Higher Education in Europe and the United States of America: A Diverse Collection of Essays

This is an assembling of papers presented at conferences in the Netherlands, France, Belgium, Portugal, Canada, Norway, Sweden, Germany, and the United States. They analyze such topics as structure; corporatization of universities; changing boundaries between public and private higher education legitimacy and crisis; role of academic leaders and university trustees; economic development; impact of universities on the community; and the political and social impact of universities.

The essays constitute a fairly comprehensive international review of major issues now confronting universities. They represent the view that this may well be a qualitative change in the long history of universities and that the interplay between society and university may be more intricate and mutually affective than ever before. Universities will increasingly be altered by developments in the economics, sociology, and politics of society. The modes of recent history as well as comparative analysis are utilized. This work is appropriate for higher education researchers, sociologists, political scientists, and economists.