International Higher Education, Spring 1999

New Publications

Open Doors, 1997-1998, edited by Todd M. Davis. New York: Institute of International Education, 1998. 156 pp. $42.95 (paper). ISBN: 087206-246-5. Address: IIE Books, POB 371, Annapolis, MD 20701.

This annual publication is the key guide to foreign study in the United States. Provided are statistics concerning numbers of international students in the United States (481,280--up 5.1 percent from last year), numbers of American students going abroad for study (99,448), foreign scholars, and other key information. Open Doors also includes discussion and and analysis of trends in foreign study.

The Dying of the Light: The Disengagement of Colleges and Universities from their Christian Churches, by James Tunstead Burtchaell. Grand Rapids, Mich.: William B. Eerdmans, 1998. 868 pp. $45 (cloth), paperback edition available. ISBN 0-8028-3828-6. Address: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 255 Jefferson Ave., SE., Grand Rapids, MI 49503, USA.

The theme of this volume is the disappearing links between Christian colleges and universities in the United States and their religious sponsors. Catholic and Protestant schools are considered in a series of case studies. Burtchaell, a Catholic priest, notes the continuing disengagement between the universities and the religious organizations that established them.

The Globalization of Higher Education, edited by Peter Scott. Buckingham, U.K.: Open University Press, 1998. 134 pp. ISBN 0-335-20244-6 (paper). Address: Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham MK18 1XW, U.K.

A collection of essays on how higher education is becoming internationalized, this book focuses mainly on Europe, with chapters on the internationalization of in the European Union, Britain, South Africa, and the Commonwealth countries. Authors consider the curriculum, foreign study issues, and related topics.

Globalizing Education: Trends and Applications, by Robin Mason. London: Routledge, 1998. 167 pp. $113 (hardback), $24.99 (paper). ISBN 0-415-18687-0. Address: Routledge Publishers, 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P, 4EE, U.K.

This volume focuses on the technologies involved with distance education--the Internet, the World Wide Web, and others, and provides a useful overview concerning them. Overall trends in distance education are discussed as well, including the administration of distance-education programs and the role of students, among others. Case studies of successful efforts, including the Open University in the United Kingdom, the distance MBA Program at Duke University, and others, are described.

University Teaching: International Perspectives, edited by James JF Forest. New York: Garland Publishing, 1998. 458 pp. ISBN: 0-8153-2460-X. Address: Garland Publishing, Inc., 19 Union Sq. West, New York NY 10003, USA.

The first full-scale analysis of issues relating to teaching at the university level in an international perspective, this volume considers such topics as distance teaching, staff development, alternative assessment practices, and collaborative learning. Case studies from a variety of countries, including Israel, the United Kingdom, Micronesia, Argentina, South Africa, and others are presented. The great value of this book is in its overall coverage of both topics and countries.

When Women Ask the Questions: Creating Women's Studies in America, by Marilyn Jacoby Boxer. Baltimore, Md.: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998. 360 pp. (cloth). ISBN 0-8018-5834-8. Address: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2715 N. Charles St., Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

The development of women's studies as a field of study in American universities is traced in this volume. One of the few successful efforts to establish a new field, women's studies is a significant case study of innovation in higher education. The author traces the development of the field over the past 25 years, and places it in the context of change in American higher education. There is a section on the growth of women's studies internationally.  

Higher Education in the Post-Communist World: Case Studies of Eight Universities, edited by Paula L. W. Sabloff. New York: Garland Publishing, 1999. 299 pp. ISBN 0-8153-2443-X. Address: Garland Publishing, Inc., 19 Union Sq. West, New York NY 10003, USA.

Case studies of academic institutions in countries formerly under Communist rule, plus China and Laos, form the basis of this volume. Among the countries included are Russia, East Germany, Poland, Slovakia, Ukraine, Mongolia, China, and Laos. Most of the chapters are coauthored by an outside observer and a researcher from the country. The chapters look at such topics as changes in university governance and administration, and financial changes, among others.

Higher Education Research in China, 1997. Wuhan, China: Huazhong University of Science and Technology Press. ISBN 7-5609-1723-2. Address: Yujiashan, Wuchang, Wuhan, China 430074.

This new annual publication is intended to provide English-speaking readers with a selection of the most important research on Chinese higher education done in China. The journal consists of translations of key articles from Chinese higher education journals. Among the topics considered in the first issue are the development of the field of higher education in China, higher education reform, issues of fee payment, MBA education in China, private higher education, and others. The 1998 edition has not yet appeared.

Reforming the Higher Education Curriculum: Internationalizing the Campus, edited by Josef A. Mesthenhauser and Brenda J. Ellingboe. Phoenix, Ariz.: Oryx Press, 1998. 241 pp. $34.95 (cloth). ISBN 1-57356-173-8. Address: Oryx Press, POB 33889, Phoenix AZ 85067, USA.

The focus of this volume is on how the university curriculum can be reformed to increase internationalization. All of the chapters deal with the United States, although the issues have a good deal of relevance worldwide. Among the topics considered are the role of foreign languages in internationalizing the curriculum, the music curriclum and internationalization, the use of technology to enhance internationalization, the role of networking, and others.

