Policy Context

Abstract

It is frequently asserted within the academic literature that education policy-making has undergone a fundamental change over recent decades. This argument has two particular strands: firstly, that policy is no longer determined at the level of the nation-state, but by a number of highly influential transnational organizations; and, secondly, that economic imperatives have come to outweigh all others. This is articulated clearly in a recent paper by Montsios (2009), who contends that ‘we are experiencing not only the transnationalisation of education policymaking but also the full submission of education to the pursuits of the global economy’ (p.471). In this analysis, the ‘internationalization’ of HE (including the increasing mobility of students in pursuit of a degree) is seen as a direct consequence of these changes. Indeed, Cantwell and Maldonado-Maldonado (2009) claim that ‘a general consensus has emerged whereby globalization is understood as an inevitable, downward pressing social, economic and political force and internationalization is the process of institutions responding to globalization’ (p.289).