Preliminary Material / Michele Rostan and Massimiliano Vaira -- The New World Order in Higher Education / Simon Marginson -- Excellence, Quality and the Diversity of Higher Education Systems / Ivar Bleiklie -- ‘Excellence’ and the Student Experience of Higher Education: What it is and How to Find it / John Brennan and Kavita Patel -- Structuring the Field of Excellence / Michele Rostan and Massimiliano Vaira -- Defining and Developing Excellence in Three National Settings: Israel, South Africa and the U.S. / Richard C. Richardson JR , Teboho Moja and Cohen Uri -- Excellence and Mass Higher Education in China and the United States / Kathryn Mohrman -- Conceptions of Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Implications for Future Policy and Practice / Brenda Little and Locke William -- Making Decisions without Considering Intrinsic Academic Quality / Stephanie Mignot-Gerard -- Schools of Excellence in Italy / Fiammetta Corradi and Franco Rositi -- Ranking goes International / Don F. Westerheijden , Gero Federkeil , Leon Cremonini , Frans Kaiser and Maarja Beerkens-Soo.

Excellence in higher education is as old as university, but nowadays the concept is widely emphasized and its meaning has been redefined on the basis of different values and goals, especially those related to market. Excellence has become the meter on which institutions are assessed and public funding allocated, the tool by which worldwide comparisons and rankings of institutions are built, and a marketable brand used by higher education institutions to present themselves. This book offers an international and comparative view on excellence in higher education, ranging from policies to practices, mainly based on research results and empirical evidence, aiming at questioning the concept and its uses which are not only social constructions but also political ones. Far from being a neutral or technical concept, excellence is heavily infused with values which must be traced, analysed and made critical to understand its impacts, backlashes and unintended outcomes on higher education systems, institutions, academics and students. A sense of disquietude seems ever present when discussing new digital practices. The transformations incurred through these can be profound, troublesome in nature and far-reaching. Moral panics remain readily available.

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