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Rethinking development: Higher education and the new imperialism
... Universities have become important components of national innovation systems for global competitiveness (Etzkowitz and Leydesdorff, 2000;Mowery et al., 2004): they are expected to produce and disseminate economically productive knowledge and train innovative knowledge workers. The transformation of HE into a global commodity has also resulted in HE itself becoming an industry for revenue generation (Naidoo, 2011). In the United Kingdom and Australia the dominant rationale for attracting increasing numbers of international students is primarily to boost income at the institutional level and trade surpluses at the national level. ...
... HE also plays an important role in the race for influence through which powerful groups in influential nations assert their own preferred political, economic and cultural models (Naidoo, 2011). The powerful nations of Western Europe, together with the USA, have been joined by countries such as China which have sufficient influence to create multi-polar nodes of power and challenge global power relations (Henderson, 2008). ...
... The final group of actors implicated in the reproduction of competition comprises students. The reconceptualisation of the student as a consumer of HE has been legitimised by governments who regard students as a competitive force that will bring about increased efficiency, quality and diversity (Naidoo et al., 2011). Various consumer levers to enhance student choice and control over the education process have been introduced. ...
Contemporary education reform worldwide appears to be locked in a competition fetish. This article explores the varieties of competition, including traditional academic forms, contests sponsored by governments and international organisations, market competition and status wars intensified by rankings. Resisting interpretations of competition as naturally occurring, it presents various macro and micro actors, referred to as ‘shamans’, that breathe life into the phenomenon and that are responsible for its generation, constitution and reproduction. These include structural drivers associated with political and regulatory regimes; and symbolic drivers constituted by normative and affective pressures. The presentation focuses on the extent to which the varieties of competition reinforce, displace, mediate or counteract one another and reveals how powerful policy and symbolic drivers interact not merely to power competition, and how competition forecloses alternative means of educational reform. The unintended consequences of competition on social equity, on academic work and on global well-being are highlighted, and suggestions are offered on ways to escape the competition trap.
... As middle-income countries represent the new frontier of the HPS trend (Marginson 2016, 414), it seems timely to turn our attention to this context. Furthermore, a new development rationale emphasising the contribution of HE to poverty reduction and social development has pushed HE on the policy agenda (Tilak 2010;Naidoo 2011;Schendel and McCowan 2016). Therefore, it seems relevant to examine the development rationales behind Indonesia's HE reforms. ...
... The policy rationale for HE expansion is often framed in economic terms. HE expansion is pursued in order to increase national competitiveness in the globalised knowledge economy, for example by increasing the proportion of high-skills jobs as the economic structure shifts to favour manufacturing and services (World Bank 2002;Torres and Schugurensky 2002;Naidoo 2011). In other words, this is a discourse of development informed by human capital theory, whereby equity in HE is desirable because increased participation rates yield greater numbers of skilled labour, and consequently, economic prosperity. ...
... In terms of implications for our understanding of the equity-development relationship, the case of Indonesia provides further empirical support to counter the convergence model of globalisation, highlighting instead the way in which a country's sociocultural and political context mediates neoliberal policies, producing diverse outcomes ( Torres and Schugurensky 2002;Naidoo 2011). The mobilisation of a Pancasila discourse of development in Indonesia's HE reforms also suggests that human capital arguments alone are not sufficient to challenge neoliberalisation, probably because a purely economic rationale lacks the value-laden discourse necessary to garner support for public expenditure, especially when resources are tight. ...
The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between fair access policies and discourses of development through a policy analysis of higher education reform in post-authoritarian Indonesia (1998–present). The method was document analysis of five laws/regulations, using the criteria of accessibility, availability, and horizontality to identify the extent of fair access for students from (1) lower socioeconomic backgrounds and (2) under-developed regions of the archipelago. The analysis demonstrates how neoliberal, human capital, inclusive development and Pancasila discourses have been called upon in the making and un-making of a higher education market, with ultimately favourable outcomes for the fair access agenda.
... From the researches done, the common feeling was that learners have challenges in conceptualizing mathematics ideas. Naidoo (2011) discovered that most learners depend on procedures and rules (procedural understanding) when solving mathematical problems. They lack the conceptual aspect, and do not like mathematics, and are demoralized. ...
... Interest in mathematics education has increased during the previous years. Many scholars such as Aygor and Ozdag (2012), Naidoo (2011), and Ndlovu and Brijlall (2019) have all carried out studies centering on instructional approaches as well innovative thinking in mathematics teaching and learning. Dubinsky (1991), the father of Action Process Object Schema (APOS) theory provides a theoretical framework that focuses on mental constructions that can explain the processes involved in the learning of advanced mathematics. ...
p style="text-align: justify;">Learners bring prior knowledge to their learning environments. This prior knowledge is said to have an effect on how they encode and later retrieve new information learned. This research aimed at exploring ‘A’ level mathematics learners’ understanding of the determinant concept of 3×3 matrices. A problem-solving approach was used to determine learners' conceptions and errors made in calculating the determinant. To identify the conceptions; a paper and pencil test, learner interviews, and learner questionnaires were used. Ten learners participated in the research and purposive sampling was used to select learners who are doing the syllabus 6042/2 Zimbabwe School Examination Council (ZIMSEC). Data was analyzed qualitatively through an analysis of each learners' problem-solving performance where common themes were identified amongst the learners’ work. Results from the themes showed that Advanced level learners faced some challenges in calculating the determinant of 3×3 matrices. Learners were having challenges with the place signs used in 3×3 matrices, especially when using the method of cofactors. The findings reveal that learners had low levels of engagement with the concepts and the abstract nature of the concepts was the major source of these challenges. The study recommends that; teachers should engage learners for lifelong learning and apply some mathematical definitions in real-world problems. Teachers should address the issues raised in this research during the teaching and learning process. In addition, teachers should engage learners more through seminars where learners get to mingle with others from other schools.</p
... Some studies suggest that the restructuring of university priorities have offered a solution for cost-recovery in the midst of financial crises and economic competition and have opened up new educational opportunities for minorities and women otherwise trapped in the institutional hierarchies of traditionally stratified societies (Breslauer, 2016;Habu, 2000). However, these institutional reforms have significantly contributed to massive budget cuts in the arts, humanities, and the social sciences; the steady erosion of the intellectual autonomy, democratic participation, and occupational security of faculty assured by tenure and peer review; the weakening of quality assurance mechanisms in favor of cost-cutting measures; and the financial commodification of international students to the neglect of their creativity, quality of life, and social integration (Byun and Kim, 2011;Habu, 2000;Naidoo, 2011). Furthermore, scholars have argued that the resulting influx of for-profit education providers has heightened domestic competition, thereby stunting the research and educational capacity of native academics and institutions, and exacerbating global inequality and underdevelopment (Naidoo, 2011;Shahjahan and Morgan, 2016). ...
