EPS 538: Globalization of Higher Education
Instructors: Richard Herman and Allison Witt
Fall 2014: Mondays 6-8pm
A recent article in the Economist suggests that higher education is suffering from Baumol's disease with the implications that the present model is unsustainable. Enter MOOCs and blended learning. Indeed the use of technology in higher education is commanding great attention both for cost cutting purposes as well as the need to serve a burgeoning population worldwide with varying needs.
Yet it is hard to think of an aspect of higher education that is more dynamic than the international frame. Several decades ago “internationalization" of the academy was largely restricted to a relatively small flow of students across international borders and occasional, albeit important, forays of institutions to establish themselves outside of their own borders. Indeed our own University had, at the early part of the 20th century, reached out to China in what proved to be a profound and long lasting educational relation and in the middle part of the last century helped to establish one of India's IITs. But even in the 1990s, academics felt that internationalization of universities was little understood or engaged in. Not so now. Global higher education is not only with us but it is nearly impossible to be an effective part of higher education administration whether in student affairs or an academic dean's office without some understanding of the globalized academy. Yes, the World of the Academy is Increasingly Flat.
In this course we intend to touch on a number of issues. The US is no longer immune to international pressures in education. Although still a destination country for students from abroad, the US faces increasing competition from other nations and efforts by nations to grow their own higher education enterprise to address the needs of a burgeoning middle class and more generally local economic needs. Here the word enterprise is deliberately chosen as the cross border flow of students has become big business, falling under the General Agreement on Trade and Services. We shall examine the flow, seeing that exchanges often "respect" first world, third world status. This raises questions of global obligation of the richer nations. Such obligations have often played out through organizations such as the World Bank and the OECD, sometimes , but not always, to the benefit of nations. There is a startling complexity to these activities and higher education in many nations is not the engine of social mobility that many of us would have hoped.
Of course, US higher education has come under increasing criticism for not living up to its vaunted reputation. We shall also look at efforts by universities to establish themselves abroad. Just how does an institution do this and what are the necessary considerations? For example, New York University has most recently come under fire for allowing abuse of workers engaged in constructing their campus in Dubai. What are the implications of establishing an institution of higher education in a country with very different cultural values?
We look forward to engaging the rapidly changing face of higher education and the interplay among nations and hope you will join us in this journey.
