The Higher Education Industry

Abstract Higher education is a complex and diverse industry dominated by a centuries-old organization, the university. It is an industry in which the forces for change have been both global, pulling towards certain models, and locally differentiated across countries and regions. Its dynamics over the centuries have been strongly influenced by an array of diverse and often demanding external regulators and stakeholders. This chapter traces the university from its emergence in medieval Europe to its institutionalization and global spread, and then discusses three challenges confronting the contemporary university: (1) tensions between its longstanding missions and the pressures of modern markets; (2) the interacting pulls of the global and the local; and (3) the challenges of governance in an increasingly complex external environment. The chapter concludes with some issues that may influence future dynamics in higher education.