The Future of Higher Education and the Future of Higher Education Research

Higher education research isclosely linked to the debates on highereducation policy and practice. It provides theinformation basis for decisions about thefuture of higher education. As the themes of the public debate on problems and reform needs in higher education change quickly, higher education research has to anticipate future problems andthemes of debates in order to develop conceptsand to generate knowledge well in advance.Future-conscious higher education researchmight aim to identify likely future changes inthematic areas which are already in thelimelight of public attention, as trends in theareas of expansion of higher education,diversification of structures of the highereducation system, system steering andinstitutional management as well asinternationalisation and globalisation suggest.Moreover, future-conscious higher educationresearch should try to identify thematic areasnot frequently discussed at present but likelyto be major issues in the future. For example,professionalisation of higher education interms of the emergence and expansion of newadministrative and service professions inhigher education institutions might havefar-reaching implications in the future and isworth to be paid attention by higher educationresearchers.