... However, these institutional reforms have significantly contributed to massive budget cuts in the arts, humanities, and the social sciences; the steady erosion of the intellectual autonomy, democratic participation, and occupational security of faculty assured by tenure and peer review; the weakening of quality assurance mechanisms in favor of cost-cutting measures; and the financial commodification of international students to the neglect of their creativity, quality of life, and social integration (Byun and Kim, 2011;Habu, 2000;Naidoo, 2011). Furthermore, scholars have argued that the resulting influx of for-profit education providers has heightened domestic competition, thereby stunting the research and educational capacity of native academics and institutions, and exacerbating global inequality and underdevelopment (Naidoo, 2011;Shahjahan and Morgan, 2016). ...
Despite growing scholarly interest in international education, few studies have examined how the broader historic, structural, and cultural contexts of sending nations inform the global perspectives and pedagogical strategies of international students before and after migration. Based on surveys and focus groups with Korean and Chinese international students at one public university, the study provides an in-depth look at national differences in learning contexts as they may affect the educational and social adjustment of international students through the lens of gender, family, and nation. We argue that international students view and experience their overseas education through different historical and national understandings of family, economy, and culture within mainland China and South Korea—the former emphasizing geopolitical concepts of family and nation centered on China’s position within the global hierarchy and the latter invoking “compressed” neoliberal frameworks representing a time-space compression of traditional hierarchies and neoliberal free-market ideals in Korea. The study reconciles and synthesizes micro- and macro-levels of analyses by comparing the ways Korean and mainland Chinese international students navigate their educational experiences in the United States based on their respective nationalistic frameworks and shifting gender/family relations in the homeland.
... After entering the field of educational research, AI has deeply integrated into education and intelligence which has changed the previous pattern and shape of the education system (Linhuber et al., 2023). Higher education plays an important role in the construction and development of education powerhouses (Naidoo, 2011). Therefore, higher education institutions must play an active role and take steps to adapt to this change and fully utilize the benefits of AI technology, and focus is needed to further enhance the development and innovation in education and research . ...
With the deep application of artificial intelligence technology in higher education, the teaching methods of higher education are constantly changing. Critical thinking is an important ability for college students. As one of the cores of higher-order thinking ability, critical thinking is of great significance to the training of talents in the 21st century, and its research is of great significance and valuable. This paper aims to explore the improvement mode of critical thinking ability of college students based on artificial intelligence. Firstly, this article analyzes the characteristics of artificial intelligence technology, the components of critical thinking, and the relationship between artificial intelligence technology and critical thinking. Secondly, combined with the needs of college students to improve their critical thinking ability, this article puts forward a model of improving college students' critical thinking ability based on artificial intelligence. Finally, this study presents the future opportunities and challenges of critical thinking training for college students based on
artificial intelligence.
... Research on internationalization often centers the USA as the unit of comparison, thus contributing to academic imperialism. Higher education has become the new imperialism (Naidoo 2011), with US institutions dominating within the glonacal sphere of HE. The academic imperialism of the USA is "premised on both consensual and coercive interaction" (Rhee and Sagaria 2004, p. 81), in which global actors are complicit in accepting US globalization and internationalization efforts. ...
... Globalisation has inscribed a new, but somehow lapsed, need for restructuring, repositioning, and framing higher education systems to correspond with the skills and competencies required in the 21 st century (Maassen and Cloete, 2006;Naidoo, 2011). For many countries, this has meant that students are expected to work towards the attainment of a specific (21 st century) skills set, and a substantial increase in participation rates in higher education to match the demands of the globalised world (Bensimon, Hao and Bustillo, 2006). ...
Undergraduate programmes should provide students with meaningful learning opportunities to acquire a range of knowledge, skills, and attributes. Within the current, fast, and ever-changing environments of learning, a student’s acquisition of self-reflection, problem-solving and critical thinking skills – and ultimately the ability to undertake an independent academic inquiry – is more evident than ever before. In this article, the authors imagine a shift in the traditional notion of the classroom as a space of knowledge dissemination, to the classroom becoming a space of knowledge creation It is within this space that differences intersect, influence each other, and hybridize in pursuit of inquiry-minded (and meaningful) learning experiences. The authors argue that adopting a reflexive pedagogic approach, underscored by the notion of inquiry-based learning, best aids the development of a student’s required skill set. In the reflexive context, lecturers and students are collaborators in the learning and teaching process through mutual inquiry. Based on Paulo Freire’s notion of critical pedagogy and supported by undergraduate research as a high-impact practice, reflexive pedagogical practices stimulate students’ agency, interest and performance – creating opportunities to establish baseline research skills on undergraduate level. This article is a conceptual exploration positioning inquiry-based learning, through reflexive practices, as part of the undergraduate curriculum at all three levels of undergraduate progression. Progression and the development of inquiry skills are proposed through structured inquiry in the first year, guided inquiry during the second year, and open inquiry at the third-year level.
... Of course, such views need not be seen in opposition. As many have argued, the promotion of an overtly economic rationality is also a kind of 'coloniality of being', privileging as it does the western homo economicus as the ideal student/citizen (Shahjahan and Morgan 2016;Naidoo 2011). This article, however, will limit its scope to commentary only on the vision of curricular reform promoted by the Learning Compass, and in particular, the Learning Compass's vision of what knowledge is viable, appropriate and useful. ...
Much attention has been given in recent years to how the OECD promotes a neoliberal, marketised vision of education. There has been less focus, however, on how the OECD also offers a neocolonial vision of education, which promotes the epistemologies of the Global North at the expense of those of the Global South. This article contributes to this latter kind of critique through a decolonial analysis of the OECD’s new policy framework for the compulsory schooling sector – the Learning Compass 2030. Drawing on the work of the Latin American Grupo Modernidad/Colonialidad and that of Boaventura de Sousa Santos, it argues the Learning Compass’s drive to ‘modernise’ education worldwide unavoidably exists alongside a colonising impulse which denies the viability of non-western epistemological positions. This will be shown through an analysis of those parts of the Learning Compass which are focused on what knowledge students should acquire in the 21st century.
... The initial success of finding publications on ASE in specific contexts -especially in edited books -pretty soon was muffled, for example by articles addressing university-industry linkages as "sources of weakness in economic upgrading" in Thailand (Doner, Intarakumnerd, & Ritchie, 2013). No matter whether referred to as catch-up "imageries" (Alasuutari & Quadir, 2019, p. 33) or "new imperialism" (Naidoo, 2011), we find more and more accounts of an "epistemic governance" (Alasuutari & Quadir, 2014) of university-industry linkages and commercial ASE-indicators at work constructing a rather monolithic ASE environment. For Southeast Asia, Mok (2013, p. 13) summarizes the epistemic governance of university-industry linkages and commercial ASE-indicators as follows: "Before the 1990s, many countries or societies in East Asia lagged behind the developed West in terms of innovation. ...
Peodair Leihy and José M. Salazar describe how theories of academic capitalism, which
arose during the 1980s and 1990s, have inspired commentary on expanding academic systems where transactional incentives have greatly informed academic behaviours. Often this transformation has seen not the monetization of academic values, but their squeezing out by more venal operators. In developing academic systems, such as the one they focus on – Chile – that have sought to mimic mature systems in academic career structures, academic capitalism low on real academic capital, which they dubbed academic careerism, can take root. Their chapter illustrates the differences between academic capitalism and academic careerism in a range of dimensions, with examples from the Chilean context, practices and events. A corollary is to dispel the common misconception in countries such as Chile that the troubled practice of academic capitalism in developed academic systems is just about money and power.
