Globalization Universities and Issues of Sustainable Human Development

by Jean Larson Pyle, Robert Forrant

This volume raises an important question: given the fast changing global economy and the challenges it presents, what is the role for the university as an institution promoting sustainable human development? The answer is that, as an institution, it can play an important role in promoting sustainable human development in the context of globalization, particularly in developing countries. The contributors to this book begin by outlining the changes associated with the recent wave of globalization, particularly transformations in the relative power of institutions internationally, and analyzes the constraints universities face in industrialized and developing countries in promoting sustainable human development. It examines the effects of the increased market focus of the world economy on several types of nations - low-income (Jamaica), transition (Slovenia), peripheral to industrialized nations (Ireland) - and on women, a typically disadvantaged group. The second half of the volume provides a variety of perspectives and concrete examples that highlight the roles universities can play in fostering development beneficial to communities and nations. Promising initiatives in Malaysia and India and at an American university are discussed as well as the general lessons each offers.

296 pages, Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2002