Shahjahan, R.A. (2012). The roles of international organizations (IOs) in globalizing higher education policy. In J. Smart & Paulsen, M. (Eds.) Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Research (Vol. 27) (pp. 369-407). Dordrecht: Springer.
“International organizations (IOs) are vital players in assembling a higher education global policy space. Since the 1990s, IOs already involved in higher education have increased their scope of activities (e.g., United National Educational, Science, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO]), while those less engaged have recently emphasized a higher education agenda (e.g., World Bank [WB]; Bassett and Maldonado 2009). IOs play a significant role in the global flow of new ideas and institutional imperatives of higher education (Spring 2009; Vaira 2004). By participating in IO activities, local policy actors and mediators (Henry et al. 2001). However, IOs do not diminish the role of the nation-state, but transform the “state forms” (Robertson et al. 2002, p. 472). By introducing changes to national education projects (Leuze et al. 2008, p. 2). Overall, IOs present new complex dynamics to higher education policy and the effects of these processes are various and context-dependent.” (p. 369).