While individuals in each country or part of the world face unique issues, many challenges facing higher education today are similar across the world. The great majority of higher education systems have grown in recent decades, enrolling far more students than they did in prior years and expanding their activities into new spheres such as economic…

In 1933-1934, a few years before the landmark study on student achievement by Learned and Wood (1938), the total enrollment of students in colleges, universities, junior colleges, teachers colleges, and normal schools was around 1.06 million out of a U.S. population of about 126.5 million, or about 0.8 percent. In 2008, the total projected fall…

The first part of this paper addresses two broad aspects of the current reforms in Croatian higher education. The reforms are largely driven by the desire to achieve harmony with the European Area of Higher Education. Special attention is paid to presentation of the first experiences with implementation of the Bologna process in Croatia, which…

The condition of higher education is an important indicator of a nation's competitiveness in the modern knowledge-based world economy. Higher education builds up a nation's human resources by equipping students with advanced knowledge, professional skills, and critical and creative thinking ability. Higher education institutions are significant,…

The Australian higher education system has experienced significant changes since the mid-1980s. Notable are introduction of an income-contingent loan (the Higher Education Contribution Scheme) for "government" funded places; changing from aid to trade with respect to international students, including introduction of full fees for such…

U.S. postsecondary education has enjoyed a strong history for more than 350 years but at the present time faces uncertainties never experienced in the past. American higher education enjoys the greatest diversity of students in its history and grants degrees to an ever-increasing number of students. Accountability for student learning outcomes as…

Considering accountability, affordability, and access through the experiences in Chile, East Asia, Australia, Croatia, and the United States offers a clear reminder that trends and issues in higher education are often more similar across national contexts than they are distinct. Across higher education, institutions and systems are responding to…