348 Global Ethics for Leadership
direct themselves to embedding the value of quality, this interesting
benchmark should not be missed. A framework so developed will then
serve as an institutional guideline for inculcation of quality into the
scholarship agenda, courseware development, teaching and learning, re-
search and service. Evidently ethics, governance and sustainability are
not explicitly highlighted. Universities committed to innovative practice
and relevance in the twenty-first century may consider the development
of an additional combined principle that serves this purpose.
27.7 Conclusion
Advancing the proposition of higher education for a democratic mis-
sion, global citizenship, and the common good; the test is to balance the
competing interests of Plato’s ideology of ‘elitist’ higher education, the
commercialisation and commodification of university offerings, and the
notion that the university’s purpose is to produce graduates only skilled
in their chosen discipline of learning and specialisation. Added to this,
higher education institutions are facing three critical areas where respon-
sible leadership, innovation and quality are called for. Firstly, institu-
tions will have to define and redefine themselves to meet the growing
demand and international commitments for university education by ex-
panding the number of places they offer; secondly, universities will have
to adapt (i) programmes, and (ii) teaching methods to match the chang-
ing needs of a more diverse generation of student^292 ; and thirdly, within
this state of change and flux, universities will have to ensure the quality
of their offerings and its relevance to preparing graduates for the twenty-
first century promise of global citizenship.
Universities are a unique environment with the unqualified potential
to mould an educated citizenry blessed with virtue as well as wisdom for
a global future that includes citizenship, social justice and the public
292
OECD 2013: 4