University rankings have been around for a while and there exist in virtually all OECD countries one or several national ranking systems. More visible and influential have been also several international ranking systems that are using a set of criteria to identify "world class” universities.

Please find below and attached a report funded by the Society for Research in Higher Education on incentivising knowledge exchange in English and Scottish Higher Education. The report was co-authored by Fumi Kitagawa and Claire Lightowler.

Having written at great length on these topics,  I have tried to condense some main points into a few words, hoping to attract the attention of the majority with only a few minutes to read,   The topic is nothing less than how to save humanity and the biosphere.  "The economy" refers indifferently to national economies, regional economies, and the global economy.   The premise of this indifference is, as Charles Taylor would say, that the constitutive rules are the same in all three cases.

The Summer Olympics has evolved into a mega international event widely regarded by many as the largest global event. The growth of the event has taken on monumental significance to the extent that bidding for the games in its present format requires a truly coordinated national effort involving, central government, local government, the national Olympic Committee, the athletes of the prospective host, the business community and the general population.

Dear Colleagues

I am enclosing two documents for your perusal with respect to the recently concluded 18th Conference of Commonwealth education Ministers in Mauritius august 28-31, 2012.

First is an updated version of my address to the Stakeholder Forum entitled "Agenda for Civil Society: Crossing the Education Bridges in the Commonwealth"; the second is the Statement to Ministers arising out of the deliberations of the Forum.