Tremendous changes are affecting the structure and funding of higher education in many countries. This volume attempts to identify and analyze the principles, structural features and modes of work of the different higher education policies operating in eleven countries, as well as their commonalities and differences in the light of both general international trends and country-specific factors.
In order to gather the relevant information for the project, national correspondents were provided with an overarching framework to guide them in their work and to ensure maximum comparability of the resulting reports. Each country report is broken down into four sections: the structure and goals of higher education systems; authority in the system; higher education policy; and the impact of each on institutional governance and management.
The final chapter draws together the general trends which have emerged: a move towards less state control; a strengthening of institutional autonomy and increased governance; competition between institutions; privatization of funding; greater market orientation and growing institutional accountability for quality and service.
December 1994 This is an important book which should be read by those with a serious academic or professional interest in higher education policy.... Each account has the authority that derives from authorship by a national or nationally recognised expert of the higher education system being described...this will remain a useful source book on comparative statistics for several years and is in my opinion the best publication on comparative higher education policy that has appeared in recent years. -- Gareth Williams, British Journal of Educational Studies