Special Issue of 21st Century Society: Journal of the Academy of Social Sciences

摘要

Changing forms of knowledge, education, information and computer or mobile technologies (ICT), distance learning and training for professional skills and graduate employment have all been linked to globalisation and the world economic crisis. Policy responses to the challenges of knowledge societies, informed by evidence and research in the social sciences, have ranged from changing finances and resources for universities and other forms of higher education; to expanding or transforming universities and widening participation; to new institutional forms of post-compulsory education, training and lifelong learning; and to new forms of research, teaching and learning or pedagogies. The question of the role of different subjects from science, technology, engineering and medicine, including mathematics (STEM) to the arts, humanities and social sciences are all being transformed by these processes of change in resources, research and innovative forms of teaching and learning. Who participates and who goes where in these changing higher educational institutions is also an important topic for consideration. What are the implications for social or individual mobility nationally and internationally? How fair and democratic are these new forms of higher education, and what are the implications for academic freedom?