This paper aims to critically reflect on internationalization of higher education in Hong Kong in the light of Beck's thesis of cosmopolitization. While it argues that the existing internationalization process is largely founded on a national perspective, it proposes a cosmopolitan alternative for future development. Alternative here refers to a transnational perspective on global development of higher education. The paper begins with a literature review which exemplifies how cosmopolitanism can be used to examine and rectify the internationalization process in higher education. This is followed by a historical review of internationalization of higher education in Hong Kong. It then turns to examine the main policy initiatives related to internationalization and the corresponding tensions caused. The following section leads us to rethink the mission of internationalization. To conclude, the paper argues that cosmopolitan solution, by giving a cosmopolitan vision, is a way of bringing the educational perspective back to education.
[Copyright © National Academy for Educational Research].