An International Institution Embedded in the Nation-State: Moving beyond the “Either/Or” Paradigm of the Globalization and (Re)nationalization of the Modern University

In this essay, we take up the call of this review symposium to explore how the emergence of (new) nationalisms affects the university’s status as a “global institution.” We challenge the binary view that there is an inherent tension between the “national(ist)” and the “global” role of the university, whereby either its global character is reducing its national distinctiveness, or its nationalist appeal is challenging its global tendencies. This binary positioning, we argue, obscures the compound and context-specific understandings of both (new) nationalism and higher education. To make our case, we draw on our current comparative study on the impact of neonationalism on European higher education. We start with a discussion of neonationalism and how our conceptualization informs the debate on the “national” and “global” interaction. We then provide a snapshot of some of our empirical findings on the impact of neonationalism on higher education policy in Denmark and the United Kingdom to shed light on the complex ways they interact. Through this reflection, we hope to advance discussion on how to research the (re)nationalization of higher education in the context of an increasingly globalized system.