Higher Education Relevance in the 21st Century - World Bank

19717

October 1998

Higher Education Relevance in the 21st Century

MichaelGibbons

EDUCATNZON

T HE

WOK

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BA N K

Higher Education Relevance in the 21st Century

by Michael Gibbons

SECRETARY GENERAL ASSOCIATION OF COMMONWEALTHUNIVERSITIES

The preparation of this paper was supportedby the World Bank as part of its contribution to the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, held in Paris, France on October 5-9, 1998. Thejudgments made herein do not reflect the views of the Bank's Board of Executive Directors or of the governments they represent.

Higher Education Relevance in the 21st Century TABLEOF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

Some Basic Assumptions ......

1.....................................I

Analytical Framework ......

3.....................................3

The Emergence of a New Mode of Knowledge Production ...................................... 3

Disciplinary Structures - Mode 1............................................

4

Changing Research Practices: Mode I and Mode 2 ............................................ 4

Some Attributes of Knowledge Production in Mode 2 ............................................ 6

Knowledge Produced in the Context of Application ............................................ 6

Transdisciplinarity............................................

7

Heterogeneity and Organisational Diversity .................

........................... 8

Social Accountability and Reflexivity ...........................................

8

Quality Control ...........................................

9

2. The Changing "Dynamicsof Relevance"for Higher Education

10

Massification of Higher Education and Research.....................................

11

Pattems of Massification in Higher Education.....................................

14

Diversificationof Functions.....................................

14

Social profile of Student Populations.....................................

14

Education for the Professions.....................................

14

Tensions Between Teaching and Research...................................

15

Growth of Problem-OrientedResearch ...................................

15

Decline of Primary Knowledge Production ...................................

15

Broadeningof Accountability ...................................

15

Technology for Teaching ...................................

16

Multiple Sources of Funding for Higher Education...................................

16

Efficiency and the Bureaucratic Ethos ...................................

16

Consequences for Mass Access ...................................

16

Collegiality, Managerialism and the Fragmentation of Knowledge .................... ..........1. 8

Globalisation and International Competitiveness ............................... ................ 20

Problem-Solvingand Access to SpecialisedKnowledge ..........................................22

Network Firms, R&D Alliances, and Enterprise Webs .............................................22

Two Levels of Competition ...............................................

24

The SpecialImportance of Producer Services. ............................................... 25

Transition to the Knowledge Industries ...............................................

28

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