This presentation examines key dimensions of the evolving global higher education & research landscape which, taken together and despite the ongoing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic, points to the 'denationalization' and 'desectoralization' of higher education. In particular, new authorities, and associated infrastructures and platforms, are helping to facilitate the harnessing of the higher education sector and institutions to serve a wider array of political-economic (vs cultural-political) objectives, often with very different temporal horizons. In such a context, what roles should relevant stakeholders and individuals play in understanding and shaping (if not governing) this emerging landscape?
