Abstract
The author argues that greater attention should be paid to different levels of authority in the study of globalization and higher education, especially the understructure or disciplinary units. Using Marginson and Rhoades' concept of ‘Glonacal,’ he argues that universities operate on local, national, and global dimensions, but also that the orientation towards these dimensions may be quite different depending on the level of authority within the higher education system. He proposes a global higher education matrix that focuses on the orientation of different levels of authority to each of the glonacal dimensions. This matrix might provide a useful framework for studying the complex, multi-layered interactions and inter-relationships associated with globalization and internationalization.
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Notes
For example, the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Shanghai Jiao University rankings.
Based on the 2007 ranking of the Academic Ranking of World Universities Project, Shanghai Jiao University, available at http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/rank/2007/ARWU2007_Top100.htm. The undergraduate enrolment at each of the top five institutions was obtained from institutional and other reference websites.
At some institutions there are multiple levels of international partnerships and initiatives. For example, the university may be involved in a range of international organizations and have partnership arrangements with peer institutions. Local units may also be involved in international organizations, or have a separate set of partnership arrangements with international peers. For example, the University of Toronto is now a member of the World Universities Network, and the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto is a member of an international alliance of research-intensive faculties of education. These international connections co-exist at multiple levels of the higher education system.
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Acknowledgements
An earlier version of this paper was presented at the World Universities Network seminar entitled ‘Realizing the Global University’, London, 14–15 November 2007. The author is grateful for the feedback that was provided by seminar participants.
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Jones, G. Can Provincial Universities be Global Institutions? Rethinking the Institution as the Unit of Analysis in the Study of Globalization and Higher Education. High Educ Policy 21, 457–468 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.17
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.17