165 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus We know that universities are expected and, indeed, ought to lead the way in respect to the status of women in our society; we also know that they do not. Women realize that it is truly difficult for a male establishment voluntarily to recognize and end discriminatory sexist practices which are advantageous to its members. The university population also knows that our passive voluntary approach to this shameful problem has not worked. Caplan challenges us. As our public and fiscal support declines, and we wonder why, are we ready yet to acknowledge our responsibility? Will we accept this challenge? Our existence may depend upon our response. Wise administrators will carefully read and prominently display this book. In doing the former, they might finally learn the dimensions and consequences of our "inequitable treatment of women in Canadian higher education." In doing the latter, they will indicate their intention to heed the AUCC Commission on Canadian Studies' recommendation of almost a decade ago and address this continuing discrimination "as a question of central institutional policy...(of) the entire institution, and...everyone in it." Brown, D „ Cazalia, P., & Jasmin, G. (eds.). Higher Education in Federal Systems ( P r o c e e d i n g s of an I n t e r n a t i o n a l C o l l o q u i u m H e l d at Q u e e n ' s University, May 1991). Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, Q u e e n ' s University, Kingston, Ontario, 1992, pp. vii, 250. Reviewed by Jim Murphy, Senior Educational Developer, National University of Singapore. Education is a big ticket item and Canada is a big spender (6.8% G D P or 2% above the OECD average). This is a book of conference proceedings of a three day colloquium to discuss the higher education sector, which accounts for over a fifth of this spending. Systemic and institutional policy makers face three principal challenges in the face of declining real resources: how can our institutions produce quality graduates from the mass of students gaining entry; how can we meet community and national needs or interests and balance them with the traditional scope of the university; and how can we be responsive to global changes? One gets the impression that the conference was held to assist the Canadian government to gain an insight into such questions and to learn about policy making and outcomes in similar political systems. In fact Ottawa's Education Directorate of the Secretary for State supported the publication of the proceedings. Ronald Watts (Director, Institute of Intergovernmental Relations [IIR]) 166 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus was the organizing committee chairperson. In his foreword he commented that the colloquium was a rare chance for Canada's federal and provincial governments to cooperate on a joint project in higher education. However, the list of 57 participants indicates that eight federal government servants attended, whereas there were only four from provincial governments. Although there were 15 Canadian university representatives, plus two interest groups, one is struck by the fact no government representatives attended from Nova Scotia, Québec, Ontario, Manitoba, or Alberta. No university representatives attended from Newfoundland. Prince Edward Island and Saskatchewan were not represented at all. Perhaps this was symptomatic of the deplorable state of Canadian federalism at the time. Some cooperation! The editors are from the IIR at Queen's University, the école nationale d'administration publique, Université du Québec, and Recherche et information sur l'éducation, Secretariate d'État du Canada, respectively. They have divided the book into four parts. Part One (23 pages) is the opening address entitled 'The Federal Context for Higher Education' by the Chair of the Organizing Committee, Ronald Watts. Part Two (183 pages) consists of seven commissioned papers and a synthesis paper by David M. Cameron (Professor of Political Science, Dalhousie University). Part Three (12 pages) is entitled 'Discussion' around four identified themes: organization, planning and management; financing higher education; student mobility; and research planning and f i n a n c e . F i n a l l y , the p r o c e e d i n g s c o n c l u d e with s e v e n p a g e s of the 'Rapporteur's Comments' by University of Toronto political scientist Stefan Dupré. His summary considers what he terms participants' hasty generalizations, missed opportunities and oversimplifications. Parts 1, 2 and 4 all have two to three pages which report issues discussed after the papers were read. A Canadian reader may enjoy comparative perspectives as almost half the participants were from overseas: Australia (8), Belgium (2), Germany (4), Switzerland (4), U.K. (1) and U.S.A. (4). The European Community also had one representative. The criteria for the conference invitations are not stated but it appears as if membership of the OECD was a prerequisite. A developing world perspective on federalism and higher education from a Malaysian, Nigerian or Papua New Guinean experience would have added to the richness of the result. Perhaps they were not invited in order that fewer problems of definition and complexity would arise. This is a book for a specialized readership curious about the nature of the complex federal crucible in which higher education institutions and educators exist. Watts' opening address suggests that (p. 21): 167 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus ... the issues that we are addressing in this colloquium are not simply of interest to the higher education community in each of our federations, but are also an issue of fundamental importance to the character, welfare, and balance of these federations as political systems. An educator's interest will oscillate over the commissioned papers and r e c o r d s of d i s c u s s i o n , w h e r e a s a political scientist may r e m a i n riveted. Personally I have a limited interest in federal Europe and, probably unjustly, I was unaffected by the four European papers. My bias was reinforced by the substantial, far-reaching overviews of American (Martin Trow), Australian (Robert Smith & Fiona Wood) and Canadian (David M. Cameron) systems. Each reviews many features from their professional perspective including: history, diversity, organization and management, institutional financing, research funding and management, domestic student access and mobility, perceived failures and current issues. Dupré ends the book by reflecting on themes of the conference that he perceived. He