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Is There a Future for Higher Education Institutions in the Knowledge Society?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2012

John Brennan
John Brennan
Affiliation:
Open University Business School, Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes, MK7 6AA, UK. Email: john.brennan45@gmail.com
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Abstract

The paper considers the growing diversity of higher education systems and institutions by exploring three main trends of expansion, differentiation and globalisation together with linked features concerning new forms of governance and more responsive relationships with other social institutions. At the heart of this expansion and differentiation are a number of tensions concerning the role of modern higher education systems: to do with balancing autonomy and responsiveness, reproductive and transformative functions, public and private benefits, economic and broader socio-political agendas. The paper goes on to ask whether future knowledge societies will continue to need separate institutions of ‘higher’ education and, if the answer is yes, what form these will take.

Type
Focus: Knowledge Management in Contemporary Europe
Information
European Review , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , 30 March 2012 , pp. 195 - 202
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2012

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