The Transnational Politics of Higher Education

This edited volume introduces readers to the relationship between higher education and transnational politics. It aims to show how higher education is a significant arena for domestic political struggles as well as regional and international transformation. Our starting point is that the political science literature on globalisation and inter-state relations largely neglects the study of higher education and its role in polity transformation.

The proliferation of Western branch campuses and joint ventures is mirrored in the growing number of indigenous institutions teaching curricula very similar to ones originally developed in American and European universities. What are the causes and impacts of this transformation? Could we observe similarities in objectives, institutional set-ups, and approaches from higher education institutions across the different world regions? Indeed, are developments in European universities comparable with those in the Middle East, Asia, Africa or Latin America? Do they aim to achieve the same or different ends? To what extent are historical legacies important in this transformation process? And what are the potential effects of these developments on the current structure of international political order?

To address these questions this edited volume focusses on the developments in the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe. These contributions draw on the experiences of transformation of higher education around the world to develop diverse perspectives on how the international relations of higher education are organised and rapidly being re-organised across time.

This book will be among the first to wrestle with the question of how we can understand the political role of higher education and the political force of universities in the realm of international relations from a multi-disciplinary perspective.