Zócalo Public Square

As college degrees become an ever more essential qualification for earning a living, students are going further than ever before to get them — and creating a new and rapidly changing worldwide marketplace for higher ed. Nearly three million students leave their home countries to pursue college degrees, a 40 percent increase since 1999. American institutions have set up shop in over 40 countries and are accepting more international students than ever before — with USC leading the pack in matriculating foreigners. College rankings are internationalizing, which could mean American universities won’t stay at the top of the heap. How will worldwide competition for the best minds transform education as we know it, and does it mean the end of American leadership in the field? Education expert Ben Wildavsky, author of The Great Brain Race: How Global Universities Are Reshaping Our World, visited Zócalo to explain what globalized education means for students, the U.S., and the world.