Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The changing discourse on higher education and the nation-state, 1960–2010

  • Published:
Higher Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This article examines changing ideas about the relationship between the nation-state and the university in international higher education development discourse through a quantitative content analysis of over 700 academic articles, conference proceedings and research reports published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It finds that since the 1990s, emphasis on the private sector grows, the nation-state’s role shifts from one of manpower planning to strategic planning, and higher education is increasingly expected to promote standardized development goals and economic competitiveness in the global arena. However, it also finds that the role of the nation-state does not disappear—although no longer portrayed as the primary funder and provider of higher education, the nation-state is imbued with important regulatory functions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. Because English is an official language of UNESCO, the vast majority of all documents were either originally written or translated into English. The sample of documents was also culled to exclude surveys of higher education institutions, which would artificially inflate mentions of the word “university.”

  2. Word count analyses were limited to words with six letters or more to eliminate prepositions and verbs.

References

  • Altbach, P. G., & Knight, J. (2007). The Internationalization of higher education: Motivations and realities. Journal of Studies in International Education, 11(3–4), 290–305.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barnett, N. M., & Finnemore, M. (1999). The Politics, power, and pathologies of international organizations. International Organization, 53(4), 699–732.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barrows, L. (2000). Internationalization of higher education: An institutional perspective. Bucharest, Romania: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bartlett, L., Frederick, Marla, Gulbrandsen, Thaddeus, & Murillo, Enrique. (2002). The marketization of education: Public schools for private ends. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 33(1), 5–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bernheim, T., & Chaui, M. (2003). challenges of the University in the knowledge society, five years after the world conference on higher education occasional (Vol. Paper Series Paper No. 4). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjarnason, S., Kai-Ming, C., Fielden, J., Lemaitre, M. J., Levy, D., & Varghese, N. V. (2009). A new dynamic: Private higher education. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boli, J., Ramirez, F. O., & Meyer, J. W. (1985). Explaining the origins and expansion of mass education. Comparative Education Review, 29(2), 145–170.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burn, B., Altbach, P., Kerr, C., & Perkins, J. (1971). Higher education in nine countries: A comparative study of colleges and universities abroad. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carnoy, M., Hallak, J., & Caillods, F. (1999). Globalization and educational reform: What planners need to know. Paris: UNESCO IIEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chabbott, C. (2003). Constructing education for development: International organizations and education for all. New York: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B. (1986). The higher education system: Academic organization in cross-national perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Colclough, C. (1996). Education and the market: Which parts of the neoliberal solution are correct? World Development, 24(4), 589–610.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coombs, P., & Hallak, J. (1972). Educational cost analysis in action: Case studies for planners (Vol. 1). Paris: UNESCO IIEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dale, R. (2005). Globalisation, knowledge economy and comparative education. Comparative Education, 41(2), 117–149.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Douglass, J. (2009). The Race for Human Capital. In J. A. Douglass, C. J. King, & I. Feller (Eds.), Globalization’s muse: universities and higher education systems in a changing world (pp. 45–66). Berkeley: Berkeley Public Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Drancourt, M. (2009). The new dynamics of higher education: from development to sustainable development (reinventing Progress). Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Finnemore, M. (1996). Norms, culture, and world politics: insights from sociology’s institutionalism. International Organization, 50(2), 325–347.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heyneman, Stephen. (2003). The history and problems in the making of education policy at the World Bank 1960–2000. International Journal of Educational Development, 23(3), 315–337.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, B. (2004). The economics and politics of cost sharing in higher education: Comparative perspectives. Economics of Education Review, 23(4), 403–410.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kosmützky, A., & Nokkala, T. (2014). Challenges and trends in comparative higher education: An editorial. Higher Education, 67(4), 369–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krücken, G., & Drori, G. S. (Eds.). (2009). World society: the writings of John W. Meyer: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Krücken, G. A., Kosmutzky, A., & Torka, M. (Eds.). (2007). Towards a multiversity? Universities between global trends and national traditions. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kuzhabekova, A., Hendel, D. D., & Chapman, D. W. (2015). Mapping global research on international higher education. Research in Higher Education, 56(8), 861–882.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lamtey, A. (1994). Financing higher education in Africa: A marketing perspective (Vol. Report number 5). Dakar, Senegal: UNESCO Regional Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lussier, I., Lauwerys, J., & Kuenen, D. J. (1966). Brazil: advisory mission on development of higher education Paris. France: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynch, K. (2006). Neo-liberalism and marketization: The implications for higher education. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 1–17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W. (2000). Globalization sources and effects on national states and societies. International Sociology, 15(2), 233–248.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W. (2010). World society, institutional theories, and the actor. Annual Review of Sociology, 36, 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., & Bromley, P. (2013). The worldwide expansion of “organization”. Sociological Theory, 31(4), 366–389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., Boli, J., Thomas, G. M., & Ramirez, F. O. (1997). World society and the nation‐state. American Journal of Sociology, 103(1), 144–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Meyer, J. W., Ramirez, F. O., Frank, D. J., & Schofer, E. (2008). “Higher Education as an Institution”. In P. Gumport (Ed), Sociology of higher education: Contributions and their contexts (187–220).

