In today’s Pope Center Clarion Call, I review Ben Wildavsky’s recent book The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping the World.

Some of Wildavsky’s arguments are excellent, especially his point that because knowledge is not constrained by national boundaries, we ought to stop worrying about supposed national gains or losses with respect to higher ed “investments,” university prestige and so forth. He also acknowledges that for-profit institutions are filling some important educational niches.

Other parts of the book are less convincing, however. I think he makes too much out of the trend toward international expansion by American universities, which as I argued here seems to be mostly glitz and conspicuous consumption rather than true educational advance.