Summarizing Reflections

The proceedings of the UNESCO-CEPES Jubilee International Conference, 6-8 September 2002, are summarized by its rapporteur, who begins by commenting that many questions were answered but that few definitive answers could be given. The questions and discussions, in fact, centered on two fundamental questions: "How can international cohesion be achieved without also reducing diversity?", and "How can collateral damage to local higher education systems be avoided?", and elicited responses from a representative sampling of protagonists and stakeholders. The answers--for the short term--that were provided reveal the dynamic nature of higher education and prove that it is a "highly productive ecosystem".