Universities, International Elites and Knowledge Production: A Global History in the Making?

Abstract

Universities are central to the process of knowledge production and diffusion. Elite universities, moreover, have a crucial role in the selection, socialisation and reproduction of national and global elites. Interestingly, international relations scholars have yet to fully examine the role of the University as a powerful actor on the world stage. This panel explores this theme and investigates how universities and academic professionals who work in these institutions serve as agents of diffusion (across borders, across sectors) and respond to internal and external pressures to transmit knowledge and ‘bring ideas to the market’. This perspective is especially interesting in light of the current economic climate and is essential to making sense of the complex processes underpinning the consolidation of the Europe of Knowledge (i.e. these processes do not occur in isolation but in parallel with other regional developments). Academia has long served as the global bridge between diverse societies and cultures. Indeed, universities are enmeshed in what de Sola Pool refers to as the invisible college – a global intellectual network in which elite institutions serve as nodes. Given the ‘crisis’ context (past and present), to what extent has the international systems of higher education changed with respect to existing dominant patterns of diffusion of ideas and knowledge? Are the elite global universities today equally as, or even more, influential than in the past? Or have the budget cuts prevalent in the last few years at these institutions paved the way for newer and richer institutions to set the global agendas and influence prevailing political and social discourses? And how does variation in the safeguards associated with academic freedom such as tenure affect the ability of universities to serve as global agents of diffusion? To address these questions, this panel invites papers with strong theoretical perspective and rigorous empirical analysis.

Title	Details
Does Academic Freedom Globalise? The Diffusion of the American Model of Education the Academy and Academic Freedom	View Paper Details
Global University Rankings: Order, Power, and Rationality	View Paper Details
Resisting “Progress” in Higher Education in Latin America	View Paper Details
University Networks as New Global Actors: New Tools of Ideas and Knowledge Accumulation and Diffusion	View Paper Details