ABSTRACT
This chapter explores education around the world. It discusses issues facing educational systems, covers theoretical approaches, and presents typologies to understand the similarities and differences among systems. The field of comparative educational studies started using largely descriptive case studies of selected countries as methods. New methods of data collection, theoretical approaches, and typologies are advancing our knowledge of comparative education. Theoretical approaches contrast functional and conflict theoretical approaches; several of these focus on the relationship between educational and economic growth and development. In comparing nations, relationships of education to religion and family were discussed. Higher-education structures have ranged from Western forms to indigenous models. The "brain drain" is claiming some young, educated, talented individuals who are leaving their countries of origin because their countries cannot absorb all the professionals that are being produced. The number of students studying abroad is increasing worldwide, and new forms of higher education are emerging to meet the needs of a globalized world.
