Reclaiming Public Universities: Comparative Reflections for Reforms

Description

This book explores the nature of public universities and higher education reforms in emerging economies, with a focus on India, South Africa and Brazil. Drawing on context-based case studies, the essays in the volume highlight the state of public universities amongst the developing world with their shared colonial past and social, caste and race inequalities. Based on comparative and multidisciplinary studies, the book provides a critical account of the policy reforms and changes on account of globalization and markets in higher education in public universities of the Global South regions. The chapters also compare methodological approaches to university reform and restructuring of public universities and higher education systems in USA, Australia, the European Union and India, and examine the California model, the Bologna process, the Melbourne model, the University of Delhi reforms, and engage critically with the New Public Management inspired reform policies. The book further lays the groundwork for understanding 'massification' in a contextual way, and the possibilities for expansion of scale of mass higher education through public provision. With its empirical findings and social theory analyses by global experts, the volume will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of education, higher education, sociology and social anthropology, development studies, public policy and administration, politics, political economy, and Global South studies. It will also be useful to educationists, policymakers and civil society organizations. Cover Endorsement Page Half Title Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of illustrations List of abbreviations List of contributors Preface and acknowledgments Introduction: Reclaiming public universities: Comparative reflections for reforms Part I Globalization and reforms in local arenas: Adaptation, crisis, and contests Chapter 1 Globalization in the United States: The case of California Chapter 2 Academic challenges and solutions in higher education: An Australian perspective Chapter 3 Understanding the European higher education area: The impact of the Bologna Process Chapter 4 Crisis and reforms in higher education in India: Some conceptual and methodological reflections Chapter 5 Decolonization of higher education: Opportunities and challenges of reclaiming the public university in the South African context Part II The Indian public university: Discursive policy terrains and diverging mission Chapter 6 Knowledge, power, and autonomy: Policy contestations in Indian public universities Chapter 7 The Indian Institutes of Technology: A sociology of knowledge perspective Chapter 8 Managing a university in transition: Opportunities and challenges Chapter 9 Quest for excellence in Indian higher education: Negotiating the trade-off between autonomy and accountability Chapter 10 Recovering the ‘public voice’: Defining quality in higher education in India Chapter 11 Comparative perspectives on systems of higher education in the US and India Part III Persisting inequalities Chapter 12 Stratification in Brazilian higher education Chapter 13 Race-based affirmative action in Brazil’s higher education Chapter 14 What is at stake when reforming educational pathways?: Theoretical reflections from South Africa Chapter 15 Radical shifts in undergraduate education in India: Concerns and challenges Conclusion: Reclaiming the ‘public’: reflections from reforms and universities Index