Higher education is being reshaped little by little every day. Slowly but surely, from the smallest community colleges to the teaching institutions to the most prestigious research universities, a new set of key performance indicators (KPIs) is transforming what excellence means in higher education. For developed and emerging market nations globally, higher education creates both an informed citizenry and a high-skill workforce, but how that is achieved is being transformed. What is not changing is the fact that higher education opens up new opportunities in a knowledge-driven global economy. It is what parents want for their children, as well as what professionals want for themselves as lifelong learners with growing career aspirations. So how can institutions compete on the global stage of higher education? In this article, the authors discuss how service science, the emerging study of service in society, can provide a perspective on the forces reshaping higher education today and can enable universities to compete on the global stage. (Contains 23 notes.)