Comparative and International Higher Education

Education 870 is designed to examine the issue of higher education from the international and comparative perspective. Students majoring in any aspect of higher education, plan to engage in aspects of global education or wish to make their careers in international business, and others who have the desire to explore the world of ideas of higher in general may find the course exciting and useful. The course deals on issues of policy, governance, curricula, admission, graduation, and means of finance from comparative perspectives. The issues of political and cultural imperatives as the relate to the development of education will be examined.

The course will examine the various traditions of higher education within the Western and non-Western traditions, highlighting the points that are different and similar and examining why some modes of higher education were persistent and triumphant in adjusting to changing challenges while others remain resistant to change and the consequences of these. It highlights the various stages in structure and concept evolvement of universities; modes of transfer of ideas, models, and traditions from one society or region to another; the processes of transaction between societies and the universities, and emergence of aspects of unique institutional characteristics as a result of cultural, economics, and societal demands and realities. Comparisons will be made along the lines of policy and criteria of student admission, graduation, curricula, governance, sources of finance, and criteria of reward (or punishment) of the professoriate across international lines.

Suggested work plans

Comprehensive bibliography

Course texts

Course outline of events

The instructor: Teshome G. Wagaw