International Higher Education, Fall 1997

New Publications

This column is intended to keep our readers aware of current publications in the field of higher education. We provide a brief description of the listing and indicate the address of the publisher or distributor so that items may be easily obtained. While the preponderance of material listed here is published in the United States or other industrialized nations, we will try to list books published in other parts of the world as well.

Internationalization of Higher Education in Asia Pacific Countries, edited by Jane Knight and Hans deWit. Amsterdam, Netherlands: European Association for International Education, 1997. 186 pp. 50 Dutch guilders. ISBN 90-74721-10-9. Address: EAIE Secretariat, Van Diementstr. 344, 1013 CR Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

The various strategies available for internationalization are discussed in a series of case studies of Asian and Pacific nations. The chapters include analyses of the reasons for internationalization of higher education, plans developed, university developments, and related factors. Internationalization of the curriculum and staff and other issues are included as well as student and faculty exchanges, international student flows, and the like. Among the countries included are Singapore, Japan, Australia, Thailand, Malaysia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Hong Kong. An introductory chapter provides a conceptual framework. (PGA)

The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, by George M. Marsden. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997. 142 pp. $22. ISBN 0-19-510565-6. Address: 198 Madison Ave., New York, NY 10016.

Historian Marsden, whose book, The Soul of the American University, described how religious ideas disappeared from America's major universities, argues in The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship that religious commitment has a place in contemporary scholarship and teaching. Marsden feels that a Christian perspective can enrich all of the disciplines and that scholars and teachers should not hide their religious commitments. He does not favor infusing the disciplines with religious dogma and favors academic freedom, and argues that openly articulated religious commitment is consistent with academic freedom. Marsden feels that the contemporary university is hollow at its core because of its lack of a religious commitment. This provocative volume will be especially relevant to colleges and universities with a religious tradition, but is relevant throughout academe. (PGA)

Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University, by Sheila Slaughter and Larry L. Leslie. Baltimore, Maryland: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. 275 pp. $39.95. ISBN 0-8018-5549-7. Address: 2715 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218.

Worldwide, universities are stressing involvement with industry through research collaboration, consulting, shared facilities, and other initiatives. Academic Capitalism explores these and other elements of the impact of the global economy on higher education. Focusing especially on the United States, Canada, Australia, and Britain, this book examines all aspects of this trend„including the impact on academic careers, teaching and research, patents, and related policies. The authors link academic capitalism with trends in the global economy, the stress in academia on applied research and the fiscal imperatives of higher education. This is the first full-scale critical analysis of what is perhaps the central issue facing universities in the industrialized world. (PGA)

The Polytechnic Experiment, 1965-1992, by John Pratt. Buckingham, UK: Open University Press, 1997. 358 pp. $125. ISBN: 0-33519564-4. Address: Taylor & Francis Publishers, 1900 Frost Rd., Bristol, PA 19007.

In 1965, as part of the reforms introduced by the Robbins Report, the British government introduced a new sector of postsecondary education aimed at providing a vocationally oriented preparation to students. The polytechnics, built on older technical colleges, became a central part of British higher education. By 1992, when the polytechnics were given the title of university and the binary system was abolished by the Thatcher government, there were 34 such institutions. This volume provides a full-scale analysis of the polytechnics, discussing students, funding issues, governance, and related issues. It provides a worthwhile analysis of one of the most important innovations in postwar British higher education. (PGA)

Scholarship Assessed: Evaluation of the Professoriate, by Charles E. Glassick, Mary Taylor Huber, and Gene I. Maeroff. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey Bass Publishers. 130 pp. $15.95. ISBN 0-7879-1091-0. Address: 350 Sansome St., San Francisco CA 94104.

In 1990, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching published Ernest L. Boyer's Scholarship Reconsidered, which argued that the professorial role should be broadened and that the definition of research should be expanded. That book stimulated a great deal of debate about the nature of teaching and research in American colleges and universities. Scholarship Assessed provides guidelines for professorial evaluation. The book argues for outreach and applied scholarship, the application of scholarship through teaching, and provides guidelines for the assessment of academic performance. (PGA)