Michele Rostan

Massimiliano Vaira

Excellence in higher education is as old as university, but nowadays the concept is widely emphasized and its meaning has been redefined on the basis of different values and goals, especially those related to market. Excellence has become the meter on which institutions are assessed and public funding allocated, the tool by which worldwide comparisons and rankings of institutions are built, and a marketable brand used by higher education institutions to present themselves. This book offers an international and comparative view on excellence in higher education, ranging from policies to practices, mainly based on research results and empirical evidence, aiming at questioning the concept and its uses which are not only social constructions but also political ones. Far from being a neutral or technical concept, excellence is heavily infused with values which must be traced, analysed and made critical to understand its impacts, backlashes and unintended outcomes on higher education systems, institutions, academics and students. The book is addressed to an international audience and in particular to higher education scholars and professionals. Those who are involved in higher education assessment, members of professional bodies and organizations in the higher education field, students in education, but also policy makers and the public opinion at large will profit from the works of a selected group of scholars coming from a variety of countries. A sense of disquietude seems ever present when discussing new digital practices. The transformations incurred through these can be profound, troublesome in nature and far-reaching. Moral panics remain readily available.

Questioning Excellence in Higher Education

Futao Huang

Martin Finkelstein

This volume provides a nuanced empirical assessment of the extent to which the academic profession is internationalized at the beginning of the 21st century. It indicates which are the most internationalized academic activities, and focuses on specific topics such as physical mobility for study or professional purposes, teaching abroad or in another language, research collaboration with foreign colleagues, and publication and dissemination outside one’s native country or in another language. It places the main theme in the wider context of the history of higher education’s internationalization. It provides explanations on what drives and deters academics from international activity, and documents some of the consequences that internationalization has on academic work and productivity. This study is based on a survey of 25,000 academics working at higher education institutions in 18 countries and Hong Kong on five continents. Comparing data from the 1992 Carnegie International study to the 2007 CAP survey, relying on respondents’ perceptions of change, and comparing different academic generations, it offers valuable insights on changes in the internationalization of the academy.

Michele Rostan

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