A Star-Shaped Governance Model for a New Collaborative Order

International cooperation in education is increasingly shaped by geopolitical instability, digital transformation, and the proliferation of multilevel educational ecosystems. Traditional hierarchical governance arrangements struggle to ensure credible commitments, equitable participation, and adaptive coordination across global and local contexts. This paper proposes a polycentric star-shaped governance model as a first conceptual and exploratory framework for rethinking international educational cooperation. Grounded in Barro and Gordon’s theory of policy credibility, Ostrom’s principles of collective action, multilevel governance, and global public goods theory, the model distinguishes between institutional cooperation at the centre and collaborative dynamics across territorial nodes. Through analytical formalization and applied governance scenarios, the paper clarifies operational implications while explicitly addressing power asymmetries and governance tensions. The model is positioned as a conceptual architecture designed to strengthen credibility, reciprocity, and adaptive coordination in the governance of education as a global common good.