A Closer Look: The Globalization of Higher Education
Public lecture by Susan Robertson
Professor of Sociology of Education, University of Bristol
17 March 2015
Salle de conférence, MISHA, 5 allée Général Rouvillois, Strasbourg
Universities and higher education systems worldwide are being transformed by new and changing actors, practices, programs, policies, and agendas. The emergence of the concept of the “knowledge economy” in the past decades has reframed higher education as an engine of economic growth, "producing" knowledge and graduates. The globalization of higher education leads not only to increased international collaboration but also to increased international competition, for students and research funding. This is accompanied by increasingly dominant practices such as benchmarking, international rankings and bibliometrics, which emphasize quantitative notions of quality and efficiency in higher education organisations, often at the costs of other important features, which are more difficult to measure and compare. Universities are branching out, using their brand value to expand into new "markets". New, private actors are entering the scene of higher education, furhter changing the landscape of higher education.
Professor Robertson will provide an closer look at the globalization of higher education and research, in particular focusing on the role of different forms of power which are shaping agendas and practices, and on uneven development patterns and outcomes.
This lecture is open to the general public.
