The Geopolitics of Higher Education

LW Chapters and other contributions, Missions & Responsibilities


Yves Flückiger and Stéphane Berthet

Today, Higher Education Institutions are not only globalized but also globalizing entities. This evolution has gradually formed over the last three decades, changing profoundly the world landscape of academic institutions, which has become a competitive market.Academic globalization most often refers to the increasing openness of universities to exchanges, student and researcher mobility, the multiplica-tion of strategic partnerships and the harmonization of curricula and degrees. This globalizing dynamic takes place in very diverse contexts from eco-nomic, social and historical points of view. What common characteristics exist today between the major classical research universities in the Top 100 of the Shanghai ranking and a university located in a developing country that has to manage large numbers of students and where research activities are often non-existent? In addition, the gap between those different univer-sities tends to widen since globalization increases the dynamics of inequality and reinforces the logic of competition.