-pandemic baseline, the research integrates macro-level network mapping with a targeted qualitative synthesis of the field’s core intellectual structure. Findings reveal a post-2020 surge in publication volume, marked by a dispersion from traditional policy journals toward interdisciplinary open-access outlets, reflecting a crisis-driven research imperative. Co-citation and thematic analyses demonstrate a conceptual bifurcation between governance and operations, which qualitatively resolves into three paradigms: governance and quality assurance, internationalization networks and student experience. The literature evidences a post-2022 theoretical maturation, transitioning from early-crisis institutional stabilization and regulatory repair toward a learner-centered focus on digital equity, identity formation and ‘uneasy belonging’ within reconfigured environments. The study concludes that hybrid delivery and distributed cohorts have normalized as long-term strategic architectures. Future scholarship may address geographical asymmetries, particularly dynamic cross-border micro-regions like the Greater Bay Area, to conceptualize equity and resilience in the post-pandemic transnational landscape.