International Higher Education, Fall 1998

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.

Higher Education: A Pathway to Development, edited by J. Talati, et al. Karachi: Aga Khan University and Oxford University Press, 1998. 381 pp. (cloth). ISBN 0-19-577986-X. Address: The Aga Khan University, POB 3500, Stadium Rd., Karachi 74800, Pakistan.

This book stems from one of the annual seminars at the Aga Khan University in Pakistan. The focus is on the role of higher education in socioeconomic development. Several chapters focus on Pakistan, and there are chapters on the public and private sectors in higher education, and the Open University. Other chapters consider Malaysia, Central Asia, and Africa. Topic-based contributions deal with management and business education, the university and basic education, governance issues, private higher education, liberal and functional values in higher education, and others. One of the few books dealing with higher education in developing countries published recently, this volume is a valuable contribution. (PGA)

Society, Education and Development. New Delhi, India: Association of Indian Universities, 1998. 176 pp. Rs. 250. (paper) ISBN 81-7520-027-8. Address: Association of Indian Universities, 16 Kotla Marg, New Delhi 110002, India.

This book consists of articles reprinted from AIU's weekly publication, University News. The articles provide a useful overview of the contemporary issues of concern in Indian higher education. Among the topics considered are adult education, the university and social transformation in India, rural education, the socioeconomic context of higher education, women's equality and the role of women in development, and science policy. University News is the main periodical that deals with higher education issues in India. (PGA)

Towards a New Higher Education. Caracas, Venezuela: CERSALC, 1997, 248 pp. (paper). ISBN: 92-9143-020-X. Address: Regional Center for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, Apdo. Postal 68394, Caracas 1060-A, Venezuela.

This book stems from a regional conference on higher education in Latin America that was held in Cuba in 1997. The volume consists of a status report on Latin American higher education by Carlos Tunnermann Bernheim, and the final report of the conference itself, along with several other presentations made at the conference. (PGA)

Higher Education in the XXI Century: View of Latin America and the Caribbean. Caracas, Venezuela: CRESALC, 1998. 594 pp. (paper) ISBN 92-9143-032-3. Address: Regional Center for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean, Apdo. Postal 68394, Caracas 1060-A, Venezuela.

A collection of papers dealing with a variety of aspects of higher education in Latin America--prepared for the UNESCO-sponsored regional higher education conference held in Cuba in 1997--this book contains valuable material on current developments in Latin America. While several of the chapters deal with regional issues, most concern individual countries. The two main themes are the relevance of higher education and the issue of quality, evaluation and accreditation. (PGA)

State Funding of Higher Education, edited by K. B. Powar. New Delhi, India: Association of Indian Universities, 1998. 83 pp. Rs. 125 (paper). ISBN: 81-7520-029-4. Address: Association of Indian Universities, 16 Kotla Marg, New Delhi 110002, India.

A collection of papers dealing with government funding of higher education in India, this slim volume focuses on the financial constraints experienced by higher education and advocates, generally, increased government concern for higher education. (PGA)

Universities and Empire: Money and Politics in the Social Sciences During the Cold War, edited by Christopher Simpson. New York: New Press, 1998. 273 pp. $27.50 (cloth). ISBN 1-56584-387-8. Address: New Press, 450 W. 41st St., New York, NY 10036, USA.

A critical discussion of how the cold war and its politics influenced American academe, this volume features discussions of such topics as the role of area studies and how scholarship about the world's regions was harnessed to cold war aims, the role of the social sciences, foreign economic policy and cold war politics, the rise of corporate sponsorship of research, and similar topics. An interesting essay by anthropologist Franz Boas on "scientists as spies," originally written in 1919, is included. The perspective of this book is highly critical of U.S. cold war involvements and the role of American higher education in them. (PGA)

Universities and Their Leadership, edited by William G. Bowen and Harold T. Shapiro. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998. 268 pp. $29.95 (cloth). ISBN 0-691-05921-7. Address: Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.

A series of essays on many of the key issues facing American higher education, this volume highlights the role of the presidency, the faculty, and the role of scientific research. The authors are among the most respected commentators on the contemporary American university. A chapter, by Henry Rosovsky and Inge-Lise Ameer, on the professional conduct of academics, highlights an important but little discussed topic. This volume assumes that the American university is a basically healthy and useful institution. (PGA)

Higher Education in Post-Mao China, edited by Michael Agelasto and Bob Adamson. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998, 492 pp. (paper). $43.50. ISBN 962-209-450-3. Address: Hong Kong University Press, 14/F Hing Wai Centre, 7 Tin Wan Praya Rd., Aberdeen, Hong Kong.

The changes in Chinese higher education in the past two decades have been dramatic. This volume discusses most of them in a comprehensive way, and is a major contribution to our knowledge of contemporary higher education in China. In 20 substantive chapters, experts from China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Britain, and the United States analyze such topics as faculty development, reforms in the administration and finance, scholarly productivity of Chinese scholars and scientists, the trend toward privatization of higher education, graduate employment, and others. Unusually, there are three chapters focusing on the role of women in Chinese higher education.

