ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the traditional roles and functions attributed to universities. These traditional roles and functions are affected by the history and legacies of specific social movements that have impacted the university as an institution; by the position of the university as an autonomous institution that is nonetheless linked to its home country's position within the world system; and by the role the nation-state plays. Neoliberalism has utterly failed as a viable model of economic development, yet the politics of culture associated with neoliberalism is still in force, becoming the new common sense shaping the role of government and education. There is also growing resistance to globalization as top-down-imposed reforms reflected in the public debates about schooling reform, curriculum and instruction, teacher training and school governance. Many question whether neoliberal reforms attempt to limit the effectiveness of universities as sites of contestation of the national and global order and thus undermine the broader goals of education.
