Overview
In addition to possessing the world's largest economies, China and the United States have extensive higher education systems comparable in size. By juxtaposing their long and distinctive educational traditions, Palace of Ashes offers compelling evidence that American colleges and universities are quickly falling behind in measures such as scholarly output and the granting of doctoral degrees in STEM fields. China, in contrast, has massed formidable economic power in support of its universities in an attempt to create the best educational system in the world. Palace of Ashes argues that the overall quality of US institutions of higher learning has declined over the last three decades. Mark S Ferrara places that decline in a broad historical context to illustrate how the forces of globalization are helping rapidly developing Asian nations-particularly China-transform their major universities into serious contenders for the world's students, faculty, and resources. Ferrara finds that American institutions have been harmed by many factors, including chronic state and federal defunding, unsustainable tuition growth, the adoption of corporate governance models, adjunctification, and the overall decline of humanities education relative to job-related training. Ferrara concludes with several key recommendations to help US universities counter these trends and restore the palace of American higher learning.
Full Product Details
Author: Mark S. Ferrara (Associate Professor, State University of New York at Oneonta)
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Imprint: Johns Hopkins University Press
Dimensions:
Width: 14.00cm
, Height: 2.00cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.386kg
ISBN: 9781421417998
ISBN 10: 1421417995
Pages: 216
Publication Date: 25 January 2016
Recommended Age: From 18 years
Audience:
General/trade
,
Professional and scholarly
,
General
,
Professional & Vocational
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: Out of stock
The supplier is temporarily out of stock of this item. It will be ordered for you on backorder and shipped when it becomes available.
Reviews
... provocative... What makes Mark Ferrara's book intriguing is the comparative study of Chinese higher education traditions and the current situation of Chinese universities. * American Association of Univerity Professors *
... provocative... What makes Mark Ferrara's book intriguing is the comparative study of Chinese higher education traditions and the current situation of Chinese universities. American Association of Univerity Professors
Author Information
Author Website: askmyprofessor.org
Mark S. Ferrara is an associate professor of English at the State University of New York. He is the author of Barack Obama and the Rhetoric of Hope and the coeditor of Between Noble and Humble: Cao Xueqin and the Dream of the Red Chamber.
