Presents opening arguments for a Liberal Management Education based on a reading of the historical development of the university. Using Emmanuel Kant’s work to update the purpose of management education today.

Promoting student access in higher education institutions in South Africa remains a challenge given the limitations and resources that institutions face. The chapter presents a brief history of schooling in South Africa, describes the transition towards fair and equal higher education admissions, and details the policies, practices, and criteria associated with admissions. A discussion of the National Benchmark Tests is also provided. Finally, the chapter discusses issues related to ensuring access, success, and sustainability of the higher education system in South Africa.

Equity, diversity, and inclusion are key strengths of higher education institutions and are fundamental to achieving excellence in learning, teaching, and research. This chapter focuses on cross-cultural and global competencies and how they contribute to a more inclusive and diverse campus. The chapter provides a discussion of Indigenous Canadian students and how culturally inclusive approaches to admissions contributes to decolonizing practices in higher education. It also provides a summary on the significant growth and demand of international student mobility to Canadian universities, the need for Canadian students to gain cross-culturalcompetence by studying abroad, and the policies and practices that could be used to emphasize cross-cultural and global competencies for learners.

This chapter discusses the use of assessments of language proficiency in admissions decisions. Assessments of language proficiency are increasingly important given the rising numbers of international students studying abroad, the increasing numbers of refugees and students who need to demonstrate their linguistic preparedness for academic study, and the importance of language support programs for students not meeting particular language requirements. The chapter describes the need for students to have a level of language proficiency that represents minimum entrance requirements as one condition for academic success. Finally, the chapter discusses the importance of using benchmarks and standards to inform college-admissions decisions meaningfully as well as additional challenges institutions face in predicting students’ academic success.

In the conclusion we suggest that the stakes are high - that the challenges facing universities, and especially facing disciplines that remain in isolation from each other grow greater everyday and that we are entering a period of political uncertainty about higher education. We show the way Liberal Management Education creates a solidarity and a winning alternative to the crisis we face in both higher education and increasingly in our societies as a whole.

This chapter presents a case study of Queen Mary University of London and its School of Business and Management. It describes the transformation of the undergraduate curriculum into a Liberal Management Education. We discuss the importance of a public research programme as a spur to the growth of Liberal Management Education.

The Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), conducted by OECD, produces every three years a very comprehensive database on the skills of 15-year-old students from a large number of countries in mathematics, reading, and science. In addition to the data on skills, PISA also collects data on student background, interests, and aspirations. Students are also asked about their expected highest level of education. In social media and in reports, OECD distributes country averages of educational expectations, a data summary that is critically evaluated in this chapter.

This chapter continues the historical investigation in subsequent decades, covering the Cold War, new interdisciplinary initiatives and hidden connections between key thinkers. We look particularly at the experimental interdisciplinarity of James March especially in light of Herbert Marcuse’s work and influences.

The three chapters in this part move beyond current concepts of higher education admissions. They present alternatives as to how the admissions process might be conceived and maintained. Taking into account threats related to fairness, diversity, and access, the chapters propose new frameworks for conceptualizing what the role of higher education should be and methods for rethinking the assessments used as part of admissions.

In this chapter we return to the present to argue for the urgency of a new approach to ethics education and to the place of ethical reasoning in the university as a whole. We note the rise of the literature of the corporate university and criticisms of the moral compass of the university that make teaching ethics to students more difficult. We suggest the deep heritage of the humanities can be brought to bear on this problem.

The higher-education system in Israel is governed by The Council for Higher Education and is mainly merit-based. This chapter discusses the practices used in Israel for admissions into higher education institutions, the use of the Bagrut Certificate as part of admissions, and fairness and psychometric issues related to the admissions examination, the Psychometric Entrance Test. The chapter also describes challenges surrounding Psychometric Entrance Test and the various reform efforts.

Higher education participation rates in Africa remain the lowest in the world, averaging around 7 percent of the eligible cohort. But the continent is also experiencing an increase in the number of youth, an increase in the demand for access to higher education, and a crisis of graduate unemployment. These issues have, in turn, resulted in a complex mix of policies that regulate admission and standards. This chapter discusses these issues and highlights the key prevailing trends in admissions and implications on access and equity in higher education admissions in Africa.

The chapters in this part provide an overview and critical discussion of the types of assessments used to help inform admissions decisions. Examples include assessments that measure academic preparation (either general or subject-specific skills), tests of language proficiency, and assessments of noncognitive and personality traits. These assessments may or may not be required of all applicants, depending on the type of institution students apply to, educational model higher education institutions use, and rigor of the admitting institution’s selection criteria, among other factors.