ABSTRACT
A new and, by definition, visible feature of global higher education is the branding of universities and colleges worldwide. This chapter argues the authority of professionals and the legitimacy of expert knowledge, here of branding consultants and branding know-how, construct higher education as a commodity, academia as a quasi-market, and universities as modern organizations. The branding profession and professionals, like other knowledge-based occupations, hold high legitimacy to offer solutions for organizational challenges and to drive institutional change. The rise of managerialism in universities is not merely a response to the evolution of the university, but it is mainly a normative shift in the social role of higher education: from a public institution of study and research to a 'knowledge corporation' which operates in a global marketplace of knowledge and education. The internationalization of Israeli higher education means that Israeli universities are concerned with their international rank and engage in recruitment of international students.
