Global perspectives: aligning agendas?

In recent years there has been a growth in interest amongst a number of universities in the UK and elsewhere in the world on reflecting upon the contribution of higher education to a global society and exploring ways to broaden the curriculum to enable students to make a positive contribution to the world as ‘global citizens’. This paper will suggest, using the UK as an example, that the policy context provides a favourable environment for such developments. However, policy documents often confuse rather than clarify precisely what needs to be addressed, despite their recognition that change is required. Students are increasingly demanding more opportunities to learn and reflect upon their role and contribution to global society and at the same time employers are seeking graduates who have a ‘broader world view’, who can manage across cultures, and who understand the need for sustainable development. Summarising the influences of these drivers, the paper proposes that through a framework of global perspectives developed at Bournemouth University in the UK, these agendas around internationalisation and sustainable development can contribute to better learning and enhance the broader work of the university.     

Tensions between the global and the local: A comparative illustration of the reorganisation of China's higher education in the 1950s and 1990s

The phenomena of internationalisation andglobalisation are becoming major domains ofcomparative educational enquiry. The relationshipbetween them has attracted increasing interest. Ideasof globalisation are implemented only under specificinstitutional conditions. Globalisation, which hasraised a range of important issues, offers newpossibilities and raises increasingly complex problemsfor educational researchers and policy-makers. Forexample, the interpenetration of the universal and theparticular is complicated and difficult, while notionsof economic globalisation also increasingly affecteducation. A comparative analysis of thereorganisation of China's higher education in the1950s and 1990s is conducted, to illustrate theemergence of local-global relations; this demonstrateshow universalising tendencies are articulated throughChina's particular framework in developing its highereducation system. It shows that while theglobalisation imperative is being imposed, it may alsocreate opportunities for institutions to resistcertain global trends in favour of local values.Through an illustration of China's struggle toreconcile the local and the global respectively in the1950s and the 1990s, this article stresses thetensions between globalisation andinternationalisation within the process of policyimplementation in China's higher education reforms.     

'Not for the likes of me': The overlapping effect of social class and gender factors in the decision made by adults not to participate in higher education

This paper, which includes data derived from two larger DfES and Scottish Executive funded studies, offers a consideration of working class gender norms as they pertain to the desire (or not) to attempt, and to successfully complete once attempted, a course of higher study in a British university. Consideration is given to attitudinal and behavioural norms for both sexes within the working class and an exploration is made of reasons for gender differentiated attitudes towards both studying itself and the capacity to successfully complete a course. For both males and females the capacity to be a 'good parent' was their first priority. However, males and females appeared to interpret the 'good parent' role differently. For males the ability to be an effective breadwinner was paramount, and any subsequent availability of paid work was often enough to trigger the desire to discontinue their studies. However, for females the desire to be an effective and visible role model for their communities was also important, and this acted as an encouragement (a 'pull') to them even in their worst moments of self-doubt. For a small number of females the 'push' factor of a significant (and often traumatic) 'life changing event', such as a divorce or a separation, acted as a 'push' towards learning. This is discussed in the light of Mezirow's 'perspective transformation' model.     

A Probe into the Internationalisation of Higher Education in the New Zealand Context

This paper presents a model of practice for analysing the internationalisation of higher education, and for better providing teaching service and support to both the internal and external other. It is derived from the theoretical analysis of the rationales, concepts and developments of the internationalisation of higher education, and from a New Zealand case study that exemplifies the current trend in the internationalisation of higher education—a shift from aid to trade. In the paper, the author examines the impacts of globalisation and the knowledge economy on the shifting currency of the rationales. The paper concludes that, because of increasing numbers of resident immigrant students, ‘the international (other)’ is no longer beyond national borders but is within them. Therefore, universities would do well to revisit neglected social and cultural dimensions in the provision of higher education services.     

The flow of international students from a macro perspective: a network analysis

This paper provides a network analysis of the international flow of students among 210 countries and the factors determining the structure of this flow. Among these factors, bilateral hyperlink connections between countries and the number of telephone minutes (communication variables) are the most important predictors of the flow’s structure, followed by trade, the physical distance between countries, a common border between countries and a common language between two countries. The USA is by far the most central country in the flow of international students, followed by China, the UK, France, Germany, Australia and India. These results are discussed in light of World-System Theory. Future research should examine how the network of international student flows changes over time and consider additional factors to provide a better understanding of the network as an international system.     

