Introduction

Long before academics began to describe the world in terms of global flows of information, expertise, capital, and technology (Appadurai, 2000; Castell, 1999, 2000), social and educational institutions of many countries benefited from the movement of ideas and practices across national boundaries. In the 19th century, Japan adapted the British model of postal service, the French model of police, and the American system of banking and art education (Westney, 1987). In the same century China introduced modern European science (Nakayama, 1984). In the post-World War II France, Renault imitated American mass production assembly techniques to become a leading automobile manufacturer in the country (Clark & Stauntan, 1990).