ERIC Number: EJ813033
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 19
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1056-4934
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Global Integration Policies versus Institutional Dynamics of Higher Education
Doh, Pascal S.
European Education, v40 n1 p78-96 Spr 2008
This paper examines the implications of one of the most recent integration trends in higher education, the Bologna process. The Bologna process can be understood as a sustained, broad-scale initiative among institutions of higher education and national governments to respond to the forces of globalization (Kalvermark and Van der Wende 1997). The basis for analyzing the challenges of integrating higher education systems in this paper is a case study of the higher education integration in Cameroon (Doh 2007). Cameroon is located between West and Central Africa. Due to its mixed French and British colonial past, it has developed a bicultural educational system. To facilitate interactions and coordination between two cultural subsystems, there has been a constant need to harmonize their various aspects. The bicultural higher education system has also reflected the general integration policy whereby the institutions of higher education are seen as vehicles of cultural integration between the French and British Cameroons. This paper analyzes how integration policies have been carried out in universities. Implications of the policy goals (such as mobility) for institutions of higher education in the case study are deemed to reflect similar globalization challenges faced by higher education institutions at a broader level. The first part of the paper examines some of the rationales for explaining the dynamics of globalization, followed by a discussion of lessons drawn from the case study on the institutional challenges that the cultural integration in the processes pose to higher education. (Contains 3 notes.)
Descriptors: Higher Education, Global Approach, Foreign Countries, Educational Policy, Educational Trends, Trend Analysis, Case Studies, Biculturalism, Social Integration, Foreign Policy
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Cameroon
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A