Comparative Analysis of Higher Education

• In Event: The Challenges of Comparative Education

Proposal

This paper addresses three roles that universities have performed throughout history: (1) serve the interest of the state (2) contribute to emancipation and social change (3) participate in the global education market. The status of global higher education development is outlined in terms of international policy efforts and as reported in comparative data on higher education collected by international organizations. Drawing on examples of the three roles of higher education, the discussion considers questions that pertain to the quality of higher education and its purposes in the context of professional integrity issues and ethical frameworks. The paper concludes that arguing that growing diversity in higher education in terms of both providers and participants represent an opportunity for a better understanding of how higher education institutions can develop—specifically, to better fulfill their roles in societies that face demographic, environmental, economic, social, technological, and political change. Comparative education research plays an important role in contributing to the knowledge base on which universities stand to respond to the challenges of the 21st century.

Author

• Daniel Schugurensky, Arizona State University