... Other studies come to significantly different conclusions from the Education Commission: a reduction in state funding has resulted in increased pressure on universities to generate surplus income and enhance competition in a global race to attract international students (Naidoo 2011, Robertson 2009a). In the UK and Australia, attracting international students has been driven by the need to generate income at the university level and to increase trade surpluses at the national level (Naidoo 2011, 45). ...
The report is developed in five sections. Section 1 highlights the significance and salience of the topic. Section 2 locates the debate on higher education in a rightsbased
framework. Section 3 reviews the main debates and trends on higher education and international development from the 1990s to date for the purpose of identifying main processes, trends and actors. These trends and processes are grouped under two main categories – (1) globalization/internationalization and the rise of the knowledgebased
economy discourse and (2) commercialization, commodification and global competitiveness. Section four critically analyzes current developments in the sector, exploring questions of expansion of access and increased enrolment, and ongoing
challenges to the right to equal access to higher education. Section five analyzes the emergence of a quality discourse at the global level and the proliferation of quality assurance mechanisms across a range of local contexts, and it specifically focuses on preconditions and frameworks to increase quality in higher education. Some of the issues addressed in this report are empirically illustrated by specific case-study analysis of
higher education in Colombia, Kosovo, South Africa, and Zambia. The last section sums up existing trends, critical developments and implications, and will put forth policy recommendations and research questions requiring further scrutiny.
... The fundamental challenge for Monitoring and Evaluation in Africa is that the promotion of transparency and, indeed, surveillance is immediately at the heart of opposing political hegemonies, which runs against the theory of social change's advocate of inclusivity. The freedom to present findings in the public realm may be curtailed or outright forbidden (Naidoo, 2018). This has the effect of weakening surveillance, which is a critical component of Monitoring and Evaluation. ...
The study sought to establish the relationship between monitoring and evaluation practices and performance of County Maternal Health programmes in Kenya. The combined monitoring and evaluation practices included planning for M&E, stakeholder engagement, capacity building for M&E, and M&E data use. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. To obtain 282 respondents, stratified random sampling was used. A self-administered structured questionnaire was the study's research instrument. Using descriptive narratives, qualitative data was analyzed within specific themes. Quantitative data was analyzed descriptively using measures of central tendencies and measures of dispersion. Regression was conducted for testing the study hypotheses. Data was presented using frequency tables. The study found that stakeholders’ engagement in M&E and capacity building for M&E influenced the performance of County Maternal Health Programmes in Kenya. The study also found that the respondents agreed that planning for M&E and the data management for M&E. This implied that the combined monitoring and evaluation practices influence performance of County Maternal Health Programmes in Kenya.The study found a strong correlation between the performance of county maternal health programmes and combined monitoring and evaluation practices. The study concluded that combined planning for M&E monitoring and evaluation practices influenced the performance of county maternal health programmes. The study suggests that management develop an effective methodology as well as raise awareness of M&E activities for the success of the project. The study also suggests that human resources issues such as workers charged with monitoring and evaluation ought to have technical capabilities, and roles and duties of monitoring and evaluation personnel should be outlined at the start of projects. To ensure M&E sustainability health sector reforms, investments in strong and vibrant technical harmonization platforms that can sustain the change agenda at all times and every required level.
... Tal imaginário foi historicamente criado, expandido e mantido pelos estados-nação ocidentais junto com suas formas de governo, Pro-Posições | Campinas, SP | V. 32 | e-20190007| 2021 7/20 produção e disseminação do conhecimento, e vem sendo denunciado por diferentes autores como parte constitutiva das novas formas de colonialismo ou imperialismo (Spivak, 1988;Mignolo, 2003;Apple et. al, 2005;Said, 2007;Naidoo, 2011). Appadurai (1996) afirma que a imaginação, sendo um fato social na era da globalização, tem um caráter duplo: por um lado, é através da imaginação que os cidadãos são disciplinados e controlados; por outro, é também através da imaginação que padrões coletivos de divergência e novos modelos de vida coletiva podem emergir. ...
Resumo Este artigo analisa falas de participantes de um programa de formação continuada em serviço para professores de inglês nos Estados Unidos entre 2010 e 2013. O objetivo é ilustrar e discutir o conceito de imaginário social, perpassando as ditas vocações e aspirações dos docentes. O artigo é de cunho qualitativo, com base teórica do conceito de imaginário social e a perspectiva decolonialista. A metodologia contou com pesquisa bibliográfica, levantamento e análise de currículos publicados na Plataforma Lattes/CNPq, questionários on-line, entrevistas semiestruturadas e depoimentos. Como principal resultado da pesquisa apresentada neste artigo destacamos que esse imaginário oculta os motivos que impedem a melhoria da qualidade da educação pública no país, objetivo do programa em estudo.
... In response to some of the demands and challenges of globalization, some governments and tertiary institutions in the Global North are placing growing emphasis on IoHE by designing policies and programs to take advantage of the growing knowledge economy or information society. While some scholars in the Global South are positive about the internationalization of HE (Campus France, 2016; Morosini et al., 2017), some post-colonial scholars hold the view that the internationalization processes is another vehicle to promote neo-colonialism, or Euro-American logics in educational internationalization in the Global South (Mignolo, 2007;Naidoo, 2011;Ndlovu-Gatsheni & Zondi, 2016). In spite of some of the skeptical views about the processes of the IoHE in the Global South, the concept is developing and starting to encompass the idea of networking, research collaborations and exchange programs beyond the Global South (Morosini et al., 2017). ...
Attracting the best students into universities is a policy agenda driven by the state and universities in Estonia and Denmark. While the policy of internationalization of higher education (IoHE) in Estonia and Denmark is well crafted in the policy and academic domains, the value additions international graduates add to the learning environments and cultures are hardly explored. This study aims at describing the value added through IoHE in Estonia and Denmark. The study revealed that international graduates bring diversity into the learning environment which promotes teaching, learning and tolerance of other cultures. Nii Eestis kui Taanis on ülikoolide ja ka riigi tasandil sõnastatud selge poliitiline eesmärk meelitada riiki kõrgharidust omandama parimaid üliõpilasi üle maailma. Kõrghariduse rahvusvahelistumine (internationalization of higher education) on Eestis ja Taanis poliitikavaldkonnana kui ka uurimisvaldkonnana hästi nähtav, kuid märksa vähem on käsitletud, mida lisavad rahvusvahelise taustaga kraadiõppurid õpikeskkonna ja kohaliku kultuurikonteksti vaates. Meie uuringu eesmärk ongi kirjeldada kõrghariduse rahvusvahelistumisest tekkivat lisaväärtust Eesti ja Taani kontekstis, kasutades selleks fenomenoloogilist lähenemist. Osalejate kogemuste analüüs näitas, et Aafrikast pärit rahvusvahelise taustaga kraadiõppurid toovad õpikeskkonda mitmekesisust, mis toetab õpetamist, õppimist ja sallivat suhtumist teistesse kultuuridesse. Seda silmas pidades soovitatakse uuringus, et kultuurilise mitmekesisuse edendamise eesmärgil võiks Eestis ja Taanis kõrghariduse rahvusvahelistumisel etnotsentristlikku mentaliteeti tähele panna ja senisest enam rakendadada kultuurirelativistlikku lähenemist.
