Universities and National Development: an introduction

Volume 23 (1) of this journal was a special issue on Education and Development guest-edited by Fred Lazin (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel), Samuel Aroni (University of California at Los Angeles, USA) and Yehuda Gradus (Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel). The guest editors comment in this article on the issues which arise from the papers they selected for inclusion in the special issue. In developing countries higher education has to face the problems associated with nation-building and the drive towards fast economic growth; in more developed countries there is the challenge implicit in the social and economic changes necessarily associated with the transition to post-industrial societies. Further comments are made on each of the articles in the special issue.