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Implausible Dream : The World-Class University and Repurposing Higher Education / James H. Mittelman.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2017]Copyright date: ©2018Description: 1 online resource (288 p.) : 4 line illus. 2 tablesContent type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691165189
  • 9781400888085
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 378/.01 23
LOC classification:
  • LB2322.2 .M57 2018eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations and Tables -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Abreviations -- A Note on Terminology -- INTRODUCTION: Questions and Arguments -- PART I. GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE GOVERNANCE -- CHAPTER 1. A Crisis of Purpose -- CHAPTER 2. Contending Purposes of Modern Universities -- CHAPTER 3. Drivers of Reform -- PART II. CASE STUDIES -- CHAPTER 4. The Neoliberal Model: The United States -- CHAPTER 5. A Social Democratic Path: Finland -- CHAPTER 6. Postcolonial Experience: Uganda -- PART III. OUTCOMES -- CHAPTER 7. Polymorphism -- CHAPTER 8. Plausible Alternatives -- Index
Summary: Why the paradigm of the world-class university is an implausible dream for most institutions of higher educationUniversities have become major actors on the global stage. Yet, as they strive to be "world-class," institutions of higher education are shifting away from their core missions of cultivating democratic citizenship, fostering critical thinking, and safeguarding academic freedom. In the contest to raise their national and global profiles, universities are embracing a new form of utilitarianism, one that favors market power over academic values. In this book, James Mittelman explains why the world-class university is an implausible dream for most institutions and proposes viable alternatives that can help universities thrive in today's competitive global environment.Mittelman traces how the scale, reach, and impact of higher-education institutions expanded exponentially in the post-World War II era, and how the market-led educational model became widespread. Drawing on his own groundbreaking fieldwork, he offers three case studies-the United States, which exemplifies market-oriented educational globalization; Finland, representative of the strong public sphere; and Uganda, a postcolonial country with a historically public but now increasingly private university system. Mittelman shows that the "world-class" paradigm is untenable for all but a small group of wealthy, research-intensive universities, primarily in the global North. Nevertheless, institutions without substantial material resources and in far different contexts continue to aspire to world-class stature.An urgent wake-up call, Implausible Dream argues that universities are repurposing at the peril of their high principles and recommends structural reforms that are more practical than the unrealistic worldwide measures of excellence prevalent today.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400888085

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Illustrations and Tables -- Preface and Acknowledgments -- Abreviations -- A Note on Terminology -- INTRODUCTION: Questions and Arguments -- PART I. GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE GOVERNANCE -- CHAPTER 1. A Crisis of Purpose -- CHAPTER 2. Contending Purposes of Modern Universities -- CHAPTER 3. Drivers of Reform -- PART II. CASE STUDIES -- CHAPTER 4. The Neoliberal Model: The United States -- CHAPTER 5. A Social Democratic Path: Finland -- CHAPTER 6. Postcolonial Experience: Uganda -- PART III. OUTCOMES -- CHAPTER 7. Polymorphism -- CHAPTER 8. Plausible Alternatives -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Why the paradigm of the world-class university is an implausible dream for most institutions of higher educationUniversities have become major actors on the global stage. Yet, as they strive to be "world-class," institutions of higher education are shifting away from their core missions of cultivating democratic citizenship, fostering critical thinking, and safeguarding academic freedom. In the contest to raise their national and global profiles, universities are embracing a new form of utilitarianism, one that favors market power over academic values. In this book, James Mittelman explains why the world-class university is an implausible dream for most institutions and proposes viable alternatives that can help universities thrive in today's competitive global environment.Mittelman traces how the scale, reach, and impact of higher-education institutions expanded exponentially in the post-World War II era, and how the market-led educational model became widespread. Drawing on his own groundbreaking fieldwork, he offers three case studies-the United States, which exemplifies market-oriented educational globalization; Finland, representative of the strong public sphere; and Uganda, a postcolonial country with a historically public but now increasingly private university system. Mittelman shows that the "world-class" paradigm is untenable for all but a small group of wealthy, research-intensive universities, primarily in the global North. Nevertheless, institutions without substantial material resources and in far different contexts continue to aspire to world-class stature.An urgent wake-up call, Implausible Dream argues that universities are repurposing at the peril of their high principles and recommends structural reforms that are more practical than the unrealistic worldwide measures of excellence prevalent today.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 27. Sep 2021)