World-Class University: An exploration of Concepts, Approaches and Strategies

Raising the educational and academic status and ranking of universities to that of internationally accepted world-class universities has become the goal of many university higher administrators around the globe in recent years. This trend has been made possible and accelerated by rapid global economic growth and development. World-class universities, are essential in developing a nation’s competitiveness in the global knowledge economy. These universities, at the pinnacle of the higher education hierarchy, play key roles in creating and disseminating knowledge, educating a highly skilled workforce, and serving the needs of society. This paper tries to take advantage of the existing literature in the field of World-Class University, and with do a review of the literature the introduce the concept of World-Class University and strategies towards the building world-class universities. The results indicated that in recent years The concept of the world-class university has become a concept much invoked by governments and also by universities themselves in many countries and is an idea now firmly embedded in the higher education policies and strategies of a range of nations. Various developmental strategies at national and institutional levels have been drawn up and implemented. Clearly the worldwide market for students and the ceaseless search for research funding and prestige are crucial elements in this fascination with the idea of a world-class university, as well as the desire of governments for universities to contribute to their national economies. Despite or maybe because of the lack of a clear definition of the concept, the ‘world-class’ notion has become everyday language in many universities. This paper tries to take advantage of the existing literature in the field of World-Class University, and with do a review of the literature the introduce the concept of World-Class University and strategies towards the building world-class universities.