Higher Education and the Nation-State: Global Pressures on Educational Institutions (CPP RPS 4/2007)

Abstract

The two dimensions of the state in transition under the influence of globalization are changes in the welfare state and changes in the nation-state. And both dimensions of the state are closely linked to higher education, especially to its elite segment, the institution of the university: which — in Europe — has been mostly state-funded as part of the well-developed post-war Keynesian welfare state apparatus, and which has been closely related to the modern construct of the nation-state. We are developing here the theme of the modern contract between the nation-state and the university and trying to see how the processes of globalization — via affecting the state — affect the public sector in general, and public universities in particular. Global pressures on both institutions are discussed, following a historical detour showing the modern link between them. The discussion of the global transformations of the public sector is then followed by tentative conclusions.