Perspectives on Higher Education

Perspectives on

Higher Education

BOOK SERIES

It is widely recognised that higher education promotes social and economic development by

enhancing human and technical capabilities of society. Technical change and institutional change

are key components of development. Higher education plays an important role in facilitating these

changes by incorporating all of the various demographics of the population. In contemporary

lifelong-learning framework, higher education provides not only the high-level skills to address

labor market demand but also the training essential for skilled manpower. The higher education

expansion is a universal phenomenon in which there has been a great enhancement in the number

of students. The trend is more tangible in developing nations. With rise in the primary and

secondary education graduates, numerous aspire to keep on to acquire a degree. The real

incomes in developing countries have also been rising, resulting in higher education within the

reach of an increasing number of population segments.

Globalization has developed a powerful impact on the development of higher education and

imposes new challenges for the organization (standards, financing, regulations). Systems of

higher education tend to detach from the national models and adopt a more "global" orientation.

Private higher education institutions, once a trivial fragment of the higher education landscape,

have today occupied a substantial share of the market and have recognized themselves as

legitimate and viable stakeholders in the postsecondary education. Private Higher education is

expanding faster than the public sector. The growth of private sector incorporates the variety of

institutions and offerings the sector provides. Private higher education varies considerably in

forms, in status and in terms of reference for legislation.

The proliferation of the public or private institutions or both reflects mixed outcomes with regard to

accomplishment of increasing equity in terms of access to higher education. Enhancement in

access does not always address the equity issue. The issues of quality, governance and financing

present a diversified and heterogeneous landscape of tertiary education across nations.

The 'Perspectives on Higher Education' series aims to address all these issues in global context

and in comparative fashion to comprehend the various relevant perspectives of higher education

through contributions of leading scholars, planners and administrators. The editorial board of this

series welcomes proposals from leading academicians from different countries to publish edited

books on relevant areas of higher education, which could contribute to the knowledge and

understanding of tertiary education in a broader framework. All the contributions made by

individuals in this series are peer reviewed.

Series Editors

Glen Jones, University of Toronto, Canada

K.M. Joshi, M.K. Bhavnagar University, India

Marcelo Rabossi, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina

Stamelos Georgios, University of Patras, Greece

Saeed Paivandi, University of Lorraine, France