suggests that global economic forces are generating knowledge-driven economies and are having a strongly decentralizing effect. In theory this enables federal higher education systems to be diverse and allow for experimentation. However, funds are short. Everywhere, except in the U.S. with its rich complexity of higher education, diversity is difficult because of current government policies that aim to rationalize and coordinate activities. This tendancy flies in the face of the real needs and interests of diverse individuals and institutions. Dupré argues that higher education exists in lecture rooms and labs and that bureaucrats making decisions that affect teaching, learning or research add nothing to the process or product. To support advances in these and related areas what is needed is skilled institutional management teams to run interference and to create pools of slack resources that can be directed to priorities. This is best achieved through personal contacts between presidents, politicians and bureaucrats. This enables them to negotiate support, to collect useful information to solve their own problems, and to influence others' proposed questions and solutions. Higher Education in Federal Systems is a valuable contribution to understanding a wealth of opinion and experience in different contexts concerning the relationship between federal political systems and higher education policy planning and practice. But it does not come to any conclusions and it is unhelpful that the book is only available for review two and half years later - and a year after publication. Whereas Canadian federalism remains under question and 168 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus limps along, other systems have altered. The c o n f e r e n c e s ' three European contributions in particular are of historical interest only, considering the pace of change across the continent. The conference focus was on effectiveness. Issues of accountability, credit transfers, centers of research and teaching excellence and priority, curriculum coordination, equity, excellence, participation, quality or the influence of the media are either not adequately addressed or are ignored. What the m a j o r issues are in different systems, how they are filtered and defined, how priorities are analyzed and set, and how policy designers cope with uncertainty are never made clear. This is perhaps typical of such conferences where everyone attends with a personal agenda, and is no criticism of the editors. The book succeeds by raising many questions. My chief question, however, was not addressed directly: what does the future hold for university teachers and managers in the way they will have to work? This may seem a micro question considering the book's macro focus, but it is questions of this nature that people who think big tend to ignore. Important issues today include finding alternate sources of funds and assuring the quality of university management, teaching, learning and research. All affect on what teachers and managers do and how they do it - and all are the result of big thinkers' policies. One change under way is the phenomenon of institutions promoting their services to attract non-traditional sources of students. Figures available for 1992 show 11,707 undergraduates and 8,931 graduate foreign students in Canadian universities. Half come from Asia and half are attracted to Ontario's 16 universities. This is despite the fact they do not try to promote their degrees like American, Australian, British or New Zealand universities who hold comprehensive educational fairs in various regions. Table 1 illustrates the position for Commonwealth students only. These figures are trifling compared to the U.S. which in 1992 hosted 419,585 foreign students, including 19,190 Canadians. Table 1. Commonwealth Students in Major Host Countries Australia 1980 1980 6,400 1990 16,300 19,100 22,900 United Kingdom 1,800 41,300 1,500 34.300 Totals 68,600 75,000 Australia Canada New Zealand Source: Commonwealth Secretariate 1993 169 Book Reviews/Comptes Rendus Leaders are also concerned with alternate funding sources in the face of declining government commitments, and with engaging in off-shore agreements that benefit both parties. As a result of such forces, some also see a pressing need to internationalize domestic curricula for both local and foreign students. Valid and reliable quality assurance mechanisms will have an equally important future impact. Will the Australian (carrot) or the British (stick) models that are in place and developing prove more attractive to various systems? How will federal systems work out answers to such issues? This volume will principally interest movers and shakers in government, institutional practitioners, and their policy advisors. Public servants concerned with h i g h e r e d u c a t i o n policy f o r m u l a t i o n and r e v i e w will want a c o p y . Institutional leaders labouring within imposed policy constraints or concerned to influence the shape of future government policy will learn from it. Those concerned with training university teachers or administrators in these systems may also find useful comparative information or background for their needs. I suspect, however, that the main appeal of this volume will be political scientists, political sociologists, and graduate researchers rather than educators. G o e d e g e b u u r e , L e o C.J. Mergers in Higher Education: A Comparative Perspective. Uitgeveriji, L E M M A BV, U T R E C H T , The Netherlands, 1992. Price: N L G 85,00. R e v i e w e d by John Kirkness, Division of H u m a n i t i e s , Scarborough College, University of Toronto. W h a t motivates institutions to e n g a g e in merger; how can we explain the actual mergers that have come about in terms of institutions that form the constituent parts of the merged institutions; and what theoretical framework can be used to analyze the outcomes of the m e r g e r p r o c e s s e s in the t w o c o u n t r i e s ( A u s t r a l i a and the Netherlands) from a macro perspective? In his monograph on Mergers in Higher Education, one of a growing series of topical research studies sponsored by the Center of Higher Education Policy Studies in Utrecht, Goedegebuure addresses selected aspects of this "central research question." Recognizing the complexity of the theoretical and practical questions which arise in any consideration of the political and structural relationships between institutions of higher education and government, the author undertakes an initial, exploratory analysis, presented here in two distinct sections,