Democracy and higher education are inextricably linked: universities not only have the ability to be key arbiters of how democracy is advanced, but they also need to reflect democratic values in their practices, objectives, and goals. Framed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing crisis of structural racism, "Higher Education for…

Background/Context: Developing countries desire institutions ranked as "world-class," and want to increase postsecondary participation. Limited public monies require decisions that usually augment the welfare of one objective at the expense of another. An additional conundrum concerns the need for quality assurances. Research needs to be…

Higher education is going through as significant a change as at any time in the last century. Recommendations about how to resolve these issues have been offered by numerous government commissions, think tanks and foundations. A seldom used approach is to look back to consider what others have said and suggested in previous eras. The author…

The plight of nations labeled as "failed" is well-documented, as are suggested strategies to fix them. One area that receives a great deal of focus in the extant literature is education. How can education contribute to the rebuilding of a failed State? Most often the responses to this question focus on the importance of reestablishing primary and…

In this paper, we examine the current state of educational research through the framework of "use-inspired" knowledge. Previous discussions regarding the nature of educational research have disproportionately focused on the soft/applied nature of knowledge in the discipline or a need for methodological priority. After acknowledging these…

Throughout the 20th century, academic freedom was a foundational value for the academy in the United States. The concept of academic freedom pertains to the right of faculty to enjoy considerable autonomy in their research and teaching. The assumption that drives academic freedom is that the country benefits when faculty are able to search for…

Over the last several years the author conducted 126 interviews and held four focus groups with academic staff, administrators and others associated with Australian universities, about the problems and challenges they believed faced the system of tertiary education. Widespread concern and pessimism pervaded the interviews about the future of…