... In this conceptual essay, we demonstrate racial asymmetries as the central organizing influence underpinning globalization of higher education (HE) as it is foreclosed by "Whiteness as futurity"-a futurity orientation embedded in Whiteness. While many highlight the inequalities embedded in globalization (Altbach, 2004;Sidhu, 2006;Luke, 2001;Naidoo, 2011;Unterhalter & Carpentier, 2010), we argue that our understanding of globalization of HE would benefit from an intersectional understanding of critical Whiteness studies and temporal studies to help racialize and further temporalize this phenomenon. We conceptualize globalization as the process that forms the global dimension (Marginson, 2011). ...
Amid growing debates about globalization of higher education (HE) reproducing inequalities, an analysis of race as the organizing influence underlying this global phenomenon remains absent. This conceptual essay argues that our understanding of globalization of HE would benefit from an intersectional understanding of critical Whiteness studies and temporal studies to help racialize and further temporalize this phenomenon. It introduces Whiteness as futurity framework and its three components: Whiteness as (a) aspiration, (b) investment, and (c) malleability. Drawing on this framework, it provides a critical race temporal account of globalization of HE by critically examining two contemporary global HE trends, namely: (a) the global diffusion of liberal education, and (b) the growing use of global university rankings (GURs). It argues that Whiteness as futurity colonizes (or orients) global subjects’ (nation-states’, policy makers’, institutions’, and individuals’) imaginaries and reinforces the asymmetrical movements, networks, and untethered economies underpinning global HE. The article concludes that educators should consider seriously the insights of Whiteness studies in reconceptualizing globalization of HE.
... King (2013, p. 209), for example, emphasises "a need for many more in-depth studies of the China-Africa tapestry unfolding across the continent." Likewise, Naidoo (2011) suggests that "[a] more nuanced analysis of the multifaceted relationship between China and Africa is required that goes beyond blind endorsement or prejudice" (p. 53) is needed. ...
AbstractDespite the growth in numbers and geopolitical relevance of African students inChina, research focusing on this body of student migrants remains scarce. This article presents an empirical investigation and postcolonial theorisation of student migration between Africa and China. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with40 African students, I provide an account of the decision-making processes that lead African student migrants to study in Chinese universities. The article explores how this process is mediated by global power asymmetries, specifically China's position within the (post)colonial world system relative to African nations. Four examples are given of student decision-making processes which are shaped by structural inequalities, and challenge existing understandings of who moves overseas to study for a degree and to what ends. These are as follows: underprivileged students benefiting from China's political manoeuvring, students who are coerced into moving overseas, students who are middle class but not affluent by global standards, and elites who take advantage of social networks to secure diplomatic scholarships.
... South Africathe search for regional talent In contrast to racial justice and educational equity imperatives, internationalisation is nestled within the orthodoxy of the knowledge economy and places high value on elite, world-class, and research-intensive universities as dictated by systems of global university rankings (Naidoo 2011). As revealed by a high-level administrator, top South African universities respond to the pressure to benchmark against international norms, standards and best practices by resorting to highly selective admissions policies: 'we take 60,000 applicants . . . ...
Internationalisation of higher education has mostly been theorised from a Euro-American perspective, taking less into account how legacies of colonial expansion impose unique demands on universities. This article highlights the tensions that arise when universities must respond simultaneously to transnational pressures for internationalisation and local demands for racial justice. Drawing on insights from two qualitative case studies at public universities in South Africa and Brazil, it is argued that the inbound mobility of regional students serves the instrumental purpose of holding together these conflicting imperatives at the level of the individual institution without fully accounting for international students in institutional discourses, policies and structures
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
... South Africathe search for regional talent In contrast to racial justice and educational equity imperatives, internationalisation is nestled within the orthodoxy of the knowledge economy and places high value on elite, world-class, and research-intensive universities as dictated by systems of global university rankings (Naidoo 2011). As revealed by a high-level administrator, top South African universities respond to the pressure to benchmark against international norms, standards and best practices by resorting to highly selective admissions policies: 'we take 60,000 applicants . . . ...
Internationalisation of higher education has mostly been theorised from a Euro-American perspective, taking less into account how legacies of colonial expansion impose unique demands on universities. This article highlights the tensions that arise when universities must respond simultaneously to transnational pressures for internationalisation and local demands for racial justice. Drawing on insights from two qualitative case studies at public universities in South Africa and Brazil, it is argued that the inbound mobility of regional students serves the instrumental purpose of holding together these conflicting imperatives at the level of the individual institution without fully accounting for international students in institutional discourses, policies and structures.
... Pusser and Marginson (2013) discuss how competitive ranking operates at variety of levels and scales on a playing field which is geared towards the production of advantage for a small number of universities but which has consequences for all. Naidoo (2011) notes that competition is rigged in favour of elite universities in the most powerful nations. What she refers to as the 'new imperialism' in HE means that success in global league tables informs institutional reputations and is a key factor in determining competitive advantage in the international student market. ...
This chapter describes the roots of widening participation (WP) work in government policy and institutional practice from the 1970s onwards. It traces the beginnings of state involvement in WP, following the Dearing Report and the election of a Labour government in 1997. It tracks the intensification of market approaches within higher education (HE) and the resultant sharpening of institutional differentiation manifested in the distinction between those institutions focusing on social mobility for ‘the brightest’ and those engaged in generic aspiration-raising outreach among all young people. It explores the tensions between these two developments and the competing claims made about increasing equity and diversity in the English HE population.
... Pusser and Marginson (2013) discuss how competitive ranking operates at variety of levels and scales on a playing field which is geared towards the production of advantage for a small number of universities but which has consequences for all. Naidoo (2011) notes that competition is rigged in favour of elite universities in the most powerful nations. What she refers to as the 'new imperialism' in HE means that success in global league tables informs institutional reputations and is a key factor in determining competitive advantage in the international student market. ...
This edited collection demonstrates how discourses and practices associated with marketisation, differentiation and equality are manifested in UK higher education today. Uniting leading scholars in higher education and equality in England, the contributors and editors expose the contradictions arising from the tension between aims for increased equality and an increasingly marketised higher education. As the authors seek to reveal both the intended and unintended consequences of the intensified marketisation of the sector, they critically examine the implications of these changes. In doing so, they reveal the ways in which institutional policy and discourse are involved in masking the contradictions between an educational marketplace and education as a vehicle for advancing equality and social justice. This pioneering volume will be of interest and value to students and scholars of higher education in England, education policy and the marketisation of higher education, as well as policy makers and practitioners.
