Global Perspectives on Higher Education

by Philip G. Altbach

Overview

Over the past half-century, globalization has had a profound impact on postsecondary education. The twin forces of mass higher education and the global knowledge economy have driven an unprecedented transformation. These fundamental changes have pulled in opposite directions: one pushes for wider access and accompanying challenges of quality, the other toward exclusive, "world class" research-oriented universities.

In Global Perspectives on Higher Education, renowned higher education scholar Philip G. Altbach offers a wide-ranging perspective on the implications of these key forces and explores how they influence academe everywhere. Altbach begins with a discussion of the global trends that increasingly affect higher education, including the implications of mass enrollments, the logic of mass higher education systems around the world, and specific challenges facing Brazil, Russia, India, and China. He considers the numerous implications of globalization, including the worldwide use of the English language, university cross-border initiatives, the role of research universities in developing countries, the impact of the West on Asian universities, and the expansion of private higher education.

Provocative and wide-ranging, Global Perspectives on Higher Education considers how the international exchange of ideas, students, and scholars has fundamentally altered higher education.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781421419268
Publisher:	Johns Hopkins University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	352
Sales rank:	620,180
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Philip G. Altbach is a research professor and the founding director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. He is the coeditor of American Higher Education in the Twenty-First Century and In Defense of American Higher Education.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xiii

A Note on Sources xv

Introduction

1 The Emergence and Reality of Contemporary Internationalization 3

The Global Context

2 Tracking a Global Academic Revolution Liz Reisberg Laura E. Rumbley 15

3 The Logic of Mass Higher Education 29

4 The Prospects for the BRICs: The New Academic Superpowers? 48

5 Internationalization and Global Tension: Lessons from History Hans De Wit 73

The Implications of Globalization

6 Globalization and the University: Realities in an Unequal World 81

7 The Internationalization of Higher Education: Motivations and Realities Jane Knight 105

8 Higher Education Crosses Borders 121

9 The Globalization of Rankings 130

10 The Imperial Tongue: English as the Dominating Academic Language 140

Centers and Peripheries

11 The University as Center and Periphery 149

12 Research Universities in Developing Countries 172

13 Twisted Roots: The Western Impact on Asian Higher Education 199

Comparative Perspectives

14 Comparative Perspectives on Private Higher Education 223

15 Academic Freedom: International Realities and Challenges 238

16 The Giants Awake: Higher Education Systems in China and India 254

Teachers and Students

17 Academic Remunerarion and Contracts: Global Trends and Realities Liz Reisbekg Iván F. Pacheco 285

18 Student Political Activism 303

About the Authors 321

Index 323

What People are Saying About This

Hans (J.W.M.) de Wit

Altbach provides impressive insight into the way globalization and internationalization have impacted and changed higher education. An important contribution by the leading scholar in the field.

D. Bruce Johnstone

Higher education is key to the social, political, cultural, and economic betterment for both individual citizens and nations, and Philip Altbach is the preeminent American scholar, chronicler, and lecturer on higher education worldwide. This work will be an invaluable source for those new to the field as well as those long familiar with Altbach’s contributions.

Simon Marginson

Phil Altbach is the pre-eminent scholar of worldwide higher education. Not only has he been immensely productive, and has contributed to the development of many country systems, he is always closely focused on university autonomy and academic freedom as the essential conditions that enable higher education to make its contribution. Global Perspectives on Higher Education is a state-of-the art repository of the best Altbach insights, supplemented by fine contributions from other leading scholars.

Editorial Reviews

"[Global Perspectives on Higher Education] offers an impressive summation of Altbach’s work."

Comparative Education

"... readers looking for an overview of the ways globalization has driven the internationalization of higher education will appreciate the broad sweep of this volume."

Reflective Teaching

"... comprehensive account of contemporary post secondary education worldwide. It marshals complex and interrelated data by themes that introduce, describe and compare global higher education with remarkably little repetition in a way unlikely to be surpassed by other centres for similar research..."

History of Education

"... the issues treated in this book are wide reaching and cause for thought for higher educators."

Canadian Journal of Higher Education

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