Comparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. Marked by connectivity, our contemporary era vastly increases the (potential) diffusion of ideas essential for scientific advance. Three interlocking trends emphasise the growing relevance of comparative educational research. Firstly, "competition" has become more potent -- among scholars, their organisations, and within as across countries. Secondly, educational studies, as science more generally, are increasingly conducted in "collaboration" -- across disciplinary, cultural, linguistic, and organisational boundaries -- enhancing the potential for discovery while producing influential scholarship. Thirdly, while educational research and policymaking are increasingly "comparative," comparative knowledge stores are often only selectively used. To counter such reductionism, in-depth comparative institutional analysis across divides of academy, politics, and practice remain crucial. The multidisciplinary field must claim its relevance more persuasively, even as scholarly exchange, mobilities, and cultural knowledge endure as vital foundations.