The single best book on higher education as a global phenomenon.
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.
