Universities and societies around the world are involved in significant transition. Universities are now invited to expand their central aims and purposes in order to embrace a role in relation to the development of the societies in which they are located. This change of focus has major implications for curricula, modes of teaching and the student body. International contributors to this wideranging text discuss different aspects of the phenomenon of globalisation in relation to higher education, but also in relation to moves by nation states to devolve government to regional and subregional bodies and the implications this has for educational systems.