University Rankings, Global Models, and Emerging Hegemony: Critical Analysis from Japan

The study analyzes how the emergence of dominant models in higher education and power they embody affect non-Western, non-English language universities such as those in Japan. Based on extended micro-level participant observation in a Japanese research university aspiring to become a “world-class” i...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of studies in international education 2009-06, Vol.13 (2), p.159-173
Main Author: Ishikawa, Mayumi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Critical path analysis
Criticism
Cultural Influences
Education systems
Elites
Foreign Countries
Global Approach
Globalization
Hegemony
Higher Education
Human Resources
Institutional Characteristics
Japan
National language
Participant Observation
Reputation
Research Universities
Surveys
Universities
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Summary:The study analyzes how the emergence of dominant models in higher education and power they embody affect non-Western, non-English language universities such as those in Japan. Based on extended micro-level participant observation in a Japanese research university aspiring to become a “world-class” institution, their struggles and the quest for new identities are examined. The prevalent and oft-referenced university rankings and league tables give rise to de facto global standards and models, against which traditions of national language education and research as well as self-sustenance in human resources are challenged and tested. Such new modes of objectifying academic excellence alter domestic academic hierarchies and internal dynamics within universities. This study uses these insights to look critically at new dimensions of knowledge construction and an emerging hegemony in today's global higher education context.
ISSN:1028-3153
1552-7808
DOI:10.1177/1028315308330853