Book review : Higher education in small islands : challenging the geographies of centrality and remoteness

Abstract

Higher education in small islands raises important issues for island communities and allows for reflection on the usefulness of universities to the communities they ostensibly serve. Baldacchino’s foreword and the editors’ introduction set out a range of key issues concerning recruitment practices and the nature of resultant student cohorts, the quality and/or local relevance of courses offered, and issues of international recognition, rankings and recruitment. The latter are significant. The issue of whether it is preferable to choose the best applicants from a global talent pool – or, rather, the range of foreign applicants who are willing to consider positions in universities far from home and somewhat tangential to more conventional career choices – or else lean towards homegrown talents is crucial to the character of island universities. At its worst, recruiting heavily from overseas can lead to a reproduction of former colonial systems or else, a bland internationalism with minimal local address.