Do we understand how the forces of globalisation affect higher education?

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Commentary, Marijk van der Wende asks what steering mechanisms would allow the two seemingly conflicting aims of global excellence and national relevance within an open higher education system to combine? Simon Marginson says a hard Brexit would constitute serious threats to the viability and global competitiveness of UK universities and much will depend on whether the government can maintain the UK and its universities as internationally engaged and open. Stamenka Uvalić-Trumbić and Sir John Daniel hail the DeTao Masters Academy in China as a pioneer in the development of innovation in higher education, but question its scalability. David Santandreu Calonge says massive open online courses or MOOCs have been hailed for increasing access to higher education, but they may in fact be amplifying educational divides, as many would-be students in developing countries remain excluded. And Ayenachew A Woldegiyorgis highlights the serious challenge Ethiopia faces in simultaneously expanding access to higher education and improving the quality of the education delivered.
   In our World Blog, Patrick Blessinger, Barbara Cozza and Milton Cox examine some of the principles of effective faculty learning communities, a peer-led self-organising form of continual professional development which seeks to transform teaching and learning practices.
   In Features this week, Jalal Bounouar reports that a rise in the number of foreign African students seeking to study in Morocco is largely the result of proactive government policy.
   Finally, in the second part of a Special Report covering the 14th Association of African Universities General Conference and Golden Jubilee Celebrations, Sharon Dell and Ard Jongsma report on a significant milestone in the harmonisation of higher education in Africa, while Damtew Teferra writes about a new higher education cluster created to realise the implementation of the Continental Education Strategy for Africa. More...