Goals and purposes of higher education in the 21st century

Based on a workshop held by the Academia Europaea, this collection draws together essays by a number of prominent writers in the field of higher education research. Taking as its central theme the direction in which national (and international) higher education systems are moving as we approach the 21st century, the book contains both assessments of specific higher education systems and analyses of cross-national trends. It tackles such issues as higher education training, quality assessment and university autonomy, unified/binary higher education systems, confronting changes in the socioeconomic structure, and higher education in an ageing society. The book will be of interest to all those who are concerned with the future of higher education in times of rapid change.