The New Flagship University: Seeking an Alternative Narrative to Rankings and the Notion of World Class Universities
In his new book, The New Flagship University: Changing the Paradigm from Global Rankings to National Relevancy (Palgrave Macmillan) John Douglass provides an expansive vision for leading national universities and an alternative narrative to global rankings and World Class Universities that dominate the attention of many universities, as well as government ministries. The author will briefly discuss the New Flagship model which explores pathways for leading national universities to shape their missions and academic cultures, and to pursue organizational features intended to expand their relevancy in the societies that give them life and purpose. In this quest, international standards of excellence focused largely on research productivity are not ignored, but are framed as only one goal towards supporting a university's productivity and larger social purpose—not as an end unto itself. In the book, chapters by contributing authors detail the historical and contemporary role of leading national university in Asia, South America, Russia, and Scandinavia, and consider how the New Flagship model might be applied and expanded on.
Dr. John Aubrey Douglass is Senior Research Fellow - Public Policy and Higher Education at the Center for Studies in Higher Education (CSHE) at the University of California - Berkeley. He is the author of The Conditions for Admissions (Stanford Press 2007), The California Idea and American Higher Education (Stanford University Press, 2000), and Globalization’s Muse: Universities and Higher Education Systems in a Changing World (Public Policy Press, 2009). He is currently a Visiting Researcher at WZB working on a book on the Nexus of Science and Economic Policy, with an historical and contemporary analysis of science policy in the US and Europe. For more information on his publications and research projects, see his UC Berkeley personal page.
New Publication: The New Flagship University