The newly established Boston College Center for International Higher Education provides a unique service to colleges and universities worldwide. While it has as a primary aim providing information and publications to colleges and universities related to the Jesuit tradition, it also has has a broader mission to be a focal point for discussion and thoughtful analysis of higher education. The Center provides information and analysis for those involved in managing the higher education enterprise internationally through publications, conferences, and the maintenance of a database of individuals and institutions. The Center is especially concerned with creating dialogue and cooperation among academic institutions in the industrialized nations and those in the developing countries of the Third World.
Higher education is an international enterprise.
Academic institutions face similar problems, and international trends affect colleges and universities everywhere. The organization, traditions, and many of the practices of universities are similar worldwide. Perhaps only the Roman Catholic Church has a longer historical tradition, one that continues to affect the ethos and organization of the institution as deeply. Further, contemporary trends in information technology, the increasing globalization of science, and of the economy, ever-expanding flows of students and faculty across borders, and the growing use of English as the international language of scientific communication all strengthen the internationalization of higher education. The Boston College Center for International Higher Education works in a series of concentric circles.