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2005-2006 Higher Education in the 21st Century: Global Challenge and National Response
2005-2006 NCS Group
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| Welcome |
Institutions of higher education
will play a central role in addressing
the challenges of the 21st Century.
They are crucial for the development
of knowledge-based economies and for
thriving civil societies. Their roles
in leadership training and in educating
growing proportions of the population
in the skills needed for complex,
modern societies are essential. They
provide research and analysis for
addressing problems and opportunities
in both the private and public sectors.
In the cross currents of globalization,
they are one of the most important
points of contact between the national
and the international environments.
Their global networks establish a
platform for cooperation among nations
and their citizens. The existence
of viable institutions of higher education
is a requirement of any modern democratic
society.
Yet, higher education faces significant
challenges throughout the world. Enrollment
growth has created gigantic institutions
unable to serve individual students
well and has led to bureaucratically
complex academic systems. This expansion,
plus a changing view of the role of
higher education, has led to financial
problems everywhere. As societies
increasingly view higher education
more as a private than as a public
good, government funding has been
decreased and individuals have been
asked to pay more of the cost of higher
education-creating problems for access
and social equity.
Research, always an important role
of higher education, continually grows
more expensive. Such trends as the
rapidly growing number of private
institutions of higher education and
the interlinking of academic institutions
and systems across borders influence
the development of higher education.
Understanding these major issues and
finding ways to effectively address
them in different national settings
require cross cultural analysis and
international attention.
The Fulbright New Century Scholars
Program provides an ideal vehicle
for this kind of examination by bringing
together a diverse group of scholars
and educational leaders to address
the topic in national and international
settings. The premise of their work
is that we must understand the context
of change if we are to develop constructive
ways for contemporary institutions
to cope with the realities of the
21st century. The collaborative work
of scholars in both industrialized
nations and in developing countries
that focuses on common problems is
a promising approach precisely because
higher education institutions are
by their nature international and
links among academic institutions
worldwide are essential. |
| NCS Distinguished Leader |
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Philip G. Altbach is J. Donald
Monan, SJ professor of higher education
and Director of the Center for International
Higher Education in the Lynch School
of Education at Boston College. He
has been a senior associate of the
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement
of Teaching, and served as editor
of the Review of Higher Education and as an editor of Educational
Policy. Currently, he is editor
of Greenwood Studies in Higher Education
and the RoutledgeFalmer Dissertation
Series on Higher Education.
Dr. Altbach holds the B. A., M. A.
and Ph.D. degrees from the University
of Chicago and has taught at the University
of Wisconsin-Madison and the State
University of New York at Buffalo,
where he directed the Comparative
Education Center, and chaired the
Department of Educational Organization,
Administration and Policy. Dr. Altbach
has been a Fulbright Scholar in India,
Malaysia and Singapore, an Onwell
Fellow at the University of Hong Kong
and is a Guest Professor at the Institute
of Higher Education at Peking University
in the Peoples Republic of China.
Dr. Altbach has published widely
on higher education, comparative education,
and on publishing and knowledge distribution.
Among his books are The International
Academic Profession: Portraits from
14 Countries, International Higher
Education: An Encyclopedia, Comparative
Higher Education, The Knowledge Context:
Comparative Perspectives on the Distribution
of Knowledge, American Higher Education
in the 21st Century, Scientific Development
and Higher Education in Newly Industrializing
Countries, Comparative Education,
Student Politics in America, and
others. His books have been translated
into German, Japanese, Chinese, Indonesian,
Turkish, and Spanish. |
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| NCS Scholars, Midterm Meeting, Mexico. |
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NCS Scholars Lori Leonard and Seggane Musisi during first Global Health Summer Course Meeting.
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| Conferences & Workshops Calendar |
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