... Research into development aid to research education is an emerging theme in the field of higher education. Here there are important contributions focusing on policy frameworks (Naidoo, 2011) and institutional conditions (Stephens, 2009), teaching and learning (Adriansen, Møller Madsen, & Jensen, 2016;Silfver & Berge, 2016) and the position of epistemologies from the south (Barrett, Crossley, & Fon, 2014;Breidlid, 2012Breidlid, , 2013. From their various locations and perspectives, researchers point to the challenges of constructing equal research partnerships and how inequality is managed and negotiated within development aid-funded doctoral training. ...
Focusing on Tanzanian and Mozambican PhD students funded by Swedish development aid, this article investigates how everyday academic work life is gendered in Sweden and in the students’ home academic departments. In particular, it focuses on the role of ‘important others’, such as international donors, universities, colleagues and family, in enhancing or alleviating vulnerability and how this shifts across spatial contexts. Integral to this is exploring how obstacles are managed and negotiated by PhD students, and how they articulate capability and therefore resist a position as a victim. The results indicate the glonacality of vulnerability as something that stretches over institutional and national boundaries, and how vulnerability can be (re)produced at local university level despite the good intentions of donors and universities operating at a global level. In addition, a translocational and intersectional perspective highlights how situations of vulnerability are gendered and radicalised differently in different academic contexts.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter provides an overview of the impact of conflict upon higher education. It begins by assessing the impact of high levels of violence and insecurity on higher education during and after conflict and the measures taken to protect the sector. A range of impacts of conflict on the sector are then analysed including the human cost of death and displacement, physical destruction, issues of access and equity, and psycho-social needs. The final section considers examples of resilience of higher education during conflict and the important of the state for mediating the impact of conflict on higher education systems.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter examines the claim that higher education should be considered as an integral part of wider humanitarian responses. It begins by analysing the role of higher education in the professionalisation of the aid industry, the potential role of local universities in conflict-affected contexts as relief actors, and the humanitarian protection rationale for supporting higher education in emergencies. The chapter then examines higher education for refugees, firstly considering the various rationales for supporting refugee higher education, and then the models and approaches for providing higher education to refugee students and for rescuing displaced scholars.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter considers the major opportunities for rebuilding and reforming higher education systems in the aftermath of conflict. Reconstructing higher education in post-conflict societies is a complex and multi-faceted task involving many tensions and trade-offs. The chapter begins by addressing three of the major tasks commonly faced in reconstructing higher education: physical rebuilding, system expansion, and capacity development. Following this, the chapter will consider areas of reform and issues in the governance of the sector, in particular national ownership of higher education reform, public versus private provision, and the debate over centralisation and autonomy.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter analyses the contributions that higher education can make to the processes of post-war reconstruction and statebuilding. It begins by analysing the importance of skills and human capital to the core tasks associated with reconstruction. The role of higher education in economic recovery is then addressed including re-pooling human capital, enhancing economic governance, and supporting knowledge-led growth. The role of higher education in producing research to support post-conflict recovery is then considered. The chapter then analyses higher education in statebuilding in the areas of capacity-building, the rule of law, and state legitimacy, before finally examining the contribution the sector can make to democratisation and civic development.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter addresses the “two faces” of higher education—the negative and positive contributions that the sector can make to conflict and peacebuilding. It begins by analysing the role of higher education in conflict causation, utilising the simplifying framework of “greed versus grievance”. It then considers the role of higher education in stabilisation of conflict-affected societies through the absorptive capacity of the sector, Disarmament, Demobilisation, and Reintegration (DDR) processes and Security Sector Reform (SSR). It then analyses the role of higher education in peacebuilding in terms of the teaching, research, and service missions of higher education in addition to issues of identity, conflict transformation, equity, social justice, and transitional justice.
... In contrast to the market liberal model of higher education and reconstruction, the feasibility and desirability of public higher education investment in post-conflict contexts should be defended. Higher education is an important public good and critical national capacity for developing countries that cannot be adequately realised within the marketised model (Naidoo 2011;Mamdani 2008;Lebeau and Sall 2011). Public higher education institutions tend to serve a wider educational mission than private universities that prioritise teaching over research and service (Tilak 2008). ...
This chapter explains the long-standing neglect of higher education in post-conflict recovery in policy, practice, and research. It begins by considering the changes in how higher education has been conceived within development theory, charting the trajectory of the sector’s position in global debates from modernisation theory upto contemporary debates around the knowledge economy. It then examines priorities within the education sector before analysing conventional models of post-conflict transition that de-prioritise higher education. Finally, the chapter considers the recent increase of interest in higher education in emergencies and post-conflict recovery and whether this constitutes an end to the historic neglect of the sector.
This paper explores how university leadership, academic communities, and government officials in Russia make sense of global competition in higher education. It focuses on the implementation of the Russian global excellence initiative Project 5-100, which aims to have at least five Russian universities in the top 100 list of global rankings by 2020. This project shares a number of characteristics with China’s 985 Project, which started 15 years earlier and had similar goals. The design of Russia’s Project 5-100 was influenced by earlier Chinese efforts to establish world-class universities and deconstruct some aspects of the Soviet system of higher education. The structural change in Russian universities is affected by multiple definitions of global competition embedded in the programs and policies of Project 5-100. These definitions emphasize different aspects of global competition in higher education: to be at the top of global rankings, to develop the “right” institutions, to be capable of radical change, and to engage in evolutionary transformation. Universities incorporate all these definitions into their structures, allowing the government to establish tighter control over their strategic development plans.
This article examines the current roles of European states, markets, and universities in knowledge production and review the critiques of academic entrepreneurialism and neoliberal market influences on European higher education. It includes discussion on states and supranational organizations, Bologna Process, Lisbon Strategy, industry, technology transfer as well as critiques of knowledge production in Europe.
This book discusses the global and local processes of legal education reform and resistance and explains what these processes mean for law and lawyers inside and outside of the United States. It provides critical insights into how these transnational processes operate in different jurisdictions around the world in light of globalization and local legal structures and hierarchies. It also shows how institutions and practices of legal education have historically moved across jurisdictions and shaped legal education practices transnationally. The impact of European empires, for example, is still very evident in legal reform impacts today. The book analyzes how diffusion relates not only to empires and imperial competition but also in recent decades the rise in power of the United States after the Cold War, including the related diffusion of neoliberal economic policies that have fueled the spread of corporate law firms modeled on the United States and legal education reforms aiming toward the training of corporate lawyers. This new wave of reform is critically examined by focusing on how these global processes intersect with local structures of power. The book recognizes that this power of US approaches was not inevitable and is subject to change as global power, including the rise of China, shifts. What is often portrayed as convergence to “best practices” in legal education is inseparable from shifting global hierarchies and balances of power.
This chapter explores how colonial legal relations continued to shape legal education and institutions in Africa after independence. It outlines the nature of legal education within the context of postindependence policies that span from the periods of optimism to the radical degeneration in the higher education sector until the mid-1990s. It also highlights how Africa lags at the bottom of certain higher education globalization indicators, possessing extreme degrees of internationalization through the mobility of its students or dependence on foreign funding and epistemic resources. The chapter argues that the idea of Africa provides a critical lens in rethinking the role of legal education in the twenty-first century in a context of widening material and epistemic inequality. It considers the role of international donors with their renewed support for higher education from the 1990s.
