The Scale and Scope of Higher Education

Abstract

Higher education has grown in scale exponentially throughout the twentieth century generating a wicked problem where success is itself a driver of potential failure for some models of the university. The scope of university education is increasingly global and influenced by political and economic forces of globalisation. Trade in educational services is a significant contributor to the operations of universities and is an important driver of national policies and strategies for economic, political and social growth and influence. The changing place of China is examined, and their growing influence and power are identified. The impact of scale on higher education is described by Trow’s model of élite, mass and universal education which is used throughout the book as a sense-giving tool with cues framing the impact of changing access to higher education, the shifting role of faculty and their relationships with students and other stakeholders, changing managerial and leadership structures and models, and the operation of regulatory and funding regimes.