Issues surrounding English,the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity in Asia: a focus on Japan

The English language is significant to the internationalisation of higher education worldwide. Countries in Asia are proactive in appropriating English for their national interests, while paying attention to associated national cultural identity issues. This article examines the ways in which the role of English is interpreted and justified in different countries in Asia, with a particular focus on Japan, as these nations attempt to internationalise their higher education within the broader processes of regionalisation and globalisation and their own nationalist discourse. Through critical analyses and discussions of Japan's two major government initiatives, the Action Plan 2003 to ‘Cultivate Japanese with English Abilities’ and the ‘Global 30’ Project 2008, the article investigates how cultural national identities are shaped, are altered and are put ‘at risk’ in policies and practices for the internationalisation of higher education and the overemphasis on English. It argues for the importance of understanding the intersections of English language policy, the internationalisation of higher education and national cultural identity and also considers how the over-promotion of English in the case of Japan has been energetically driven by the nation building agenda that tends to undermine local languages and what this might mean for internationalisation.     

Openness and reform as dynamics for development: A case study of internationalisation at South China University of Technology

Universities worldwide now encounter fargreater challenges, and are subjected to anunprecedented level of external scrutiny. Thechange in governance ideology in the highereducation sector has altered the way in whichuniversities are managed, a phenomenonidentified by Slaughter and Leslie as academiccapitalism. This article examines how Chineseuniversities are responding to this phenomenonin their cultural complexity and socialcontexts, using South China University ofTechnology as an example. At the same time, theconcepts of globalisation andinternationalisation are taken as salientfeatures of our times, and are often mistakenlyused interchangeably. This article argues thatthey are fundamentally different, reflectingphenomena with different rationales, objectivesand effects. By presenting an analysis ofChina's internationalisation of highereducation through an in-depth case study thefindings of this study shed light on thegeneral current state of internationalisationin the mainstream of China's higher education,and underscores the idea that changesattributed to globalisation are modified andfashioned by the particular circumstances andchoices of local institutions. The studyvividly reveals how local circumstancescan be used to manage the global within thelocal. It reports how the selected casecontinues to develop in the context of markettransition and globalisation.     

Physical education’s grand convergence: Fitnessgram®, big-data and the digital commerce of children’s health

Fitnessgram® is a digital platform designed to help physical education teachers measure, record, disseminate and analyse the results of school-based student fitness testing. Despite important questions about the ethics, educational value and costs of Fitnessgram®, it is now widely used in the United States and is spreading to other countries. In this empirically investigative study, we draw on academic studies and commentary, media stories, government and funding body reports, press releases and advertisements to describe the emergence of Fitnessgram® and the convergence of factors that appear to guarantee the programme’s increasing ubiquity. We also discuss the various ways the data sets built by Fitnessgram® may reshape the practice and purpose of physical education as well how young people understand their own health in light of this. In the face of puzzling academic silence on the Fitnessgram® phenomena, this paper stimulates lines of critical academic enquiry about the financial self-interest, educational shortcomings and policy implications that its rise suggests.     

高等教育、国际化与民族国家

在 2 0世纪 90年代 ,国际化在高等教育政策讨论和研究领域都成为核心议题。与此相伴随的是欧洲高等教育的非国家化政策的出现 ,高等教育机构自身责任感的增强 ,管理主义的日益流行。关于高等教育在国际化与民族国家方面的作用历来有争议 ,本文通过比较欧洲大陆和盎格鲁 撒克逊国家的做法对高等教育的这一作用进行了探讨。国际化是对欧洲和德国高等教育的一种挑战 ,本文在评价其所带来的不同影响的同时 ,分析了欧盟和波伦尼亚进程的作用 ,以及德国高等教育国际化改革的原始推动作用。对复杂和充满活力的多层次欧洲高等教育国际化体系的进一步考察表明 ,它不仅使不断增加的跨国界活动日趋多样化 ,而且更为重要的是发生了实质性的变化 ,即出现了系统性的国际化政策 ,全球化高等教育市场的国际间合作和竞争意识也不断增强     

趋同与趋异:全球化背景下高等教育重点建设政策比较——以中国、韩国、日本三国为例

在全球化的背景下,中国、韩国、日本相继实施了高等教育重点建设政策,本文对三国的重点建设政策进行了比较,并对其中的趋同与趋异现象进行了分析。     

将留学生教育纳入高等教育国际化建设——谈清华大学留学生工作的若干问题与对策

本文从比较的角度看清华大学留学生教育与国外世界一流大学的差距,并尝试探讨其中可能存在的历史、政策和制度因素,并针对清华大学留学生招收、教学和管理中存在的不足和问题,提出将留学生教育纳入高等教育国际化进程的几点建议。     

Developing into similarity: global teacher education in the twenty‐first century

This article explains the process that is causing systems of teacher education in the EU, the USA and elsewhere to converge into a form of fewer qualitative distinctions. We argue that expansion brought about by processes familiar to globalisation is creating wide differences in the cost of information that incentivises use of standardised patterns for producing teachers. The logic of institutional expansion, like the logic of globalisation, operates as a uniting force across previously regarded nation‐state boundaries and cultural distinctions. This brief study identifies institutional scale and the division of information as key factors that link the interaction of institutions across markets and adds insight into the critically important issues surrounding the production of quality teachers.