This study is a conceptual and empirical investigation into the knowledge base of university administrators and thus their position as an emerging profession, which has been a hitherto neglected area of research. The aim is to examine what this knowledge consists of and how it is configured across academic and administrative staff working together on academic activities. I begin by discussing the changing nature of academic work in response to evolving external influences and show that it is now process-based. It involves academic staff and administrative staff working together, with the latter providing a different type of expertise in response to external sector needs. This knowledge base has been neglected up to this point by researchers. I go on to use the principles arising from Bernstein’s concepts of knowledge structures (Bernstein, 2000) and Adler’s concept of the collaborative community (Adler et al, 2006; 20008) to formulate a theoretical framework which I use as a lens to explore the knowledge held by university administrators working with academic staff in two different academic departments within a multi-faculty university. My research finds an increasingly identifiable knowledge base alongside a more generic type of expertise which is born of experience and tacit learning, but this group’s professionalisation and development is currently limited. I elaborate on how this knowledge has been acquired by the administrators interviewed and identify that it is situated on the axis of the organisation, as opposed to being part of academic subject expertise; academic activities such as delivering a degree programme are a product of these different type of knowledge. I conclude the study by defining the knowledge base utilised by university administrators, clarify the organisational relationship between this group and academic staff and thus the contribution of the former and then make suggestions for their professional development.
From a postcolonial perspective, U.S. higher education is entangled with the colonial past and the neoliberal neo-colonial present as an economic actor that dominates global educational markets through internationalization. The COVID pandemic and the nationwide movement for racial justice have brought these entanglements into stark relief in the ways U.S. colleges and universities are implicated in the neoliberal biopolitics of race. Applied to higher education, Michel Foucault’s concept of biopolitics as the management of life and wellbeing of populations and his conceptualization of racism as a biopolitical tool illuminate how U.S. colleges and universities maintain racialized categorizations of lives worth protecting and lives considered disposable in the service of dominant whiteness. De-centering whiteness and eliminating its advantage and superiority in research, curricula, instruction, and internationalization is a necessary step toward a future that envisions a more inclusive and equal citizenship.
During the last two years, senior high school teachers struggled with course contents in a neoliberal education. While the Mass Training of Teachers (MTOT) focuses on pedagogical knowledge, their concern is to deepen their content knowledge. As a result, they face difficulty in teaching the subjects, one of which is Marxism under Disciplines and Ideas in the Social Sciences (DISS). Enriching this paper, the query turns to the key participants of the sector and seek their insights. Then, critical analysis applies what the literature says about the way Marxism is taught.
This paper critically interrogates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in relation to higher education in low-income countries. While the SDG Goal 4, Target 4.3, calls for ensuring ‘equal access for all women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university’ around the world by 2030, the SDGs lack targets that would make this a reality in many countries where higher education requires reform and rebuilding. Instead of providing assistance to these countries to (re)build and strengthen their fragile higher education systems and institutions, the SDGs, as expressed in Target 4.7, aim to only provide opportunities to a select group of individuals to study at universities in developed and some developing countries. This approach has failed in the past and will only lead to the creation of dependency on foreign aid and assistance and continuation of chronic lack of capacity in many countries. This paper will show that despite the rhetoric about leaving no one behind, the SDGs will leave many behind through the neglect of higher education in low-income countries. Building local institutional and other forms of capacity in the higher education sector in low-income countries should have been one of the priorities in the SDGs. This way countries would be able to develop and strengthen universities and other institutions of higher learning and deliver quality education to their populations. The paper will map out a possible way forward for those interested in assisting low-income countries to strengthen their higher education systems and institutions as this is a prerequisite for inclusive socio-economic development and environmental sustainability.
Here, we consider how graduate education in communication fares when it comes to engaging conceptual and theoretical legacies of racial apartheid and modern European and American imperialism. Treating syllabi as a discourse which powerfully represents the field to future scholars, and graduate classrooms as sites of power, we assess foundational theoretical pedagogy through an examination of syllabi from required doctoral seminars across sixteen highly ranked communication, media studies, and mass communication programs in the US. Finding an ongoing disavowal of critical theories of race and imperialism, but hopeful exceptions, we offer recommendations as part of ongoing projects to decolonize university curriculum.
For more than a decade, the Indonesian government has sought to transform the country’s higher education institutions (HEIs), particularly its leading ones, into ‘world-class universities’. In 2006, the Education Ministry (hereafter MoEC) established a special task force to elevate ten local HEIs to world-class status (Haryanti 2010). A year later, the Education Minister, Bambang Sudibyo, announced that it had expanded the list to 50 HEIs, including 27 state and 23 private universities (Antara 2007). Recent Education Ministry five-year plans have accordingly set targets for the number of Indonesian HEIs to be ranked among the world’s top universities in global university league tables such as the Times Higher Education World University Rankings, Shanghai Jiao Tong’s Academic Ranking of World Universities, and the QS World University Rankings. MoEC’s strategic plan for 2005–2009, for instance, aimed to have four Indonesian HEIs in either the world’s top 500 universities or Asia’s top 100 (Department of National Education 2005: 52). Its strategic plan for 2010–2014 aimed to increase this to 11 HEIs in the world’s top 500 (Ministry of Education and Culture 2010: 43).
South-South Development examines the historical background for the current situation: why it suddenly took off again approximately a decade ago; the various vectors of engagement and how they are interrelated; the actors involved; how the revitalisation of South-South development has affected development cooperation ‘as it was’; and finally, how it affects the rest of the Global South. Based on primary research on how Southern actors – via investments, aid, and trade – are changing the face of development both in the Global North and the Global South, this book contextualises the current debates, provides a systematic overview, and brings together the key themes in South-South development. It explains how countries like China, India, and Brazil are influencing domestic politics in other countries of the Global South, how they invest, and how their aid alters power structures between ‘new’ and ‘old’ donors locally. It also explains migration patterns, how they use soft power tools, and how the global governance system is changing as a result of this. This comprehensive and student-focused book includes well developed pedagogy such as text boxes, chapter summaries, key questions, bibliography, weblinks, and annotated further reading. This book offers a unique combination of in-depth insights and secondary data on South-South development, presenting a ‘state-of-the-art’ account of South-South development aimed at students as well as practitioners in disciplines as diverse as International Development Studies, International Relations, Geography, Anthropology, Global Studies, and International Political Economy.
The starting point for this inductive study is to determine, through a search of studies, what critical viewpoints in terms of research are delivered, based on experiences, observations and evaluation, concerning the Bologna Process over time? The aim is to present a description using a thematic analysis based on data from 38 papers (2004–2016) that reveal the critical reasoning behind the research. The reasoning is critical in the sense that various authors have elaborated on and problematized aspects of the Bologna Process in terms of what to avoid and/or have characterized aspects related to the Bologna Process that are not desirable. Based on the outcome of the thematic analysis, theorists were selected in order to deepen the reasoning and meaning highlighted in three themes. The findings are further discussed in terms of knowledge and curriculum development for the future and the advancement of European higher education policy and beyond on equal terms. The article suggests that there are causes for concern regarding unwanted consequences in the aftermath of the Bologna Process.
