Higher education worldwide and its future direction are neither simple nor straightforward topics, yet they are the focus of this volume. In higher education, where we are so often bound by the constraints of national thinking, a comparative perspective is especially valuable because academic institutions worldwide stem from common traditions, and the issues facing higher education around the world have many common characteristics.
With the purpose of providing such a comparative perspective, a distinguished groups of commentators from five continents were assembled to reflect on the current state of higher education and the prospect of its future evolution. The result is a thoughtful mix of context and perspective that will both advance our understanding of likely future scenarios for higher education and help us understand the basis for future trends principally.