ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on how national and international cultural contexts affect the role of higher education in a society and their institutions of higher education. It also focuses on how environments get defined and how they shape universities, and how knowledge and academic work interact in national contexts. The book highlights these areas in order to develop a comparative perspective about particular facets of academic culture. It addresses reform efforts and considers the implications the modernistic structure has for the future development of Japans higher education. The book explains how socioeconomic changes in Mexico impacted on how public universities define their purpose, and what societal agencies such as the federal government see as the changing role of the university in the waning days of the twentieth century. It discusses the role of private and public intellectuals in Finland.
