ABSTRACT
Global efforts in American higher education have two basic purposes: first, to improve the knowledge and skills of American students—as wide as possible a swathe of American students—to function adequately in an increasingly intense global environment. Second, to use the prestige of American higher education to improve the nation's standing abroad and to forge relationships, both individual and institutional, that provide mutual benefits in the vein. Globalization theorists and popularizers bravely frame a commitment to understand how regional and global patterns interact, even as they posit the increasing power of the larger influences. Many global educators may hope that their programs on balance encourage new levels of openness to foreign contributions and a new appreciation for international efforts to control environmental damage or limit war—but compulsion would be out of place. The more subtle point is that global citizenship itself cannot legitimately be confined to any particular set of values.
