Book Description

The Glion VI Colloquium departed from its customary transatlantic dialogue by broadening participation, including university leaders from around the world representing 18 nations and five continents, to consider the globalization of higher education. The emergence of a global, knowledge-driven economy is driven by a radically new system for creating wealth that depends upon the creation and application of new knowledge and hence upon advanced education, research, innovation and entrepreneurial activities. Both mature and developing nations are making major investments in building the knowledge infrastructure â schools, universities, research institutes, high-tech industry, cyberinfrastructure, public policies and programs â necessary to achieve prosperity and security in the knowledge economy. In parallel with these trends, there is a strong sense that higher education is also in the early stages of globalization, both through the increasing mobility of students and faculty, and the rapid growth in international partnerships among universities. Some even conjecture that we will soon see the emergence of truly global universities, which not only intend to compete in the global marketplace for students, faculty and resources, but also are increasingly willing to define their public purpose in terms of glob-al needs such as public health, political, economic and environmental sustain-ability, and international development. The first part of this volume provides a context for the subsequent discussion of the impact of globalization on the university from the perspective of a university leader, a foundation president and an industry executive. Part II considers the global strategies of established universities from several nations: the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, Japan and Russia. A quite different perspective is provided by the participants in the third part, which focuses on strategies for emerging universities and university systems in China, Singapore, Korea and Brazil. Part IV turns to a broader discussion of global competition and cooperation within the context of changing paradigms in higher education, with participants from an unusually broad range of institutions including business schools, industry, scientific academies, open universities and technology institutes. The final part examines the broader global responsibilities of higher education from the perspective of Europe, the Middle East and the United States. [Publisher, ed].