Academics Responding to Change: New Higher Education Frameworks and Academic Cultures, by Paul R. Trowler. Buckingham, U.K.: Open University Press, 1998. 197 pp. (paper). $19.99. ISBN 0-335-19934-8. Address: Open University Press, Celtic Court, 22 Ballmoor, Buckingham MK18 1XW, U.K.

The book is a case study of how the academic staff at one university (a former polytechnic) has responded to the many changes imposed on British higher education in the past decade. The volume illustrates the problems of change in higher education. Such issues as the culture of academics are considered as the authors looks at how staff have dealt with the introduction of the credit system and other changes.

The Shaping of American Higher Education: Emergence and Growth of the Contemporary System, by Arthur M. Cohen. San Francisco: Jossey Bass, 1998. 493 pp. ISBN 0-7879-1029-5. Address: Jossey Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104, USA.

This is a wide-ranging analysis of the development of American higher education from 1636 to the present. The author discusses the colonial college and its role, the diffusion of colleges as the United States expanded, the development of the university between 1870 and 1944, and the progress of the academic system to the present time. About half the book is devoted to the period since 1945.

Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research, vol. 15. New York: Agathon Press, 1999. 499 pp. $36 (paperback). ISBN 0-87586-125-3. Address: Agathon Press, 5648 Riverdale Ave., Bronx, NY 10471, USA.

This annual publication, now in its 14th year, features research-based chapters on a variety of topics in higher education. The chapters cover the key research on their topics, and include extensive bibliographies. In general, the handbook provides useful "state of the art" surveys of important topics in higher education. Volume 14 includes considerations of such topics as university restructuring, costs and productivity in higher education, organizational changes in community colleges, issues in teaching and learning, sexual abuse and harassment in universities, and the emergence and role of women's studies worldwide.

Quality Assurance in Higher Education: An International Perspective, edited by Gerald H. Gaither. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1998. 107 pp. (paper). (New Directions for Institutional Research, Number 99). Address: Jossey Bass Publishers, 350 Sansome St., San Francisco, CA 94104, USA.

This volume considers quality assurance, an increasingly important topic for universities worldwide. Case studies are provided from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Scotland, and Spain, as well as several considerations of the broader issues involved.

Emerging European Policy Profiles of Higher Education Institutions, edited by Andris Barblan, Barbara M. Kehm, Sybille Reichert, and Ulrich Teichler. Kassel, Germany: Wissenschafliches Zentrum für Berufs- und Hochschulforschung der Universität Kassel, 1998. 149 pp. (paper). ISBN 3-928172-88-3. Address: WZ-1, Henschelstr 4, D-34109 Kassel, Germany.

This volume is a study of the European Union's SOCRATES program, which supports international initiatives in EU universities. Case studies of specific institutions and countries are provided to show how SOCRATES has worked, and how academic institutions have reacted to it. The researchers show the popularity of the programs, but indicate that many universities have not adopted all of the EU's strategies for Europeanization.

As If Learning Mattered: Reforming Higher Education, by Richard E. Miller. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1998. 249 pp. (cloth and paper). $39.95, $15.95. ISBN: 0-801485-282. Address: Cornell University Press, 512 E. State St., Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.

The author, a professor of English, examines several educational reform traditions in the United States, from the perspective of literature relating to these movements. He looks at the "great books" movement, cultural studies (including a discussion of the Open University in the United Kingdom), and others.

The Academic Kitchen: A Social History of Gender Stratification at the University of California, Berkeley. by Maresi Nerad. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press, 1999. 195 pp. ISBN 0-7914-3970-4 (paperback). Address: SUNY Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246, USA.

This case study of the development of the field of home economics at the University of California, Berkeley, sheds light on the role of women in American higher education during a key period of development. It explores the relationship between home economics (an all-women's field) and other departments at the university as a way of examining gender relationships in American universities in a historical perspective.

Lianda: A Chinese University in War and Revolution, by John Israel. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1998. 499 pp. $60 (cloth). ISBN 0-8047-2929-8. Address: Stanford University Press, Stanford, CA 94703, USA.

The Southwest Regional University (Lianda) of China was an amalgamation of China's three most important universities, which moved to the far southwest frontier after the Japanese invasion in 1938. This volume tells the story of a remarkable effort to maintain higher education excellence in very difficult circumstances.

Condemning Students to Debt: College Loans and Public Policy, edited by Richard Fossey and Mark Bateman. New York; Teacher College Press, 1998. 200 pp. ISBN 0-8077-3743-7. Address: Teachers College Press, 1234 Amsterdam Ave., New York NY 10017, USA.

Government-guaranteed student loans for postsecondary education are a central aspect of U.S. higher education policy. More than $7 billion is lent to students each year. This volume provides a multifaceted perspective on how loan programs affect students and their families, and how they affect colleges and universities. Topics considered include federal student aid regulations, the impact of loans on student educational choices, analysis of default rates, and related topics. Many of the contributors believe that American students finish their academic careers with too much debt, and that this has negative implications.