The increasing connection among higher education institutions worldwide is well documented. What is less understood is how this connectivity is enacted and manifested on specific levels of the global education network. This book details the planning process of a multi-institutional program in engineering between institutions in the US and Singapore as they develop a new model of collaboration. Contrary to what neoliberal or center-to-periphery narratives of globalization might lead us to expect, strong national and local governments, culture, and social relationships all play determining roles in the negotiations and resulting form of collaboration between these higher education institutions. Shifting Tides in Global Higher Education illuminates the value of examining particular places, incorporating diverse local experience into the narrative of global networks.
«Mary Allison Witt brings to life 'the global network of higher education' - not as a facile neoliberal given, but as social facts that are made and negotiated institution by institution. 'Shifting Tides in Global Higher Education' takes us inside a single partnership between two universities, one in Singapore, the other in the US Midwest. While the cry of global educational isomorphism might lead us to see nothing but the workings of American hegemony, Witt's fine-grained analysis introduces the often fragile processes through which both universities adopted 'shared codes of communication' to navigate conflicting organizational structures and institutional cultures. This book is a must-read for all those interested in how 'global' education is lived locally.» (Nancy Abelmann, Harry E. Preble Professor, Anthropology, Asian American Studies, East Asian Languages & Cultures; Associate Vice Chancellor for Research, Humanities, Arts, and Related Fields, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
«'Shifting Tides in Global Higher Education' provides one of the very few case studies of how cross-border collaboration actually works.» (Philip Altbach, Monan University Professor, Boston College)
«Mary Allison Witt's engaging account of the cooperation between a research university in the American Midwest and a research institution in Singapore addresses an important part of the emerging network of global knowledge society. The internationalization of higher education is a vital chapter in unfolding twenty-first century globalization.» (Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies and Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara)
«'Shifting Tides in Global Higher Education' provides one of the very few case studies of how cross-border collaboration actually works.» (Philip Altbach, Monan University Professor, Boston College)
«Mary Allison Witt's engaging account of the cooperation between a research university in the American Midwest and a research institution in Singapore addresses an important part of the emerging network of global knowledge society. The internationalization of higher education is a vital chapter in unfolding twenty-first century globalization.» (Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Mellichamp Professor of Global Studies and Sociology, University of California, Santa Barbara)