All of the chapters are carefully researched, and several are unusually frank about higher education developments, including an incisive chapter on the 1989 student movements. The overall picture is one of substantial change that is pushing the higher education system, which now enrolls 3 million students, ever more in market directions. Rigid centralization is a thing of the past, and several of the chapters point to the significant inequalities in the higher education system. A useful summary of the World Bank's higher education reform in China report is included.

This book joins Ruth Hayhoe's China's Universities, 1895-1995: A Century of Cultural Conflict (Garland, 1996) as a key contemporary general source on the topic. (PGA)

On Higher Education: The Academic Enterprise in an Era of Rising Student Consumerism, by David Riesman. New Brunswick, New Jersey: Transaction Publishers, 1998. 421 pp. (paper) ISBN 0-7658-0438-7. Address: Transaction Publishers, Rutgers University, 35 Berrue Circle, Piscataway, NJ 08584.

Sociologist David Riesman is one of the most thoughtful analysts of American higher education in the post-World War II period. This volume, originally published in 1980, remains relevant today. Among the topics considered in this volume of essays are the decline of faculty dominance, students as "consumers" of higher education, student protest, and related topics. The main concern of On Higher Education is with students, and especially with the idea of consumerism on campus. (PGA)

Model of the Public Institute of Higher Education and Its Systemic Environment: Principal Course of Higher Education Law Amendment, edited by Jerzy Woznicki. Warsaw: Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools of Poland, 1998. 140 pp. (paper). Address: Publishing House of the Warsaw University of Technology, Polna 50, 00-644 Warsaw, Poland.

This volume contains documents relating to the reform of the laws governing Polish higher education. It provides insights into the policy discussions relating to higher education in Poland. (PGA)

American Academic Culture in Transformation: Fifty Years, Four Disciplines, edited by Thomas Bender and Carl E. Shorske. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1998. 371 pp. (paper). ISBN 0-691-05824-5. Address: Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, NJ 08540, USA.

This unique volume, which stems from an issue of Daedalus magazine, considers the changes that have occurred in four academic disciplines in the United States. The book begins with an extraordinarily useful historical essay on the American university from 1945 to 1995 by Thomas Bender. The disciplines discussed are economics, English, philosophy, and political science. Each discipline is considered by three different authors from a variety of perspectives. (PGA)

"Tenure Matters: Rethinking Faculty Roles and Rewards," edited by William Tierney, American Behavioral Scientist 41 (No. 5, February, 1998), pp. 604-754. $39 (paper). Address: Sage Publications, 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand Oaks, CA 91320, USA.

This special issue of American Behavioral Scientist focuses on the issue of tenure in American higher education. Editor William Tierney, who has written widely on this topic, discusses the debates and rationales for tenure. Other contributors deal with various aspects of the tenure debate, which is quite active now, including the link between tenure and academic freedom, early career issues and tenure, the issue of citizenship in the academic community, and others. All of the contributors are sympathetic to the idea of tenure. (PGA)

"Financing Higher Education: Innovation and Changes," European Journal of Education 33 (no. 1, March, 1998), pp. 5-129. Address: Carfax Publishing Ltd., POB 25, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3UE, UK.

With so much discussion of the funding of higher education taking place, this theme issue of the European Journal of Education provides 10 articles on the financing of higher education in Europe. Case studies from Austria, France, the United Kingdom, and Finland are included. Several general articles on student aid schemes, equity issues in funding reform, and the costs of financing higher education in Europe and two articles dealing with the United States are also part of this issue. (PGA)

Academic Freedom in Indonesia: Dismantling Soeharto-Era Barriers. New York: Human Rights Watch. 1998. 117 pp. ISBN 1-56432-186-X. Address: Human Rights Watch, 350 Fifth Ave., New York NY 10118, USA.

This book provides the first full-scale discussion of academic freedom in Indonesia, and it comes at a particularly important time of transition in that country.  Issues such as book censorship, political background checks of academics and students, the criminalization of dissent, the ban on student political activity, on-campus ideological indoctrination, restrictions on academic inquiry and expression, and other violations of the norms of academic freedom are discussed. The analysis is well documented, and the overall description is chilling. The report called on the new government in Indonesia to end the Soeharto-era restrictions. (PGA)

The Mirage of Continuity: Reconfiguring Academic Information Resources for the 21st Century. Edited by Brian L. Hawkins and Patricia Battin.  Washington, D.C.: Council on Library and Information Resources and Association of American Universities, 1998. 299 pp. ISBN 1-887334-59-9. Address: Council on Library and Information Resources, 1755 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington D.C. 20036, USA.

The focus of this book is on how technology is changing scholarly and scientific communication, and by implication the role of libraries. A group of distinguished observers and participants discuss the impact of technology on libraries and academic institutions in general. All agree that the coming digital environment will bring profound changes. There is less agreement about how this change will take place. Chapters examine liberal education and technology, how libraries are affected, the role of the World Wide Web, and related topics. (PGA)