Rather than provide a travelogue that describes higher education in various countries, this reader presents works that consider "why" particular national systems operate as the do and the interrelated effects these systems have on one another, on national and global development, and on the production of knowledge. In this second edition of Comparative Education, the editors have modified the contents to illustrate the increased global complexity and interdependence of higher education, its production of knowledge, and the students and faculty who inhabit these institutions. Since 9/11, educators and policymakers have placed an even greater importance on the role universities play in understanding the effects of globalization, the distribution of knowledge, and the inherent conflict highly evident in todayrs"s world among people of differing ethnicities, regions, races, and religions.