ROPS 2014

Globalization and Student Learning: A Literature Review and Call for Greater Conceptual Rigor and Cross-Institutional Studies, by Richard J. Edelstein

Richard J. Edelstein
2014

University learning objectives and the curriculum have evolved to include more knowledge, skills and aptitudes related to the increasingly international nature of a broad range of professions and occupations. More broadly, graduates are expected to know more about the world outside their home country in order to be informed and responsible citizens and to function personally and professionally in international contexts. There is, however, very little systematic assessment of international learning and programming A review of the literature indicates that studies of...

Thoughts on the History of University Systems in the U.S., by Robert Berdahl

Robert Berdahl
2014

Beginning in earnest in the 1950s, most state governments began a process of creating public university systems with a governing board and intended to coordinate and manage usually a range of institutional types and including a major public flagship university. By the late 1980s, enthusiasm for more centralized structures and state-wide “superboards” began to wane, in part because of the opposition of flagship campuses fearful of the “leveling” result they had seen in Wisconsin. The two decades after 1990 were marked both by austerity and limited growth and...

Macro-Environmental Mapping of International Branch Campus Activities of Universities Worldwide by Anna Kosmützky and Georg Krücken

Anna Kosmützky
Georg Krücken
2014

The paper provides an initial international comparative empirical assessment of international branch campuses (IBCs) worldwide. Building on neo-institutional theory and organizational ecology, it sheds light on the new organizational form by analyzing their founding age of the home university and IBC mortality. Furthermore the paper analyzes the organizational form of home institutions that establish such an international branch abroad, in terms of size, age, ranking positions and range of disciplines, and peeks into an educational hub with a high density of international branch...

Profiling the Flagship University Model: An Exploratory Proposal for Changing the Paradigm From Ranking to Relevancy, by John Aubrey Douglass

John Aubrey Douglass
2014

It’s a familiar if not fully explained paradigm. A “World Class University” (WCU) is supposed to have highly ranked research output, a culture of excellence, great facilities, and a brand name that transcends national borders. But perhaps most importantly, the particular institution needs to sit in the upper echelons of one or more world rankings generated each year by non-profit and for-profit entities. That is the ultimate proof for many government ministers and for much of the global higher education community. Or is it? It is not that current rankings are not useful and...

International Berkeley: Enrolling International Students Yesterday and Today, Debates on the Benefits of Multicultural Diversity, and Macro Questions on Access and Equity by John Aubrey Douglass

John Aubrey Douglass
2014

The argument that cultural and other forms of diversity enhance the educational experience of all students is generally associated largely with post-1960 efforts to expand the presence of disadvantaged groups on the campuses of America’s universities and colleges. Yet, in the case of UC Berkeley, debates on the merits of cultural diversity have much earlier roots in the historical enrollment of international students. Debates in the late 1800s and early twentieth century revolved around the appropriateness of enrolling foreign students, particularly those from Asia. The result was an...

Back to the Future: Freshman Admissions at the University of California, 1994 to the Present and Beyond, by Saul Geiser

Saul Geiser
2014

The past five years have seen unprecedented changes in freshman admissions at the University of California, reflecting steep cuts in state funding that UC sustained during that period as well as changes in UC’s definition of who is eligible to enter the university. The number of California applicants who were not admitted to the UC system more than doubled between 2010 and 2012, although part of that increase also reflected a change in admissions policies and procedures. The number of “no shows” – applicants who were admitted but did not attend – increased...

SINO-AMERICAN JOINT PARTNERSHIPS: Why Some Succeed and Others Fail

Daniel J. Julius
Mitch Leventhal
2014

This article examines institutional and demographic variables associated with successful joint partnerships between US and Chinese institutions of higher education. Understanding those variables requires an appreciation of overarching issues or the catalysts bringing both nations together and, as well, how postsecondary environments differ and the implications of such differences for success. The authors do not assume complete alignment in the interests promoting cooperation between the U. S. and China, but a convergence of mutual interests. The paper discusses different operational...

EDUCATION AND EMPIRE: Colonial Universities in Mexico, India and the United States

Cristina González
Funie Hsu
2014

This article reviews the educational policies of Spain and England in their most emblematic colonies, Mexico and India, respectively, and compares them to those of the United States. Mexico and India share one important historical feature: both were colonies in which the native population greatly outnumbered European colonists and in which native cooperation was crucial to the colonial enterprise. In both cases, the European powers felt compelled to educate members of the native elites to conduct the business of empire for them. In contrast, the United States was a “white colony,” in...

THE RISE OF THINK TANKS IN CHINA AND THE UNITED STATES: Their Interactions with Universities

Cristina González
Xinpei Zhang
2014

China has recently disclosed a national strategy for enlisting universities to advise the government through campus-based think tanks that will engage in research for various ministries. This move might surprise some academics in the United States. A review of the history of American universities and think tanks, however, reveals complex relationships between these organizations and government that are not as dissimilar to those involving their Chinese counterparts as they might appear. In both countries, think tanks are institutions with a certain degree of formal independence whose...

CLARK KERR AND THE CALIFORNIAN MODEL OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Simon Marginson
2014

Fifty years on, Clark Kerr’s multiversity and the Californian Master Plan for Higher Education stand as signal high points in the building of not just great public institutions but high participation modern human society. Key features of the Californian Model have become a universal template for research universities and system design. Seminal ideas and practices of higher education developed by Clark Kerr, Martin Trow, Burton Clark and others continue to colonize the thinking of policy makers, scientists, scholars, students and citizens, with profound effects not just in the United...