Small world: access to higher education between methodological nationalism and international organisations

Abstract

What do the shared norms emerging in the regulation of access reveal about the higher education internationalisation process? The history of access norms brings to light two characteristics of this process: the spreading of sociotechnic tools and the emergence of moral entrepreneurs. Based on case studies carried out in France, the US, South Africa and Indonesia, the analysis reveals how a common search for equality of opportunity in access is intertwined with the international diffusion of ‘university knowledge’ (modes of organisations, tools, techniques), a multiform process that can take an anecdotic, accidental or all‐rational form.