World Class Universities : A Contested Concept

This open access book focuses on the dimensions of the discourse of 'The World Class University', its alleged characteristics, and its policy expressions. It offers a broad overview of the historical background and current trajectory of the world-class-university construct. It also deepens the theoretical discussion, and points a way forward out of present impasses resulting from the pervasive use and abuse of the notion of "world-class" and related terms in the discourse of quality assessment. The book includes approaches and results from fields of inquiry not otherwise prominent in Higher Education studies, including philosophy and media studies, as well as sociology, anthropology, educational theory. The growing impact of global rankings and their strategic use in the restructuring of higher education systems to increase global competitiveness has led to a ‘reputation race’ and the emergence of the global discourse of world class universities. The discourse of world class universities has rapid uptake in East Asian countries, with China recently refining its strategy. This book provides insights into this process and its future development.

1 Welcome to the World Class University: Introduction.- Part I What''s in a Word?.- 2 Disorderly Identities: University rankings and the re-ordering of the academic mind.- 3 Becoming World Class: What it means and what it does.- 4 Three Notions of the Global.- Part II World-Class Around the World.- 5 The Kafkaesque Pursuit of ''World Class'': Audit culture and the reputational arms race in academia.- 6 Complicit Reproductions in the Global South: Courting world class universities and global rankings.- 7 Realizing the World Class University: Litigation and the state.- 8 World Class at All Costs.- 9 The Paradox of the Global University.- Part III Playing the World-Class Numbers Game.- 10 World Class Universities, Rankings and the Global Space of International Students.- 11 What Counts as World Class? Global University Rankings and Shifts in Institutional Strategies.- 12 The State Role in Excellent University Policies in the Era of Globalization: The case of China.- Part IV The Future of World-Class Universities.- 13 The Marketingisation of Higher Education.- 14 Contesting the Neoliberal Discourse of the World Class University: ''Digital Socialism'', Openness and Academic Publishing.- 15 Spaces of Life: Transgressions in Conceptualising the World Class University.- 16 Realising the World-Class University: An Ecological Approach.