Based on ethnographic research conducted in Beirut’s southern suburbs (Dahiye) and northern Lebanon (Akkar) between 2011 and 2013, this chapter advances a critical reflection on humanitarian lifeworlds in Lebanon and their encounters with war-stricken local citizens and refugees. Defining Southism as a structural relationship that cements the ‘global South’ as the key symbolic capital of Northern empowerment, accountability and capability, the chapter discusses the attitudes and thinking that have characterised the Lebanese humanitarian economy during the Israel–Lebanon July 2006 war and the Syrian refugee influx into Lebanon from 2011. While it defines ‘epistemic failure’ and ‘material discrimination’ as the actual encounters between humanitarian providers and their beneficiaries, this chapter proposes that ‘humanitarian tourism’, ‘politics of blame’, and the ‘betrayal of the international community’ represent the local and refugee imaginary encounters with global humanitarian lifeworlds. With the purpose of problematising ethnic and political geographies in provider–recipient power relations, it finally theorises a de-geographicised notion of Southism that can better capture the complex role of international and local humanitarian workers in crisis settings, as well as the ad hoc relevance of nationality within humanitarian economies.
The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse (SKAD) has reoriented research into social forms, structuration and processes of meaning construction and reality formation; doing so by linking social constructivist and pragmatist approaches with post-structuralist thinking in order to study discourses and create epistemological space for analysing processes of world-making in culturally diverse environments.
SKAD is anchored in interpretive traditions of inquiry and allows for broadening and possibly overcoming of the epistemological biases and restrictions still common in theories and approaches of Western- and Northern-centric social sciences. An innovative volume, this book is exactly attentive to these empirically based, globally diverse further developments of approach, with a clear focus on the methodology and its implementation. Thus, The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse presents itself as a research program and locates the approach within the context of interpretive social sciences, followed by eleven chapters on different cases from around the world that highlight certain theoretical questions and methodological challenges.
Presenting outstanding applications of the Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse across a wide variety of substantive projects and regional contexts, this text will appeal to postgraduate students and researchers interested in fields such as Discourse Studies, Sociology, Cultural Studies and Qualitative Methodology and Methods.
Mkwananzi underlines the importance of a study on higher education for youth in a disadvantaged context of migration, particularly what this means for both human and sustainable development. The complexity of classifying migrants not only highlights the changing nature of the migration landscape, but also how migration has become all-encompassing of political economic, social and cultural spheres. In the same vein, Mkwananzi reinforces the importance of migration within the Global South and how this is equally important as migration from the Global South to the Global North. The adoption of the human development informed capabilities approach as an analytical framework provides a clear picture on why such a study cannot be separated from development discourses.
We explore the role of neoliberalism within portrayals of internationalisation in higher education (HE). Through an analysis of four features of internationalisation, we suggest that they embody a complex entanglement of neoliberal categories and assumptions with other, primarily progressive humanitarian ideals. This framing of internationalisation has three affects. One, humanitarian ideals coupled with neoliberal categories normalise inequalities, turning internationalisation into a meritocratic global race, focusing on celebrating the possibility of the few who can achieve, instead of the embedded inequalities within the system, which disadvantage the many. Two, this allows neoliberal practices to be advanced through the discourse of internationalisation and its association with progressive humanitarian values. Three, this neoliberal framing does not explain the nature of internationalisation of HE in many nations; we demonstrate this by analysing internationalisation in China, Israel and Cuba. We suggest that internationalisation in HE cannot be adequately explained by analyses which rely on neoliberalism.
Persistent educational, economic and social inequalities perpetuate unequal participation in higher education for a significant number of students in both developing and developed contexts, offering these students fewer opportunities to convert academic resources into equal participation. Enhancing the Freedom to Flourish in Higher Education explores the insight that student narratives can offer to the debate surrounding the complex reasons of why some students flourish at university while others are marginalised socially and academically. Proposing a new model of equal participation that draws not only on international comparisons, but is also embedded in the experiences of students, the book offers practical suggestions on how to enhance opportunities for equal participation.
Using South Africa as a case study, the book tracks the experiences of eight undergraduate students whose narratives illuminate the structural inequalities affecting participation in higher education. Despite the political, economic and academic factors that lead to diminished participation, the book foregrounds the resources that students used to negotiate obstacles and grounds these individual narratives in broader global debates around justice, widening participation and equality in higher education.
Enhancing the Freedom to Flourish in Higher Education brings critical social theory to the problem of unequal participation so as to challenge the invisible and implicit forms of inequality found within student narratives. It will appeal to lecturers and tutors, practitioners based in student affairs, and policy makers, as well as postgraduate students.
Higher education (HE) is in the grip of an unprecedented level of attention to quantitative performance indicators. Measurement imperatives are positioned in policy discourses as key to the generation of market competition and institutional differentiation. But beyond government policymakers, many are sceptical about their use and value, particularly in relation to enhancing knowledge, improving pedagogic relationships and developing learning communities. This chapter explores five academics’ narratives—each in different institutional roles—of their personal responses to measurement imperatives; and utilises C. Wright Mills’ (1959) notion of the sociological imagination to trace how individual narratives intersect with broader discourses of marketisation, equity and differentiation. These five staff narratives bring to the fore what matters to them as academics, in their relationships with students and colleagues, and how they navigate the performative discourses and practices which shape their working lives.
The Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, Robert Birgeneau, told Time magazine recently that America is in ‘an economic war’ with the world and ‘the importance of investing in long‐term research for winning that war hasn’t been understood’. This article argues that such comments are not just metaphorical or unfortunate word choices, but instead reveal deep truths about the role of American universities globally. The fact that people such as Birgeneau, as head of a ‘world class’ university, line up so readily behind US nationalism and militarism has serious implications for how we need to understand higher education not just in America but worldwide.
Nanotechnology is predicted to be a US$2.6 trillion market by 2014. China, along with some 40 other countries, is investing in nanotechnology as a major key to global economic competitiveness. This paper reviews recent efforts by the Chinese government to become a world leader in nanotechnology, from fundamental research to the incubation of commercial products. Its findings are based on Chinese government reports, existing studies, and interviews with leading Chinese academicians, scientists and engineers, and policy-makers. We conclude that while China has made strides on such indicators as scientific publications and some commercial sectors, the long-term returns on this effort remain uncertain. While the combination of international collaboration and increased public investment in nanotechnology holds promise for advancing nanoscience in China, most commercial returns still appear to be a long way off. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
A major aspect of economic globalization is the combination of free trade and free movement of capital. This apparently signifies a return to an international regime similar to that existing before World War I, the period generally characterized as imperialism. But globalization is not just a repetition of this previous period of capitalism. Important changes have taken place in the functioning of the world economy, most importantly increased cross-border links among capitals and internationalization of capital. There are, moreover, essential differences in the mechanisms of imperialist domination, which is expressed today mainly in economic and hardly in military rivalry between the main powers.
