Number 56, Summer 2009

News of the Center

UNESCO World Conference Update
The Center played an active role at the July World Conference on Higher Education sponsored by UNESCO in Paris. More than 1,300 delegates, including some 60 ministers of higher education, participated. CIHE’s Philip Altbach, Liz Reisburg, and Laura Rumbley authored a key document, Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution, which served as the main background document for the conference. The 246-page report was published by UNESCO in English and French and the executive summary distributed in six languages. The report is available on the UNESCO Web site (http://www.unesco.org/tools/fileretrieve/2844977e.pdf). The CIHE Web site has a direct link. The Center has published its own edition for distribution in developing countries.

CIHE in Thailand
Following the UNESCO meeting, CIHE director Philip Altbach keynoted a conference sponsored by the Dhurakij Pundit University in Bangkok, Thailand. The conference was opened by Thailand’s prime minister. Altbach also spoke to the Thai Council on Higher Education on the theme of research universities.

CIHE in Japan & China
In October, Philip Altbach will speak at a conference on globalization of higher education at Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan and later at the Third World-Class University conference at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China. He will also chair the international advisory council at SJTU’s Graduate School of Education.

New CIHE Research with The World Bank
The Center’s new research project, cosponsored by the World Bank, concerns how several new research universities have developed in recent years as a way of understanding “best practices” as well as problems of academic success.

CIHE in Ethiopia
Center research associates Liz Reisberg and Laura Rumbley completed an evaluation of the Post-secondary Education Project (PSEP) in Ethiopia, a project supported by the World Bank to encourage initiatives at multiple levels within this rapidly expanding higher education system.

CIHE in Peru
In May, Liz Reisberg delivered several workshops in Lima, Peru, on developing a national system for quality assurance in higher education for the Consejo Nacional de Educación.

New Addition to CIHE
We welcome a new CIHE research assistant, Anna Glass, who has been on the staff of the Salzburg Seminar in Austria and a higher education consultant in Europe. Anna will also be working on her doctorate in higher education. She joins Kara Godwin and Iván Pacheco. Prof. Ivar Bleiklie from the University of Bergen in Norway will join the Center for the coming academic year. In addition Xiong Wanxi from Beijing Normal University and Wang Qinghui from Shanghai Jiao Tong University will be visiting scholars.