ABSTRACT
Global groupings of universities are forming, with layered flows of cognitive capital. Researchers collaborate across the elite universities, and universities sign memoranda of understanding characteristically with other universities where an affinity is felt. World rankings, the distribution of monies by cross-national research agencies, flows of international students are additional factors in the stratification of universities. A geopolitics of the academic world is playing out, one which has yet to be fully understood. It cuts across universities, not least because the different disciplines possess different degrees of autonomy, have their own spaces and flows and possess their own levels of epistemic generosity, as cognitive strangers are welcomed with hospitality. Public or private, multi-faculty or specialist, face-to-face or digital: every university is a player in this worldly academic community. And many universities feel it and act on it with some deliberation.
