13 February 2015, University of Sheffield

Higher education research:global, national local?

Simon MarginsonUCL Institute of Education

Global, national and local agency: the

three dimensions of higher education• Higher education is formed and regulated in national

(and also in Europe pan-national regional) systems• Local individual and institutional agency is salient• Global flows, systems and patterns, e.g. in research

science, policy borrowing, are increasingly obvious

global

national

local

GTER World and North America/Western Europe, 1970-2012

Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio 1995/2011

Selected OECD and European systems, UNESCO Institute for Statistics data 2014

Gross Tertiary Enrolment Ratio 1995/2011

World regions, UNESCO Institute for Statistics data 2014

The global dimension:

1. Global systems (e.g. research knowledge, student mobility) not

controlled by any one nation and shaping all national HE systems to some extent

2. Cross-border relations between national systems that also bring inner changes

(e.g. policy borrowing)

Components of a national innovation system

51 countries with 1000 science papers a yearUS National Science Foundation data for 2011

ANGLO-SPHERE

EUROPE EU NATIONS

EUROPENON-EU

ASIA LATIN AMERICA

Australia Austria Italy Croatia* China Argentina

Canada Belgium Netherlands Norway India Brazil

N. Zealand Czech Rep. Poland Russia Japan Chile*

UK Denmark Portugal* Serbia* Malaysia* Mexico

USA Finland Romania* Switzerland Pakistan* M.EAST /AF

France Slovakia Turkey Singapore Iran

Germany Slovenia* Ukraine South Korea Israel

Greece Sweden Taiwan Saudi Arab.*

Hungary Spain Thailand* Sth. Africa

Ireland Sweden Egypt

Tunisia*

* Reached 1000 papers since 1997 (11 out of 51 nations)

Journal papers published per year, 1997-2011, USA, China & UK

4.5 million foreign tertiary students, 2012:

share of on-shore world market by nation

(OECD data)

Students enrolled outside their country of citizenship, millions,

1975-2012OECD data, 2014

Percentage 25-34 year olds with degrees, 2012

OECD data 2014. Data for Tertiary type B not available for all countries

Barriers to mobility: Advantage held by 20-34 year olds with tertiary-

educated parents, 2012For example in Poland, a 20-34 year old person with at least one tertiary-educated parent is 9.5 times as likely to participate in tertiary education, as a person whose parents had less than upper secondary education. Data: OECD

Top ten school systems OECD PISA 2012

(mean student scores, East Asian education systems in red)Reading Mathematics Science

Shanghai China 570 Shanghai China 613 Shanghai China 580

Hong Kong SAR 545 Singapore 573 Hong Kong SAR 555

Singapore 542 Hong Kong SAR 561 Singapore 551

Japan 538 Taiwan 560 Japan 547

South Korea 536 South Korea 554 Finland 545

Finland 524 Macao SAR 538 Estonia 541

Taiwan 523 Japan 536 South Korea 538

Canada 523 Liechtenstein 535 Vietnam 528

Ireland 523 Switzerland 531 Poland 526

Poland 518 Netherlands 523 Liechtenstein 525

Vietnam 508 Vietnam 511 Canada 525

UK 499 UK 494 UK 514

USA 498 USA 481 USA 497

PISA performance at top and bottom

Chichen Itza

One kind of civilisation: The Maya

Observatory, Chichen Itza

Uxmal

Palenque

Another kind of civilisation

things change

The higher education world: Global, national, local

local

global

national