Globalisation and Higher Education: Challenges for the 21st Century

Abstract

The article argues that the challenges facing higher education in the new millennium cannot be understood unless proper account is taken of the phenomenon of globalisation. Two points are emphasised. The first is that globalisation cannot simply be seen as a higher form of internationalisation; it is a much more turbulent phenomenon that not only transcends but ignores national boundaries. The second is that globalisation is one element within a larger shift from modernity to post-modernity, which involves not only the radical reconfguration of society but also an even more radical reconstitution of the concepts and mentalities of the modern world. The university is caught in the middle - as both an institution that embodies modernity but also one of the instrument that is most actively transcending its limits. The article ends by considering whether the university can survive in this brave new world of globalization and post modernity or whether its place will be taken by new forms of `knowledge' organisation. It concludes that, although the new environment will test the resilience of the university to its limits, it can - and will - survive.