This report examines the changes that have taken place since the 1998 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, in particular the main engines of change and their impact on higher education. This trend report is intended to provide background analysis and to animate discussion at the 2009 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education. It examines the central issues and the contextual factors that have shaped higher education in the past decade, and presents prospects for the immediate future. Much of this report is concerned with the ways in which higher education has responded to the challenge of massification. Other issues examined include globalisation; inequalities in access; increasing student mobility; teaching, learning and curricula; quality assurance, accountability and qualifications frameworks; financing and the public good-private good debate; the growth of private higher education; the academic profession; the research environment; information and communications technology; and the impact of demographics and the economic crisis on the development and reform of higher education in the immediate future.

Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution: A Report Prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World Conference on Higher Education

Much has been said about the impact of globalization on higher education. Some have argued that globalization, the Internet, and the scientific community will level the playing field in the new age of knowledge interdependence. Others claim that globalization means both worldwide inequality and the McDonaldization of the university. It is argued that all of the contemporary pressures on higher education, from the pressures of massification to the growth of the private sector are the results of globalization. There is a grain of truth in all of these hypotheses—and a good deal of misinterpretation as well. The purpose of this essay is to “unpack” the realities of globalization and internationalization in higher education and to highlight some of the ways in which globalization affects the university. Of special interest here is how globalization is affecting higher education in developing countries—the nations that will experience the bulk of higher education expansion in the coming decades. Much has been said about the impact of globalization on higher education. Some have argued that globalization, the Internet, and the scientific community will level the playing field in the new age of knowledge interdependence. Others claim that globalization means both worldwide inequality and the McDonaldization of the university. It is argued that all of the contemporary pressures on higher education, from the pressures of massification to the growth of the private sector are the results of globalization. There is a grain of truth in all of these hypotheses—and a good deal of misinterpretation as well. The purpose of this essay is to “unpack” the realities of globalization and internationalization in higher education and to highlight some of the ways in which globalization affects the university. Academe around the world is affected differently by global trends. The countries of the European Union, for example, must adjust to new degree structures and other kinds of harmonization that are part of the Bologna and related initiatives. Countries that use English benefit from the increasingly widespread use of that language for science and scholarship. Of special interest here is how globalization is affecting higher education in

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Globalization and the university: myths and realities in an unequal world

Much has been said about the impact of globalisation on higher education. Some have argued that globalisation, the Internet and the scientific community will level the playing field in the new age of knowledge interdependence. Others claim that globalisation means both worldwide inequality and the McDonaldisation of the university. It is argued that all of the contemporary pressures on higher education, from the pressures of massification to the growth of the private sector, are the results of globalisation. There is a grain of truth in all of these hypotheses ‐ and a good deal of misinterpretation as well. The purpose of this essay is to “unpack” the realities of globalisation and internationalisation in higher education and to highlight some of the ways in which globalisation affects the university. Of special interest here is how globalisation is affecting higher education in developing countries ‐ the nations that will experience the bulk of higher education expansion in the coming decades.

Globalisation and the university: Myths and realities in an unequal world

(2003). Alumni Perceptions Used to Assess Undergraduate Research Experience. The Journal of Higher Education: Vol. 74, No. 2, pp. 210-230.

Alumni Perceptions Used to Assess Undergraduate Research Experience

The concept of institutional mission and its redefinition are questions of current debate and discourse. Nevertheless, little direct historical analysis of the topic has appeared. Abraham Flexner (1930/1994) is perhaps first in deploring the alleged lack of "unity of purpose" (p. 179) or clear, overall mission. Flexner sees "not organisms: they are merely administrative aggregations" (p. 179); even so, modern American universities are increasingly models to the rest of the world. A modern term applied to universities, "mission" is the broadest word used to describe a university's basic purpose (Allen, 1988, p. 7). With the dawn of the new millennium and its projected societal transformations now appearing on the horizon, all parties concerned, especially institutions, employers, policy-makers, and legislators, can benefit from a deeper understanding of how and why the university mission has evolved. High technology and rapid globalization are altering work, leisure time, and formal schooling structures. At the heart of this new information society, academic institutions are pivotal organizations. Yet, they must remain flexible enough to respond to emerging social demands, technological change, and economic realignments. Many colleges and universities currently articulate formal, written statements of mission, aim, or goals. Ultimately, the life force of any enterprise is its mission, either stated or assumed. Hence, virtually all of today's policies and issues in higher education--from admissions to weapons technology--derive from institutional mission. To distinguish mission from mission statement, the latter is just a written product of the former. In the past, college and university statutes often laid out institutional aims. Beginning in the 1930s, American universities were the first to publish mission statements in their catalogues. In recent decades, British, Canadian, and other universities have followed suit by publishing mission statements in order to prove themselves accountable to the public. Today's mission statements are often based on the triad (20th-century) mission of the university: teaching, research, and public service. Particular institutions will add to these fundamental goals their own educational, social, political, or spiritual aims. The best statements of mission go to the core of the organizations' purposes while avoiding the use of trendy language. Fenske gives this definition of mission as a management concept: "mission is often used to express the aspirations, often unstated, that society has for institutions of higher education. These aspirations are consensual and represent the most general level of hopes and expectations people in general hold for colleges and universities" (1980, pp. 178-179). Possible disadvantages with mission statement establishment, notes Peeke (1994, pp. 8-12, 32), relate to its cursory nature, one lacking involvement by the majority of the organization's members and having little impact upon the actual management of the institution. He also cites advantages, such as developing a clear sense of purpose, facilitating decision-making, enhancing communication between and among internal and external stakeholder groups, aiding institutional evaluation and measurement, and clarifying marketing strategy. Thus, the mission establishment process--moving from abstract mission to institutional goals to concrete objectives--can promote organizational improvement. (1) The big challenge today, according to Berg, Csikszentmihalyi, & Nakamura (2003, pp. 40, 45-46), is to remain productive and valuable in a time of nonstop change. Therefore, university missions must be crafted and refined to meet the challenge: institutional strengths identified, mission-attentive hiring and leadership initiated, and academic tradition balanced with societal change. Philosophy is another source of ideas about what the mission of the university should be. …

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The Mission of the University: Medieval to Postmodern Transformations

A definite idea of the university is the product of the times. As university s social being has been changeable, its-idea must be changed as time goes on. Futuristic universities must be re-classified: one is so-called brand-name university, uses of which are to contribute knowledge; another so-called mass-provider university, uses of which are provide trained personnel, namely, to train learned, skilled and numerous workers. It is the key to understand the uses of university when we discuss the ideas of university.

Jiang Guo-hua

Papers

The Uses of the University