Regionalism in Higher Education

Addressing the development of regionalism in higher education provides a necessary, if not sufficient, means of understanding the current nature of higher education. Historically, universities have been viewed as essentially national institutions—based on and responsive to national needs and preferences. However, since the 1960s, this national basis has been diluted, and to a degree redirected, in response to shifts in the nature of expectations of higher education to respond to [Page 1271]changes in national and global political-economic movements. In a nutshell, these ‘externally driven’ changes have to a significant degree eroded the national bases of higher education, and very significantly modified them, especially following change in the ways that higher education institutions combine at regional levels to produce solutions to what we might see as ...