Global Contexts of Higher Education

In his 2008 bestseller, "The Post-American World," Fareed Zakaria argued that the most significant development of the early 21st century is not, as others have predicted, the inevitable decline of the United States as the world's super-power but rather "the rise of the rest." In subsequent works, Zakaria and many others, including leading economists and statisticians, have focused on those countries that best exemplify the gradual unfolding of a multi-polar world. Economists are especially interested in "emerging markets," mostly countries with large populations where consumption of all kinds of goods is on the rise and where legal frameworks and cooperative governments provide incentives or at least protection for investors. Major emerging-market countries such as China, Brazil, and Nigeria differ greatly from one another, of course, but they also share important characteristics. One of these is the emphasis on improving access to education for their citizens. With regard to postsecondary education, almost without exception leaders of those countries profess their commitment to enhance both capacity and quality. This belief is so widely held and so often articulated that sometimes it comes across as dogma. Across the globe, several trends are converging in ways that seem to open unprecedented opportunities for American colleges and universities to expand their influence and to increase their resources. And indeed, hundreds of American colleges and universities are recruiting foreign students, forming global or regional partnerships, and establishing programs and campuses abroad. This article examines these convergent trends. (Contains 17 resources.)