Globalization's Muse: Universities and Higher Education Systems in a Changing World by John Aubrey Douglass, C. Judson King, Irwin Feller (ed.) Berkeley Public Policy Press, 2009

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Abstract: Universities and national higher education systems have become Globalization’s Muse: in essence, a widely recognized and worshiped route for full participation in the knowledge society. Research universities, in particular, serve as an unparalleled source of knowledge production and artful innovation, a foundation for modern science, an unequaled generator of talent, and a nearly required path for socioeconomic mobility in the post-modern world. The path to build, nurture, and sustain internationally competitive higher education systems with productive research universities is now a major focus of national, supranational, as well as regional and local policymaking throughout the world.

Globalization’s Muse describes and analyzes these changes in the global landscape of higher education, with special attention to the themes of convergence, competition, and congruity of policies and practices. To this end, this book draws upon the varied perspectives and experiences of a combination of international and U.S. authors. The intention is to help inform lawmakers and the higher education community, students, scholars, and practitioners alike, of these profound efforts of governments and institutions, and to suggest that the United States needs to take stock of a newly competitive landscape and learn from the reform efforts of others. At the same time, this glimpse into a rapidly changing world offers an informative and useful comparative perspective on the strengths and weaknesses of tertiary systems both in the U.S. and across the globe. Many foreign observers have a broad sense of romanticism about the relative strength of the U.S. higher education system, and that of its varied colleges and universities. Here you will find a refreshing dose of comparative reality - a glimpse into a complex and evolving story rooted in a new paradigm in which the U.S. is no longer the clear leader.