The first part of this volume provides a context for the subsequent discussion of the impact of globalization on the university from the perspective of a university leader (Deepak Nayyar), a foundation president (Carl Schramm) and an industry executive (Wayne Johnson).

Part II considers the global strategies of established universities from several nations: the United States (Robert Berdahl), the United Kingdom (Howard Newby), Europe (Georg Winckler), Australia (John Niland), Japan (Yuko Harayama) and Russia (Vladimir Troyan).

A quite different perspective is provided by the participants in the third part, which focuses on strategies for emerging universities and university systems in China (Jie Zhang), Singapore (Tony Tan), Korea (Nam Suh) and Brazil (Carlos de Brito Cruz).

Part IV turns to a broader discussion of global competition and cooperation within the context of changing paradigms in higher education, with participants from an unusually broad range of institutions including business schools (Peter Lorange), industry (Dennis Tsichritzis), scientific academies (James Duderstadt), open universities (Brenda Gourley) and technology institutes (Charles Vest, Patrick Aebischer and Jean-François Ricci).

The final part examines the broader global responsibilities of higher education from the perspective of Europe (Luc Weber) the Middle East (John Waterbury) and the United States (Robert Zemsky and David Ward).

The Book

The world may be getting flat. But what role are universities playing in the galloping process of globalization?

The Globalization of Higher Education is a thoughtful and compelling examination of how the shrinking of the globe is affecting universities, and how they are responding.  The book is a collection of 23 essays on various aspects of the phenomenon, prepared by higher education leaders from different parts of the world for a gathering in the Swiss Alps to discuss the issue. The occasion was the sixth Glion Colloquium, an intimate forum established in 1998 and held above Montreux and the Lake of Geneva to discuss various aspects of the future of higher education.

The book examines the issue from six angles:

The context:

The number of students studying outside their own countries is huge and growing. But the globalization of higher education means much more: Geography and borders become increasingly irrelevant to the production and diffusion of knowledge in an age of rapidly evolving information and communications technologies. Fierce global competition is forcing once staid universities to act as businesses; a clear sign is the recent popularity of worldwide rankings of universities. Yet compared to businesses, universities are just beginning to globalize. Can they adapt? If so, will they abandon their core roles as critics of society and promoters of regional culture?

Strategies of established universities:

Whatever their differences, higher education systems are feeling the same, contradictory, pressures from globalization. They are being called on to educate more young people to work in the “knowledge economy.” At the same time they are feeling pressure to raise the quality of education as global competition for students heats up. Many governments are granting universities greater autonomy so they can respond more flexibly to the challenges. Authorities are often demanding greater accountability in return.

Strategies for emerging universities and systems: In countries like China, India and Brazil, booming economic growth is being accompanied by a rapid expansion of higher education. Building universities capable of world-class competition in quality requires both substantial investments and partnerships with other leading universities.

Shifting paradigms for global competition and cooperation:

The unique programmes of leading universities are a key to their competitiveness. Yet emerging trends suggest new opportunities. The idea of open source software is being extended to open courseware projects such as MIT’s move to make freely available almost all the digital material underlying its courses. Equally revolutionary is Google’s project to digitalize and make available the massive collections of 25 leading academic libraries. Universities have much to learn from such collaborative web innovations as YouTube and Wikipedia, while Britain’s Open University offers a model for lifelong learning, unconstrained by time or space. Yet these same forces carry grave risks: will global competition promote commercialization and standardization of universities?

Shifting paradigms for global competition and cooperation:

The unique programmes of leading universities are a key to their competitiveness. Yet emerging trends suggest new opportunities. The idea of open source software is being extended to open courseware projects such as MIT’s move to make freely available almost all the digital material underlying its courses. Equally revolutionary is Google’s project to digitalize and make available the massive collections of 25 leading academic libraries. Universities have much to learn from such collaborative web innovations as YouTube and Wikipedia, while Britain’s Open University offers a model for lifelong learning, unconstrained by time or space. Yet these same forces carry grave risks: will global competition promote commercialization and standardization of universities?

The global responsibilities of higher education:

Universities should be not only responsive, but responsible. One could see the development of truly global universities, which would not only compete in the global marketplace for students, faculty and resources, but also focus on global needs such as public health, environmental sustainability, and international development. Beyond that, one could imagine global universities as communally-constructed frameworks promoting, instead of restricting, access to all human knowledge for the purpose of empowering all humankind.