World Regionalization of Higher Education: Policy Proposals for International Organizations
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World Regionalization of Higher Education: Policy Proposals for International Organizations Ce´sar de Prado Yepes United Nations University, Comparative Regional Integration Studies, UNU-CRIS; Grootseminarie; Potterierei, 72, Bruges BE-8000, Belgium. E-mail: [email protected]
International organizations dealing with higher education should pay more attention to the rise of autonomous world regional processes and explore synergies. This article gives an overview of new macro-regional processes around the world. The European case is the most salient, but developments in America and East Asia are also noticeable. In the rest of the world there is potential for innovative regional schemes. The paper outlines policy recommendations to the main multilateral organizations concerned with higher education. It suggests that UNESCO should prioritize monitoring and coordination; that World Trade Organisation–General Agreement on Trade in Services acknowledge the benefit of open regional processes in higher education; and that the World Bank decentralize its work further to regional organizations. Higher Education Policy (2006) 19, 111–128. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300113 Keywords: higher education; new regionalism; international organizations; internationalization; globalization; multilevel governance
Introduction The governance of higher education has undergone rapid global changes in the past few years as governments of both developed and developing countries have began a re-regulatory drive in response to demands to make lifelong learning opportunities available to university students around the world (WTO, 1998; World Bank, 2002; UNESCO, 2003c). To adapt, universities and national systems are diversifying their financing, specializing in the type of content or mode of delivery, promoting evaluation and accreditation mechanisms, or fostering the mobility of students, faculty and staff, all with increasing international dimension. Nowadays a global multilevel governance system in which world regions are becoming important is emerging. This ‘new regionalism’ paradigm is a multidimensional form of integration, which includes economic, political, social and cultural aspects and thus goes far beyond the goal of creating regionbased free trade regimes or security alliances of earlier regional blocs. In
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addition, the new regionalism seeks to promote certain ‘world values’ where a coherent mixture of policies to promote security, economic and social development and ecological sustainability is in the long-term overall more beneficial than laissez-faire globalism (Hettne et al., 2001). Europe (europa.EU.int) is often seen as the paradigm of new regionalism. The European Union regional process, originating in the 1950s among six countries, has recently extended from 15 to 25 member states. In June 2004, its leaders proposed a Constitutional Treaty to rationalize its institutions and manage better its many internal and external prerogatives in broad political
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