  • Mundy, Karen. (1999). Educational multilateralism in a changing world order: UNESCO and the limits of the possible. International Journal Of Educational Development, 19(1), 27–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundy, K., & Menashy, F. (2012). The World Bank and the private provision of K-12 education: History, policies, practices. London: Open Society Foundation. (Working paper).

    Google Scholar 

  • Netherlands Economic Institute Rotterdam. (1962). The financing of higher education in Africa. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neuendorf, K. (2002). The content analysis guidebook. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Onushkin V. (1969). “Some Problems in the Planning of Higher Education in the USSR”. Report 39 in the Fundamentals of Educational Planning. Paris, France: UNESCO IIEP.

  • Ramirez, F. (2006). Growing commonalities and persistent differences in higher education: universities between global models and national legacies. In H. D. Meyer & B. Rowan (Eds.), The New Institutionalism in Education (pp. 123–142).

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez, F., & Tiplic, D. (2014). In pursuit of excellence? Discursive patterns in European higher education research. Higher Education, 67(4), 439–455.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rhoades, G., & Slaughter, S. (2004). Academic capitalism in the new economy: Challenges and choices. American Academic, 1(1), 37–59.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sanyal, B., Case, J., Dow, P., & Jackman, M. (1976). Higher education and the labour market in Zambia: Expectations and performance. Paris: UNESCO IIEP.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schofer, E., & Meyer, J. W. (2005). The worldwide expansion of higher education in the twentieth century. American Sociological Review, 70(6), 898–920.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shahjahan, R. A., & Kezar, A. J. (2013). Beyond the “National Container”: Addressing methodological nationalism in higher education research. Educational Researcher, 42(1), 20–29.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sikwibele, A. (2007). The contribution of higher education to national education systems: The case of Zambia. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Cantwell, B. (2012). Transatlantic moves to the market: The United States and the European Union. Higher Education, 63(5), 583–606.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1997). Academic capitalism: Politics, policies, and the entrepreneurial university. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state, and higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Strang, D., & Meyer, J. W. (1993). Institutional conditions for diffusion. Theory and Society, 22(4), 487–511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stromquist, N. (2002). Education in a globalized world: The connectivity of economic power, technology, and knowledge. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1964). Reform and Development of higher education in Europe France, the Netherlands and Poland. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1967). Access to higher education in relation to the present and foreseeable requirements of the development of the community. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1996). Higher education in the 21st century: A student perspective. Paris: UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO. (1998). Beirut declaration on higher education in the Arab states for the XXIST century. Beirut: UNESCO Regional Office.

    Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO (2003). “Higher Education and Globalization: Promoting Quality and Access to the Knowledge Society as a Means for Sustainable Development”. Draft Resolution: 32C/COM.II/DR.1. Paris, France: United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

  • UNESCO-CEPES. (2009). 100 voices a decade of inspiration and achievements in higher education. Bucharest, Romania: UNESCO-CEPES.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodhall M. (1969). Financing Students in Higher Education; Educational, Social and Economic Implications of Alternative Methods of Finance. Report Number 42, The Fundamentals of Educational Planning Lecture Discussion Series. Paris, France: UNESCO IIEP.

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Francisco Ramirez, John Meyer, Mark Ginsburg, Julia Lerch and two anonymous reviewers for thoughtful feedback on earlier drafts.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of International and Transcultural Studies, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA

    Elizabeth S. Buckner

Authors
  1. Elizabeth S. Buckner
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth S. Buckner.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Buckner, E.S. The changing discourse on higher education and the nation-state, 1960–2010. High Educ 74, 473–489 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0056-2

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-016-0056-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation