Higher education in federal countries : a comparative study Introduction : higher education in federal countries Simon Marginson and Martin Carnoy The United States of America : changes and challenges in a highly decentralized system Anthony Lising Antonio Martin Carnoy and C. Rose Nelson Canada : provincial responsibility federal influence and the challenge of coordination Glen A. Jones and Christian Noumi Australia : benefits and limits of the centralized approach Simon Marginson Germany : continuous inter governmental negotiations Ulrich Teichler Brazil : problematics of the tri partite federal framework Robert Evan Verhine and Lys M.V. Dantas India : the unfulfilled need for cooperative federalism Jandhyala B.G. Tilak Mexico : dilemmas of federalism in a highly politicized and semi decentralized system Imanol Ordorika Roberto Rodríguez Gómez and Marion Lloyd The Russian Federation : pragmatic centralism in a large and heterogeneous country Isak Froumin and Oleg Leshukov China : the commanding heights strategy revisited Rong Wang and Po Yang