A Brief Rationale for a New Journal in the Field of Higher Education

Undoubtedly, higher education has become a sector with a major role in the economic and social development, much more important than the position reflected by the rank in a hierarchy calculated on the basis of statistical indicators such as GDP, number of employees or number of enrolled students. The societal importance of the higher education system is given not by the volume of financial flows, but by the fact that universities are public good institutions, essential as education agencies, knowledge producers and major cultural resources (Rumbley et al 2014). Beyond generic value statements, from a real world,mundane-grounded point of view, higher education has become a worldwide enterprise, a very complex one in terms of organization, with multiple and quite often self-contradictory objectives/goals, highly autonomous and at the same time dependent upon public control and regulation, with various stakes and heterogeneous stakeholders.