The roles of international organizations (IOs) in globalizing higher education policy (original) (raw)

Uncovering the images and meanings of international organizations (IOs) in higher education research

Employing Stuart Hall’s concept of representation, we examine how international organizations (IOs) are presented in the higher education literature. This paper examines how IOs, such as the World Bank, OECD, and UNESCO, are conceptualized and represented by higher education researchers. We focus on three main representations of IOs in the higher education literature: 1) Forces for convergence; 2) Mechanisms of influence; and 3) Dynamic networks. The purpose of the article is to identify analytical frameworks used to understand IOs in higher education in order to open up new concepts of IOs in the higher education literature. We will argue that new images of IOs are necessary to grasp the complexity of actors and processes used by IOs to create (and influence) higher education policy.

International Organizations and Transmission of Global Higher Education Trends

This study examines how the World Bank (WB) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) have involved in shaping Nepalese Higher Education (HE) through transmitting globally dominant Higher Education issues to Nepal. For this, it looks at the role and influencing mechanisms of the WB and UNESCO through the analysis of their activities. The analysis includes the activities particularly concerned with the following topics: equity and access, quality assurance and accreditations, financial sustainability, knowledge sharing across borders, information communication and technology (ICT) in HE, and institutional autonomy which are a few among other issues of recent trends in global HE. The study adopts qualitative case study research design. The data collected through document analysis and qualitative semi-structured interviews have been analyzed based on the analytical framework drawn from Shahjahan (2012) and Dale (1999), which deal with the role of international organizations in globalizing higher education policy and the mechanisms of external influence in education normally related to their activities respectively. The finding indicates that the World Bank and UNESCO have played the significant roles as ‘discursive forces, networkers and coordinators’ to promote globally dominant higher education ideas in Nepal. Similarly, the study has also explored the impacts (imposition, harmonization, dissemination, standardization and installing interdependence) that are linked to the activities of the World Bank and UNESCO. Overall, the study has concluded that the national higher education system has the opportunity to align with the broad global dynamics in higher education in association with the World Bank in particular and UNESCO in general. Key Words: Global Higher Education, Internationalization, Globalization, International Organizations, World Bank, UNESCO

GLOBALISATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION POLICIES: MULTIDISCIPLINARY INSIGHTS

This article contributes to the integration of political science knowledge with higher education science knowledge in order to define the globalisation of public policies in the field of higher education policy. The conceptualisation is based on a review of the literature as well as an analysis of articles published in the period 1999 to 2016 in two leading scientific journals in the field of higher education science (Higher Education and the Journal of Studies in International Education). This multidisciplinary collaboration has proved to be useful not only in conceptualising the glo-balisation of HE public policies but also in terms of offering new venues for multidisciplinary and inter-disciplinary research into globalised public policies.

Global Higher Education Trends and National Policies

The literature on education and globalization states that patterns of higher education systems tend toward international convergence, and that trends such as massification, privatization and internationalization are observable in nations with different degrees of development around the world. Neo-institutionalism and world systems theory differ on whether focus should be given to international convergence or domestic adaptation. Studies addressing historical and contextual dimensions of policy diffusion are relevant as they will further specify the nature of the extranational effects on national policies. The case of Argentina's national higher education policy is particularly relevant to this literature due to political and academic traditions that have inhibited the diffusion of many global trends into the country. This study offers a comparative historical analysis of the issues that have been prioritized in Argentina's higher education policy over three decades , the strategies employed by higher education actors, and the socioeconomic and political factors that led to unique manifestations there of global trends, such as massification, privatization, and internationalization. The paper shows how Argentina's system became massified without privatization, why privatization failed to reach the levels of other Latin American countries, and how an internationalization strategy via regionalization was a means to lockdown domestic reforms.

Globalization and Higher Education from Theory to Action

2009

Understanding the complex concept of “globalization” and its impact on higher education systems, which is often conceptualized in higher education systems as “Internationalization of Universities”, needs to be exanimated in its historical route which constitutes the first section of this article. Then, to develop the theoretical concepts in an action domain, my study re-examines the impacts of this phenomenon on higher education systems in developed and developing countries, and also on some of the action plans recommended by a number of well-known international institutions. Finally, to present more local and applicable findings, a pathological meta-analysis approach is used to discuss the situation of Iranian higher education in international context. This comparative study was done using two main approaches to globalization which distinguish knowledge society from information society. The findings based on international comparative study suggest a gap between theory and action in...

Higher education gone global: Introduction to the special issue

Learning and Teaching, 2012

In order to prosper as a so-called knowledge society in a global economy, countries worldwide are increasingly emphasising the need to internationalise their higher education institutions and attract the best and brightest students and staff from abroad. This article explores the shifting rationales for internationalisation and how today, based on novel forms of comparability and exchange, a new and highly stratifi ed arena for higher education is developing. By focusing on the conferences and fairs where actors negotiate and position higher education on various scales, not least a global one, the article introduces the core themes of this special issue and presents one possible context for the following articles.