Demands by internal and external accreditation groups, whether governmental or professional, has resulted in education providers being more aware of partnership paradigms that develop institutional quality for mutual benefit. The focus of this article is to examine current research on educational partnerships in South-East Asia, identify purposes of academic alliances and report on collective goals, expectations and principles that academics have in relation to cross-institutional relationships. A three-round Delphi technique was used to examine the pros and cons of partnerships, how partnerships could be made more successful and to identify specific actions that individual academics could undertake to develop smarter partnerships. A conceptual framework of alliance performance is suggested and the management of a partnership is addressed in relation to shared values, capacity building and the role of an alliance manager. (Contains 2 figures and 7 tables.)