ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book. The book provides a critical account of the state of higher education, and higher education research, internationally at the beginning of the twenty-first century. The organisation of the Handbook is thematic, structured in terms of the key issues and questions facing higher education, and those who research it. The approaches taken by the contributing authors to their themes are critical, exploring what is less well understood as well as what is. This critical approach explains why the focus of the Handbook is as much on the state of higher education research as on higher education. The thematic structure adopted for the Handbook builds upon the research mapping the current state of higher education research. The Handbook is organised, then, in eight sections, one for each of the themes identified.
