Rethinking Education in a Changing World: Emerging Issues and Critical Insights

Abstract

In light of ongoing political upheavals around the world and the narrowing views of international higher education within mercenary and nationalistic terms, this chapter highlights the exigency for developing bolder, more multidimensional, and visionary frameworks. We ask questions that go beyond the economic and political framework in which international higher education is increasingly thought of and advanced. What does it mean, for instance, for prestigious “world-class” universities to consider their position as “global leaders” in higher education or even leaders in certain disciplines of knowledge internationally? Does that invite or challenge the institutions to bear certain responsibilities toward the world of education or areas of it, toward the people who trust the institutions’ “global” positions and prestige, toward the students who come to their gates with that trust? What responsibilities does any institution participating in the “internationalization” of higher education bear toward being accessible for students in war-torn nations in far-away places, to students who are politically displaced and economically unable to pay for “international education”? What professional, ethical, and humanistic obligations do the “international scholars” have toward students across political borders and economic stratifications who aspire to pursue their dreams to learn, regardless of their political status? We address these questions while exploring a variety of issues, urging scholars to take on intellectual and ethical responsibilities of diversifying the discourse about international education, so they may influence practice accordingly.