This paper considers contemporary higher education in Singapore and its relationship to the larger international context. It shows that international education has been established as a result of fundamentally different motives than the current full fee- paying programs found in western countries. It argues that on-shore international education in Singapore is a catalyst to prepare local institutions for the next wave of the nation's economic development, as it is orients itself to be the regional hegemonic player in a 'knowledge economy' driven by a world class tertiary sector. Considerations of history, culture and economic development add substance and depth to the claim that Singapore, by necessity and design, is on the verge of creating a unique 'hub' of international education which will challenge traditional western models that have been so dominant throughout the final years of the last millennium. Singapore, International Education, Internationalisation, Postcolonial Education
This paper analyses higher education reform in relation to the 'knowledge' society and recent political frameworks developed by governments in response to sociopolitical and economic change. It argues that a wide range of countries have responded to forces associated with globalisation by adopting a 'third way' political approach, which lies mid-way between state collectivism and an unregulated market economy. On the one hand, this political approach promotes policies to support marketisation as the basis for a successful economy. On the other hand, the most corrosive effects of market forces are contained through state regulation and state support for disadvantaged groups. This 'dual' approach is reflected in government reform in higher education, particularly around issues of quality and participation. Presenting the reform of higher education in Britain as a case study, the paper outlines the important financial and other support measures devised by the New Labour government to distribute opportunities for study more evenly across society. The quality assurance measures, which have restructured the higher education terrain within a quasi-marketised framework, at the same time compel universities to compete against other universities for funding and status. This paper illustrates how the institutionalisation of the quality assurance mechanisms inhibits the workings of measures aimed at widening participation in the system as a whole. It concludes that the implementation of the 'third way' approach to higher education reform, which implements policy mechanisms to temper some of the consequences of the marketisation of higher education within a quasi- market framework, serves to penalise the very institutions which recruit students with the greatest social and educational need. Interaction of the measures for widening participation and quality assurance is therefore likely
This article examines the return of the subject of imperialism to the social sciences since 2001, focusing in particular on Marxist and Marxist-related attempts to reconstruct an analysis of the US-led international order based on this concept. It does so by first examining attempts to update Marxist and Marxian work to understand contemporary globalisation, and then points to both the weaknesses of these approaches and international events that have undermined these theories. The paper then examines the return of imperialism in some detail. While the international order can still be described as imperialist, the article is sceptical of many accounts of the ‘new imperialism’. This is partly because the utility of classical theories was questionable in the pre-1914 era, and are even more so now. Theorising imperialism in turns of surplus capital or a spatial fix ignores the direction of capital flows, both before the First World War, and in the current era. Moreover, as Marxist and Marxian theories of globalisation point out, the current era is one of greater openness and international integration than the pre-1914 era, and there is far greater cooperation between the core capitalist states, as well as sovereign states in the developing world. Contemporary imperialism is characterised by US hegemony but also greater global interdependence, and US military domination does not guarantee its economic domination. At the same time however, US hegemony is closely related to neo-liberalism and, despite as much as because of US intentions, these same policies undermine the prospects for development in the ‘South’. In this respect, US attempts to ‘Americanise’ the world are undermined by US hegemony and the imperialism of free trade.
What forces shape the recent growth and evolution of higher education in China? Has it been a means of attaining China’s national goals domestically and abroad? This essay looks at some of the forces that influence current academic growth. A search for balance between institutional survival and academic excellence as well as salient differences between public policy training in China and the United States are highlighted.
Globalisation has significantly altered patterns of research and development, and production. In turn, this has generated new organisational forms and practices in higher education knowledge production. As a result, a strong trend towards the 'entrepreneurial' university has emerged, characterised by increasing market-like behaviour and governance. Within the dominant neo-liberal global consensus, this primarily serves the market and the private good. However, this is a growing counter concern for higher education's contribution to equity, community development and the public good. Drawing from various case studies, focusing on South Africa, this paper identifies the higher education-community partnership model as a complementary alternative to the entrepreneurial university. It is shown that knowledge production in these partnerships closely resembles so-called mode 2, applications-driven knowledge production. Potentially, however, the partnership model integrates and mutually enhances experiential learning, relevant research and community development.
Incl. abstract, graph., tables and bibl. This article sets out in the context of globalization to identify, examine and discuss issues related to structural adjustment and educational restructuring in China, with particular reference to university merging and changes in higher education governance models. While it is basically an historical and documentary analysis of policy change in Chinese higher education, this article focuses on restructuring strategies that the Chinese government has adopted to make its university systems more competitive and efficient in the global market context. University merging in China should not be simply understood as a pure higher education reform but rather a fundamental change in higher education governance model from an 'interventionist state model' to an 'accelerationist state model'. Rather than globalization bringing about the decline of the nation state, this article shows transformations taking place in Chinese universities may not necessarily diminish the capacity of the state but instead make the Chinese government a more activist state in certain aspects.
Incl. abstract, tables, graphs and bibl. Private education is a remarkably dynamic area of change in post-secondary education, particularly in Latin America. Evidence of growth in the number of private institutions and enrollment suggests that higher education is becoming increasingly diversified into two sectors - public and private. While this appears to be true throughout Latin America, and much of the developing world, recent evidence from Argentina casts doubt on the degree to which private sector growth trends may actually translate into a significant increase in the impact of private institutions in higher education, where impact is proxied by the relative share of student enrollment and graduates. This study explores the dimensions and impact of private expansion in Argentina, and places the findings in a comparative (regional) and theoretical framework. The analysis shows that, despite unprecedented growth in the number of private universities, the public sector remains the dominant provider of university education. Private institutions, while certainly more numerous and training a growing number of students, do not account for a larger share of university enrollment. They have, however, developed specific niches (e.g., in graduate level training and in urban areas). Significantly, following a pattern of institutional proliferation found throughout Latin America, some private universities offer elite alternatives to prestigious public institutions. The findings serve to qualify apparent 'gains' in private higher education and to underscore the need for further research into the relevant intrasectoral (public and private) dimensions of change in post-secondary education.
Incl. abstract, tables, bibl. In this preliminary review, the authors analyse the effects of privatisation on diversity in higher education (HE) systems by exploring the consequences of the establishment of HE Institutions by non-public organisations. The rising importance of privatisation in Europe (Western and transitional economies), Latin America, and Southeast Asia is analysed. Then follows detailed examinations of private-sector HE in countries representative of all these geographical areas to determine how far privatisation has stimulated diversity. The preliminary results indicate that in each case the private sub-sector has promoted limited and partial diversification. In general, though, the more recent private establishments, created to satisfy increasing demand for HE, have nonetheless focused predominately on teaching, have undertaken little, or no, research and appear to be of lower quality than the older institutions. The private sub-sector is characterised mostly by its low-risk behaviour, and a concentration on low-cost and/or safer initiatives. Public authorities must share at least a partial responsibility for some of the negative side effects of the development of private higher education.