Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Changing Role of Higher Education (Heritage)

As it enters the twenty-first century, the University of Toronto, like other major institutions of higher education, faces a world more interconnected than ever before and a world in which knowledge, creativity, and innovation are the essential elements of thriving societies. Universities have always been keepers and creators of knowledge. They have sought to prepare new generations with the skills, cultural and scientific literacy, flexibility, and capacity for critical inquiry and moral choice necessary to make their own contributions to society. They are well placed, therefore, to respond to the new challenges of educating their graduates for participation in a rapidly changing global economy, and more broadly, for citizenship, not only of their home nations and communities, but of the world. To consider how universities in the twenty-first century can fully rise to these challenges, the University of Toronto hosted an important symposium entitled 'Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Changing Role of Higher Education.' The symposium was held from 30 October to 1 November 2002, as part of the univesity's celebrations to mark its 175th anniversary (King's College, later to become the University of Toronto, was granted its charter by King George IV in 1827. The symposium brought together recognized experts in higher education, senior officials from universities and government, and representatives of international agencies from North America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. Near the end of the Second World War, in a study entitled, 'The Endless Frontier,' the father of the modern research university, Vannevar Bush, stated: 'New products and new processes do not appear full grown. Contents 5 Foreword: The Role of the University and Basic Research in the New Economy 9 Acknowledgments 17 Introduction 19 Section 1. New Pressures, New Roles: The Changing Context for Higher Education 39 1. Raising the Pressure: Globalization and the Need for Higher Education Reform 39 2. The Opportunities and Threats of Globalization 60 3. Universities in the New Global Economy: Actors or Spectators? 74 4. Universities, Women, and the Dialogue among Civilizations 85 5. The Future of Higher Education in the Knowledge-Driven, Global Economy of the Twenty-first Century 99 Section 2. Strengthening Nations, Regions, and Cities: Higher Education and Society 119 6. Democratizing Knowledge: Higher Education and Good Governance 119 7. Reflections on the Difficulty of Balancing the University’s Economic and Non-economic Objectives in Periods When Its Economic Role Is Highly Valued 124 8. The Contribution of Higher Education to Reconstructing South African Society: Opportunities, Challenges, and Cautionary Tales 145 9. The Role of Technical Education in Enabling the Creation of a Knowledge Economy and Society: The Indian Experience 173 10. The Role of Universities in Regional Development and Cluster Formation 185 11. Campus and Community: Partnerships for Research, Policy, and Action 213 12. Global Cities, Local Knowledge Creation: Mapping a New Policy Terrain on the Relationship between Universities and Cities 223 Section 3. Creating Knowledge: New Challenges and Roles 245 13. Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations: The Role of Research and Education in Humanities and Social Sciences in Government Agendas for Innovation 245 14. Harnessing Genomics for Global Health: The Role of Higher Education 264 15. Contribution of Higher Education to Research and Innovation: Balancing the ‘Social Contract’ of Universities with Their Drive for Scholarly Excellence 283 16. The Academic-Commercial Interface in a Knowledge-Driven Economy: A View from MaRS 291 17. Innovation U: New Practices, Enabling Cultures 301 Contributors 313

Globalization’s effects on universities have been little examined. Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations seeks to improve understanding by deepening the analysis of how universities contribute to economic growth and entrepreneurialism while also contributing to strategic societal goals of equity and redistributive justice. Editors Glen A. Jones, Patricia L. McCarney, and Michael L. Skolnik have brought together a diverse group of contributors to describe how internal and external forces arising from globalization are exerting pressure to change the role of higher education in society and how universities are dealing with these pressures.

The essays pay particular attention to tensions associated with attempts to balance the economic with the non-economic objectives of higher education, and between those who celebrate the ‘entrepreneurial university’ versus those who lament the new alignment between the university and the business community as undermining the civic responsibility of the university and its freedom of speech and critical inquiry. Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations is a crucial addition to the debate on the future of higher education.

Globalization's effects on universities have been little examined. Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations seeks to improve understanding by deepening the analysis of how universities contribute to economic growth and entrepreneurialism while also contributing to strategic societal goals of equity and redistributive justice. Editors Glen A. Jones, Patricia L. McCarney, and Michael L. Skolnik have brought together a diverse group of contributors to describe how internal and external forces arising from globalization are exerting pressure to change the role of higher education in society and how universities are dealing with these pressures. The essays pay particular attention to tensions associated with attempts to balance the economic with the non-economic objectives of higher education, and between those who celebrate the 'entrepreneurial university' versus those who lament the new alignment between the university and the business community as undermining the civic responsibility of the university and its freedom of speech and critical inquiry. Creating Knowledge, Strengthening Nations is a crucial addition to the debate on the future of higher education