International Higher Education, Fall 1999

Book Review

Book Review: The Globalization of Higher Education, edited by Peter Scott. Buckingham, England: Open University Press, 1998. 134 pages. Paper £19.99 ISBN 0-335-20244-4.

Globalization is without doubt one of the slogans of the end of the 20th century. Like all slogans, this one is subject to overgeneralization and misuse. These two books shed light on global and international trends in higher education. At the same time, they confuse some of the issues involved, and are better at description than analysis. However, we are indebted to these books for starting a dialogue on globalization in higher education. Future analyses will tighten definitions and analysis. It is not surprising that the editors of these volumes are not Americans, and that the debates reflect concerns in Australia, Canada, and Europe rather than the United States. Americans are always insular when it comes to higher education (and many other things), and while the issues discussed here are quite relevant to the United States, for the most part the data come from other countries.

Globalization is not adequately defined in either of these volumes--perhaps reflecting the newness of the topic as well as the different perspectives held by those concerned with understanding how global forces affect higher education. The terms globalization and internationalization are used in these two books, and it is unclear where one starts and the other stops. Many of the authors seem to see globalization as the impact of transnational trends in the economy, information technology, science and scholarship, and other factors that affect higher education. Everyone is subject to these global trends, although the ways in which countries, institutions, and even individuals react may vary. Internationalization is more related to specific policies and practices of academic institutions (and to some extent, national higher education agencies) concerning other countries, usually aiming at improving and extending the international links and programs, and raising the consciousness of academic institutions. The two ideas are very much linked. Peter Scott, editor of The Globalization of Higher Education, in his concluding chapter on "Massification, Internationalization, and Globalization," comes closest to providing good working definitions of these two concepts.

The authors in Universities and Globalization: Critical Perspectives are, in general, quite critical of the impact of globalization. They see the contemporary university as increasingly driven by the market forces of the global economy and subject to the homogenization of these trends. It is certainly the case that the trends that are discussed are all evident in many countries: including the increased power of managers in academic institutions, the move of universities toward entrepreneurialism and the idea of the "service university" (which often is aimed at serving those who can pay for the services rather than the traditional ideal of public service), and others. Indeed, the chapters in this book point out how these trends affect different countries. In this respect, Sheila Slaughter's chapter on "National Higher Education Policies in a Global Economy" is a good example, as she links global economic trends to specific higher education developments in Britain, the United States, and Australia.

It is certainly the case that there is a convergence of worldwide trends in higher education. In many ways, the global economy makes itself felt worldwide. The World Trade Organization, the European Union, the World Bank, and many other multilateral agencies affect higher education more and more directly. Several useful chapters in Universities and Globalization discuss the impact of NAFTA, the OECD, and the European Union on higher education. The inclusion of higher education in multilateral treaties is a new development on the world stage, and is an indication of the importance of higher education in the postindustrial world. The worldwide trend toward a knowledge-based economy is probably even more important, as is the development of mass higher education systems. And it is not surprising that the country that organized a mass higher education system first, the United States, should be quite influential in providing ideas that have been adapted elsewhere.

Both books focus on the new information technologies as a key factor in globalization. The impact of computer-based knowledge systems, including the Internet, has profoundly affected higher education, and we are just at the beginning of the “information revolution.” The use of English as the international medium of communication in science and scholarship has been strengthened by the new technologies. While some have argued that the Internet makes communication more "democratic," it is also the case that knowledge is increasingly centralized and that the ownership and control of databases and other tools of the information age makes a great difference.

It is perhaps significant that in both of these books developing and middle- income countries are considered in just a few chapters. Indeed, only South Africa and Mexico are considered at length. The fact is that globalization affects the poorer countries most negatively. The World Bank and multinational corporations have a greater impact on the poorest countries in terms of imposing “conditionalities” on loans.

Both of these books provide a potpourri of global and international issues in higher education. Some fit, while others do not. A chapter on changes in Canadian universities in Universities and Globalization does not seem to be quite relevant, while John Urry's "Contemporary Transformations in Time and Space" in The Globalization of Higher Education discusses everything from refugees to world communications in a discussion that is not made directly relevant to higher education. Several chapters in The Globalization of Higher Education focusing on such "internationalization" issues as the flows of students across borders are useful, as are considerations of programs of the European Union and the Commonwealth.

Universities and Globalization performs a valuable service by bringing a critical voice to the idea of globalization, which is too often simply accepted as a positive force, with little attention is paid to the negative elements. The Globalization of Higher Education is useful because it focuses on the practical aspects higher education policy in a global context. Many of the authors confused globalism and internationalization, despite efforts by Peter Scott and Jan Sadlak to untangle the concepts. For American readers, these two books introduce ideas that are as yet not part of the mainstream in higher education.