29 & 30 August, 2007
UNU Center, Tokyo
UNU Center, Tokyo
A Copernican change has taken place with regard to the position of higher education institutions (HEIs). No longer do national systems of higher education lend prestige to their constituent parts, the institutions. Rather, the opposite is true: it is the internationally acknowledged qualities of individual institutions which lend prestige to the national systems they belong to.
Increasingly the institutions find themselves in a position from where they have to both compete and cooperate internationally. They have to prepare their students, increasingly, for globalizing labor markets. Their campuses are becoming increasingly international.
HEIs are also increasingly growing into international platforms for dialog, platforms for opening, analyzing and exchanging new ideas. The globalizing knowledge society also brings into focus new themes in education and research: ICT, bio- and nano-technology; ethics and values; aging and migration; issues of cultural diversity, dialog and integration; climate change and sustainable development; and disarmament, reconciliation and peace building among others.
Globalization also creates major opportunities for broader understanding, exchange of knowledge, cooperation to advance teaching, research, and service to society at an ever faster pace.