Spring/Summer 2005 - University of Toronto Press Publishing

POLITICAL SCIENCE / ECONOMICSCreating Knowledge,Strengthening NationsThe Changing Role of Higher EducationEdited by Glen A. Jones, Patricia L. McCarney, andMichael L. SkolnikGlobalization’s effects on universities have been littleexamined. Creating Knowledge, StrengtheningNations seeks to improve understanding by deepeningthe analysis of how universities contribute toeconomic growth and entrepreneurialism as well asto strategic societal goals of equity and redistributivejustice. A diverse group of contributors describehow globalization exerts pressure to change the roleof higher education in society and how universitiesare dealing with this.The essays pay particular attention to tensionsassociated with attempts to balance the economicwith the non-economic objectives of higher education,and between those who celebrate the ‘entrepreneurialuniversity’ versus those who lament thealignment between the university and the businesscommunity. Creating Knowledge, StrengtheningNations is a crucial addition to the debate on thefuture of higher education.Glen A. Jones is a professor in the Department ofTheory and Policy Studies in Education and anassociate dean at the Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation of the University of Toronto.Patricia L. McCarney is an associate professor in theDepartment of Political Science and the MunkCentre for International Studies and is AssociateVice President, International Research andDevelopment, at the University of Toronto.Pension PowerUnions, Pension Funds, and Social Investment inCanadaIsla CarmichaelCanadian pension fund assets are second in sizeonly to the combined financial assets of the majorbanks and have become a critical source of capitalfor national and international markets. Given theirtax-exempt status, pension funds can provide thelong-term capital needed to build a new economybased on real productivity. The funds are controlledby an intricate web of financial and legal standardsbut, as deferred wages, are largely beyond the controlof workers or their unions.In Pension Power, Isla Carmichael argues thatunions could – and should – have a new role to playin the economy by gaining control over their members’pension funds. She demonstrates how thefinancial industry’s access to the capital goes againstthe interests of working people, and she providesconvincing evidence that union management of pensionswould better protect benefits and offer supportin building infrastructure in communities and protectingthe environment. This is a work of singularcommitment to a fundamental shift in the structureof managing one of Canada’s largest pools of capital.Isla Carmichael is a postdoctoral fellow with theDepartment of Adult Education and CounsellingPsychology at the Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation of the University of Toronto.Michael L. Skolnik is a professor in the Departmentof Theory and Policy Studies in Education and theWilliam G. Davis Chair in Community CollegeLeadership at the Ontario Institute for Studies inEducation of the University of Toronto.Approx. 290 pp / 6 x 9 / April 20052 figures; 6 tablesCloth ISBN 0-8020-3856-5 £35.00 $55.00 EApprox. 225 pp / 6 x 9 / May 20055 figures; 23 tablesCloth ISBN 0-8020-3647-3 £32.00 $50.00 E47