Globalizing Practices and University Responses: European and Anglo-American Differences (review)

While much has been written about globalization in recent years, comparative studies about the impact of globalizing practices are few in number. In a field dominated by anecdotal reports, single-case studies and normative statements, this book is a comparative and empirical investigation into what many perceive as the horror scenario of the emerging globalization of higher education—the "trend towards uniformity and homogeneity" of universities around the world (p. 3). The authors question this scenario by asking if a world market does not also create regional, national, and niche markets and subsequent processes of particularization and differentiation.

For their investigation, they selected four universities in four countries (the United States, France, The Netherlands, and Norway) as case studies, using structured interviews to identify any changes experienced by the academic and administrative staff at the universities in five areas identified as vulnerable to globalized practices: governance, accountability, funding, marketization, and the use of new technologies. These five areas also give structure to the book in that each area is discussed and analysed in a separate chapter before a more comprehensive conclusion is reached.

The findings show that, even if globalizing practices have emerged at all the four universities, the effects at the department and individual level are far from uniformity and homogenization. For example, when analyzing changes in governance, the authors find a "difference between formal rules and daily practice" (p. 110). Regarding accountability and the increasing evaluation of higher education, the authors find it "striking that most mechanisms would be categorized as soft measures" (p. 137), awhile, when it comes to the use of new technology, the universities have developed "statements of principle, general policy documents, [and] the creation of small experimental units, but no interference" (p. 183). It is therefore not surprising that the authors conclude: "Changes on the shop floor level have normally been less penetrating than at other levels" and "the dynamics of higher education show still a huge variety in patterns and cultures" (pp. 193-194).

The book is convincing in that it delivers a well-written and careful argument on how globalizing practices are translated to fit national and institutional characteristics. A separate chapter identifies the traditions, challenges, and developments in the higher education systems in the four countries; thus, the study is not only a comparative study of higher education institutions but also provides the reader with a good understanding of the significance of context when undertaking cross-country comparative analysis.

However, although the study is a thorough empirical investigation of the impact of globalizing practices in higher education, it suffers somewhat from a rather vague theoretical perspective supporting the skepticism concerning uniformity and homogenization. The reason seems to be a wish to distance the study from the often vague and high-flying theories surrounding globalization processes, but the result is that the reader is often left with many questions about why the universities respond to or resist pressures for change and is given little guidance in how to interpret the reported findings more theoretically.

This problem also appears in the dimension referred to in the book's subtitle: European and Anglo-American differences. The book clearly identifies such differences but provides the reader with few ideas on how to explain them. A more developed theoretical discussion in the concluding chapter, rather than just reproducing numerous quotations from their informants, for example, could have been a valuable exercise in developing sounder theories about issues of globalization in higher education. As it stands, the book concludes by offering two rather broad and general scenarios about the future of universities in a more globalized world—Scenario 1: Adjust or disappear; Scenario 2: Resist and survive. These options seem too simplified to serve as starting points for further research in this field...