Springer Cultural Perspectives on Higher Education

This book analyses higher education from cultural perspectives and reflects on the uses of intellectual devices developed in the cultural studies of higher education over the last decades. It presents fresh perspectives to integrate cultural studies in higher education with wider societal processes and studies the internal life of higher education. The book uses cultural perspectives developed in previous studies to understand a variety of processes and reforms taking place. Review From the reviews: "The book offers a comprehensive and in-depth exploration of culture within higher education. … One of the book’s major strengths is a range of perspectives from scholars in various parts of the globe in seven countries. … The book would appeal to scholars and students of higher education and organizational studies. The book can also serve as a useful course textbook for focused seminars on higher education culture." (Jenny J. Lee, Higher Education, March, 2009) From the Back Cover Cultural Perspectives on Higher Education takes a critical look at what cultural perspective means, and how it works in higher education institutions. What is actually happening in the internal life of the higher education institutions, and how can we study the topic from a cultural perspective? The chapters selected for this book consist of studies in which culture has been either the object, or the structuring principle of the study, or in which cultural studies have been used as intellectual devices in the analysis. We are not only interested in gaining a better understanding of the cultural aspects of higher education, but also in analyzing the potential of cultural perspectives as intellectual devices. The main aim of the book is to provide the readers with a good understanding of the variety of possible cultural perspectives to higher education, and to show how they can be used in both qualitative and quantitative research. The editors of the book invite you to read the chapters of the book not only because they open fresh perspectives to higher education as a social phenomenon, but also because they tell interesting stories about the small worlds of academia where we live and work.