This note is an invited "post-scriptum" where the 'script' is the articles in this volume. No effort will be made to summarise the articles. The intent is contemplative: to mull over how comparative education changes and, within that broad motif, to think about the role of 'our' foreigners. The mulling is self-indulgent, somewhat…

In the last three decades, a networked global system has emerged in the natural-science-based disciplines, sustained by collegial epistemic relations in universities. Nationally ordered and funded science has expanded alongside the global science system. The common global pool of papers, defined by bibliometric collections, nevertheless excludes…

Many of the iconic figures in the history of comparative education were trans-national polyglot scholars. Several key thinkers and actors in the formative years of the institutionalisation of comparative education notably in London and New York were either émigré or migrant scholars (i.e. Kandel, Hans, Ulrich, Lauwerys, Bereday). There are many…

An extensive literature has explored the influence of the OECD on school education policies globally, while their influence on higher education policies has been underexamined. This article addresses that void by analysing the internationalisation of higher education in Israel and South Korea. We suggest that joining the OECD provided political…

Comparative education relies on experiences, expertise, data, and criticism derived from multiple contexts and diverse levels to generate insights, facilitate understanding, and explain change. Marked by connectivity, our contemporary era vastly increases the (potential) diffusion of ideas essential for scientific advance. Three interlocking…

Acrobats, phantoms, and fools. Such experiences often stem from our attempts to 'fit' into the official cartography of Comparative Education, which reflects a particular reading of the formation of knowledge and knowing subjects in the field. Rather than viewing cartographies as universal, we reframe them as embodied and embedded. Combining…

By means of a systematic comparison of three countries we investigate the origins and conditions for the diffusion of student evaluation of teaching (SET). We found that: (1) SET is present cross-nationally; (2) SET was initiated in the US during the 1950s by students and adopted in the 1970s by universities, while German and Colombian…

Action follows from being. One's way of doing and understanding comparative education follows from one's being. It springs from the soul. Using [Kim, T., and R. Brooks' (2013). "Internationalisation, Mobile Academics, and Knowledge Creation in Universities: A Comparative Analysis." SRHE Research Award (2011/12) Final Report] framework on…

Why have regimes and societies that would otherwise argue for their distinctiveness and sovereign decision-making caught 'ranking fever' in HE? Why are they willing to give up their sovereignty in the field of HE, and why do they accept the requirement of homogeneity to succeed in global university rankings? This paradox is explored in the case of…

Due to their common history, Finland and Sweden share many similarities. However, important differences have also developed in constitutional law, political culture and governance models. These differences have affected the implementation of international trends in the governance of higher education in the two countries. Both the Finnish and…

In this paper, I reflect upon my journey of learning to do comparative education research over the last decade and half. It involves transnational moves from Japan, Canada, US, Australia and back to Japan where I encountered numerous 'others'. I use my story of a series of relocations as an entry point for theorising what I mean by 'negative'…

The aim of the article is to investigate the profile of comparative education in Italy, highlighting those elements that have characterised its development in relation to the cultural and political features of the country. This approach inevitably involves the comparison of Italy's specific particularities to those of other countries in the north…

Whilst Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has influenced education in various ways, major reforms perceived as promoting mainland control have been resisted. For two decades, Hong Kong's educational autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' formula was thus largely maintained. This changed radically with the response to the…

This paper argues that country size can play a crucial role in shaping the type of gradual change observed in collective skill formation systems. Collectively governed dual-apprenticeship training has its base in the industrial and crafts sectors of the economy and builds on the decentralised cooperation of multiple public and private…

Comparative education was established in Greek universities in the 1980s, with the creation of pedagogical departments and two laboratories, and the publication of a journal. There was an early emphasis on education policy analysis, in terms of assumptions about the 'semi-peripherality' of Greece within Europe. Later, the emphasis shifted to what…