The Challenge Of Establishing World Class Universities

Governments are becoming increasingly aware of the important contribution that high performance universities make to competitiveness and economic growth. This book explores what are the challenges involved in setting up globally competitive universities, also called "elite," or "flagship" universities.

This book examines the experience of 11 universities in nine countries around the world that have grappled with the challenge of building successful research institutions in difficult circumstances and outlines key lessons of from this experience.

Leadership for World-Class Universities reveals how "world-class" thinking and policy can help university leaders employ modern solutions to the challenges facing higher education today. Readers will benefit from best practice advice offered by distinguished international contributors who have excelled by thinking globally without losing sight of their respective national and local environments. Their essays are grounded in empirical research and written to engage the reader, stimulate reflection and enhance performance. This book focuses especially on developing and middle-income countries, which face special problems where higher education is expanding most rapidly. Key themes include: strategic planning governance of academic institutions the role of the academic profession fundraising student access and equity the impact of globalization Leadership for World-Class Universities is a valuable resource for senior university administrators. At the heart of this volume is a focus on how academic leaders can work towards resolving the complex issues facing universities today.

Within higher education, world-class universities are commonly regarded as elite research universities and play a critical role in developing a nation’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. An increasing number of countries, regions and higher education institutions in different parts of the world have joined the same battle for academic excellence. While emerging countries and their universities make every effort to enhance their capacity and boost their research performance, the academic superpowers endeavour to maintain - if not further improve- their global positions. “Building World-Class Universities: Different Approaches to a Shared Goal” intends to provide an in-depth picture of different approaches in pursuit of the shared goal of developing academic excellence, and to reflect the current trends in this field. Divided into three parts, the book covers: • building world-class universities from a national/regional perspective, • managing world-class universities from an institutional perspective, and • measuring world-class universities from a ranking/indicator perspective. This book not only represents a contribution to the ongoing discussion on the topic of building world-class universities, but can be seen as a continuation of the previous three volumes on this topic - “World-Class Universities and Ranking: Aiming beyond Status”, “The World-Class University as Part of a New Higher Education Paradigm: From Institutional Qualities to Systemic Excellence”, and “Paths to a World-Class University: Lessons from Practices and Experiences”. All four books will be useful readings for students and academics in higher education generally, in addition to policy makers and informed practioners.d practitioners

Nations with strong research universities are better able to compete in the international marketplace of ideas and innovation. Any country—especially in the developing world—striving to participate in the global knowledge economy must recognize the power of such institutions to transform society. In World Class Worldwide, analysts from developing and middle-income countries in Asia and Latin America explore their countries’ specific challenges in providing “world class” higher education. Philip G. Altbach, Jorge Balán, and their contributors combine current scholarship and practical experience in presenting a comprehensive discussion of the significant issues facing research universities in Mexico, China, India, and elsewhere. They address the special challenges of establishing and maintaining these institutions; the role of information technology; how research universities train leaders and foster scientific innovation; and the extent to which the private sector can and should be involved in funding and development.

This book provides the first academically rigorous description and critical analysis of the Higher Education system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and of the vision, strategies and policy imperatives for the future development of Saudi universities. The government of Saudi Arabia has recognized in both policy and practice the necessity of developing its university system to world-class standard. Significantly increasing access and participation in Higher Education across a range of traditional and non-traditional disciplines is directly relevant to the future social and economic growth of the country. This book addresses the way in which Saudi Arabia is moving to develop a quality university system that balances the need for students to gain the knowledge, skills and ‘ways of doing’ necessary to operate effectively on the world stage while simultaneously maintaining and demonstrating the fundamental values of the Islamic religion and culture. The book provides a description and critical analysis of the key components of the Saudi Higher Education system, and of system-level responses to the challenges and opportunities facing Saudi universities. It is written by a team of Saudi academics and authors of international standing from non-Saudi universities so as to provide both internal and external perspectives on all issues and to place information and ideas in the context of the international Higher Education scene.

"The concept of world-class universities (WCU) has increasingly gained popularity in the past two decades around the world. WCU are regarded as cornerstone institutions of any academic system and imperative to develop a nation’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. The development of such universities is high on the policy agenda of various stakeholders worldwide, in both developed and developing countries and regions, and at both national and institutional levels, to promote their global competitiveness.Visibility and performance are among the most watched concepts in relation to develop WCUs, but remain complicated in nature and with no agreed upon definitions. Existing literature have focused on how to raise universities’ prestige, status, impact and rankings in the global and regional arena on the one hand, and how to enhance universities’ quality, efficiency, effectiveness and academic output on the other. However, whether visibility is a legitimate indicator of performance, or vice versa, is yet to be answered.Matching Visibility and Performance: A Standing Challenge for World-Class Universities provides insights of developing academic excellence from global, national and institutional perspectives, and intends to stimulate discussion on how universities can be ‘globally visible and locally engaged’ and how visibility and performance can be integrated and balanced in practice."

The growing impact of university rankings on public policy and on students choices has stirred controversy worldwide. This unique volume brings together the architects of university rankings and their critics to debate the uses and misuses of existing rankings. With voices from five continents, it provides a comprehensive overview of current thinking on the subject and sets out alternative approaches and complementary tools for a new era of transparent and informed use of higher education ranking tables.