Comparative Higher Education: Knowledge, the University, and Development (Contemporary Studies in Social and Policy Issues in Education: The David C. Anch)

Higher education is increasingly international. The issues that affect universities in one country are important globally. There are a myriad of links among academic systems worldwide. Comparative Higher Education is the first book to systematically explore many of the most important implications of the globalization of higher education. It explores the links among universities, including foreign students and scholars, the impact of the Western higher education idea on universities throughout the world, and especially the current importance of American academic ideas worldwide, and the patterns of inequality among academic systems. Teachers and students are at the heart of the academic systems. Comparative Higher Education focuses on professors and students-especially the political involvement of both professors and students-and seeks to understand their roles in a comparative framework. The book concludes with a discussion of higher education development in the newly industrializing countries. These Pacific Rim nations are examples of how higher education has been used in the process of development. Comparative Higher Education reflects more than three decades of research in the field, and places key elements in the globalization of higher education in a useful framework. Worldwide examples are used to illustrate analyses of such key topics as international exchange, future trends in university development, the complex relationships among academic systems in the industrialized and developing countries, and related issues.

PHILIP G. ALTBACH is Monan Professor of Higher Education and Director, Center for International Higher Education, Boston College.