recognition cover story 10 • Cover Story: Prof PHILIP ALtBACH The world-renowned educational thinker on the state of learning 14 • 10 REASoNS… Ever wondered why the Diploma Programme is great preparation for higher education? Read on 16 • future Proofing Why schools and universities both have a part to play in advocating for the IB Diploma Programme T he num6ers g ame Entries into higher education are continuing to soar globally, fuelled by the economic rise of India and China. Professor Philip Altbach explains to Robert Jeffery what this means for quality, diversity – and IB World Schools ampus life during Professor Philip Harvard University, Stanford University Altbach’s time as an undergraduate and spells teaching in India, Singapore and would surely have been almost Malaysia. In 2009, he was asked to explore Cunrecognizable to the student of the direction of higher education in a widely today. A native of Chicago, USA, Altbach read report commissioned by UNESCO. was initiated into the world of higher As IB World explores recognition, we ask education at the University of Chicago Prof Altbach about globalization, markets – in the early 1960s, when student unrest and if campus activists might make a return. was breaking out over the Vietnam War, racial equality and social issues. What are the prevailing characteristics Today, as Monan University Professor and trends of higher education globally? of Educational Leadership and Higher If you had to generalize, there are three or Education at the Lynch School of Education four and they all emanate from one word: at Boston College, Altbach is less likely to massification. Higher education in many encounter sit-ins – or see students importing countries has gone from being the preserve peace symbols from across the Atlantic, as he of the elite to a mass phenomenon. Even in once did. Instead, the student of today could the past 20 years, enrollments have grown have been educated anywhere in the world from 100 million to 150 million worldwide, – and could rub shoulders with the brightest and that growth is continuing. Most people minds from China, India and beyond. estimate that in the next 20 years, at least It is these trends Altbach must make sense half the numerical growth of higher of, as one of the world’s most respected education will take place in India and China. scholars of higher education. His four- India today only enrols about 13 per cent of decade-long academic career has taken in its young people, and China 22 per cent. Dana Smith Photography: 10 IBworld recognition cover story The sociologist Martin Trow observed in college. The hidden crisis in the USA is not the 1960s that higher education was moving our access rate but our degree completion foundations from an elite (about four to five per cent of rate. Programmes that used to help students the age group) to mass (about 40 per cent) if they had problems, giving extra tuition or for the future to universal. But we’ve learned over the years courses, have been cut because of funding. that universal seems to top out at about 70-80 That’s true in many places. Siva Kumari, per cent – some young people just don’t go. Chief operating To what extent is higher education doing officer, Schools What are the main impacts of this its job in meeting global problems and Division, on how ‘massification’? economic needs? the IB is working One is that higher education has become You can’t ask universities to solve all the in a variety of unequal. Most countries now have an elite problems in society. Having said that, they ways to drive recognition of its sector in a mass market, whether by design or can do a better job of ensuring there is an programmes and students practice. The elite sector has become better appropriate gender balance and provide and more internationalized, while student better access to students from working class It is very often the first question mobility has increased across all sectors. and ethnic minority backgrounds. many parents and students ask But massification has generally lowered Universities are focusing a lot on civic about the IB Diploma Programme the standards of higher education, which engagement, getting students to understand – will it get me into a good is logical when you think about it. The society better. They have been increasingly university? It’s a natural concern, professoriate has also deteriorated in quality. concerned with liberal and general education and it’s pleasing to report that as part of the curriculum, even though in the answer is positive. The What percentage of students ought to most countries the curriculum is highly Diploma Programme is formally be going on to higher education? specialized and often narrowly vocational. recognized in more than 1,800 There’s no way of controlling that. No We know the knowledge economy of the institutions across the world. country, no matter how repressive or 21st century requires a broader set of skills, And recognition is only growing. Wider view: Philip undemocratic, can limit the trend to mass particularly the ability to reason, think But that only tells half the Altbach thinks higher education. The more people who independently and problem-solve: all things story. The IB maintains an education is getting graduate from secondary school, the more many universities never did well. They did ongoing dialogue with more selective who want to go on to post-secondary fine at meshing students with specific jobs academics and authorities to education, the more the labour market – you can point to the old Soviet system as demonstrate the value of IB view that higher education is a private good Neither of those countries’ universities schools your chances of getting into the Ivy demands post-secondary qualifications. the prime example of that, where if someone learners both academically and and should be paid for by the student or their are prominent in rankings of higher League is three or four times better than if The global knowledge economy also studied power station engineering that’s all on campus. This work takes family, rather than a public good. education institutions. Why is that? you’ve gone to an average public school. demands the skills that are provided by they were fit to do. That doesn’t work any place across the world, but is I’m not opposed to some elements of Rankings measure a university’s research The universities make a special effort to higher education. What percentage of more, if it ever worked at all. increasingly taking more subtle competition in the system, but I believe productivity. That’s all you can measure – recruit from those institutions. Texas has an forms in addition to the high- deeply that higher education is a public there are no ways of measuring teaching, interesting policy in place where they take How well do you think the IB Diploma level recognition efforts we good and society has a responsibility to although it’s being worked on, and no way the top students from any high school and The for-profit private sector Programme prepares students for profile on page 16. it. Those who have come out of higher of ranking universities cross-nationally in let them into the flagship public campus. But is expanding and in my opinion higher education? The forthcoming IB Student education contribute to their societies – they terms of their teaching excellence. it’s still the case that students from the best My general impression is that it does a really Registry represents an innovative are better consumers, they vote more, they China has invested a lot in its top private schools or the best public schools is deeply problematic… higher good job, providing a broad and important technological solution to live longer, they spend less on medical care. universities, particularly what it calls the in wealthy suburbs come from wealthier understanding of the major fields of the recognition needs. Students in China Ivy League of research-intensive families, so in that way the rich get richer. education is a public good sciences, social sciences and humanities. IB World Schools who choose How would you involve private universities. The facilities are world-class in A student who goes through the Diploma to sign up can make links to companies in higher education? many of them, but the challenge is to build Should students worry about getting Programme is guaranteed to have a broad universities, who in turn will be Everybody says they have a role, and I would a world-class academic culture and lure into a top university? background, formed by an in-depth and able to identify and engage with have to agree. But they have to be better some of their best scholars and scientists It depends on the country, but in general well-articulated curriculum. And IB students the sort of students they value. managed and monitored because we have so back from Oxford and other places. Some you should worry a lot, because one of the do very well at university. And students are being much evidence from around the world that other countries, like Taiwan, Hong Kong and characteristics of the university system is a very directly engaged by this the big for-profits manipulate the system so Singapore, are also doing well, and we bifurcation between the top of the system Many people in higher education are year’s two IB World Student they get the greatest possible number of kids will see the top tier of institutions change. and the rest. And the top gets more and more opposed to private providers.