Higher Education - from Global trends to Local realities

We live in the age of globalisation. But what does this mean, and what are the implications for universities? As we see accelerations in the movement of people, resources and ideas, universities are caught up in globalisation and also contribute to the process itself. At one level it is possible to discern worldwide trends around an increase in the numbers of students and then graduates, how this and research are funded, and how universities are managed. Universities and university sectors are becoming more similar in some ways but it would be a mistake to think that they are (or will ever be) identical. ‘Below’ the global, we have the regional, national, and local dimensions, and each of these is crucial in considering what life for – and in – universities might be like. The structure of this chapter is as follows. Firstly, it will look at globalisation as a phenomenon before considering how it relates to higher education, which involves an outline of global shifts in university policy. Dynamics at the regional level will then be considered before we examine how these trends play out in practice in Germany and England. This will provide the background against which we can delve a little deeper into what it might be like to be a student in each country. The answer is, of course, the same but different