This volume addresses the current situation in higher education and what
creative action needs to be taken for the future development of the
various systems of higher education. Higher education in the
21st centuries is under immense pressure from various sides.
First, there is dramatic limitation of funding from public sources and
limited and selective funding support from private sources that is
re-constructing the landscape of higher education in most societies
around the World. Secondly there is the continuous stream of
administrative re-organization efforts of political origins (e.g. "the
Bologna process") that guide the advancement of higher education in our
present time. Increasing privatization of all forms of higher
education-from bachelor to doctoral levels-and its corresponding focus
on the advancement of the kind of knowledge that has immediate
applicability in various spheres of societies leads to the question-
what kind of creativity is expected from the new cohorts of
students-future makers of knowledge-once the current social
re-organization of higher education systems becomes fully established.
To address these questions the international, interdisciplinary cast of
authors in this volume provides a multitude of possible scenarios for
future development of the systems of higher education.
*This book on "Sustainable Futures of Higher Education" captures the
current trends and perspectives of the Knowledge Makers from various
nations of the world on meeting and greeting the challenges of
globalization and the pressures of the knowledge economy. It makes a
strong case for universities of tomorrow sustaining their autonomous
thinking and yet nurturing an environment of collaborative partnership
with society, corporate and industry to fuel innovations in plenty and
continuous supply of new science and technologies. Higher Education has
been and shall remain a powerful vehicle of national and global
transformation. I see a great value of the publication in impacting the
minds of the leaders in higher education around the globe for
revitalizing the universities.
*
**
Professor P. B Sharma, President of Association of Indian Universities,
AIU**
How should the higher education system be in the globalization era? In
this book Jaan Valsiner and his colleagues analyze, criticize the
existing and propose a new higher education system. When we say "higher
education", three different layers are supposed to be there-- the lower,
the middle and the higher. The latter has the function of production of
new knowledges. Without new knowledge, our societies are never
improving. Authors warn commercialized systems such as the "Bologna
system" overestimate the homogeneity of education. ""Universities
without Borders" would guarantee both diversity and innovation in the
higher education systems.
Professor Tatsuya Sato, Dean of Research, Ritsumekan University
