Knowledge transfer through a transnational program partnership between Indonesian and Australian universities

As transnational programs are often advocated as a knowledge transfer opportunity between the partner\ud universities, this case study investigated the knowledge\ud transfer (KT) processes between Indonesian and Australian\ud universities through an undergraduate transnational program\ud partnership (TPP). An inter-organisational KT theoretical\ud framework from the business sector was adapted\ud and used to guide the study. The data were generated\ud through semi-structured interviews with key university\ud officers and document analysis from two partner universities.\ud Based on the thematic analysis of the data, the findings\ud demonstrated that the curriculum mapping process facilitated\ud KT. However, different intentions of the partner\ud universities in establishing the program led to declining\ud interest to conduct more KT when expectations were not\ud met. The Indonesian university’s existing knowledge,\ud acquired from other sources through processes that were\ud serendipitous and based on individual lecturers’ personal\ud experience, meant that KT opportunities through the TPP\ud were not always pursued despite written agreement to\ud exchange knowledge with the Australian partner. While\ud KT most evidently resulted in institutional capacity\ud development for the Indonesian university’s school that\ud managed the TPP, dissemination of knowledge to other\ud units within the university was more challenging due to communication problems between the units. Hence, other universities seeking to conduct KT through TPPs need to understand each partner university's intention in establishing the partnerships, identify the institutions' needs before seeking knowledge input from the partner university and improve the communication between and within the universities for sustainable benefits