Welcome to Graduate School of Business (GSB)

Jamil Salmi is a global tertiary education expert providing policy advice and consulting services to governments, universities, professional associations, multilateral banks and bilateral agencies.  Until January 2012, he was the World Bank’s tertiary education coordinator. He wrote the first World Bank policy paper on higher education in 1994 and was the principal author of the Bank’s 2002 Tertiary Education Strategy entitled “Constructing Knowledge Societies:  New Challenges for Tertiary Education”.  In the past twenty years, Dr. Salmi has provided policy advice on tertiary education development, financing reforms and strategic planning to governments and university leaders in more than 80 countries all over the world.

Dr. Salmi is a member of the international advisory board of several universities in Europe, Asia, Latin America, North America and the Middle East.  He is also a member of the International Advisory Network of the UK Leadership Foundation for Higher Education, and the CHEA International Quality Group Advisory Council.  Between 2008 and 2011, he represented the World Bank on the Governing Board of the International Institute for Educational Planning.  Dr. Salmi is Emeritus Professor of Higher Education at the Diego Portales University in Chile.

Dr. Salmi’s 2009 book addresses the “Challenge of Establishing World-Class Universities”.  His latest book, co-edited with Professor Phil Altbach, entitled “The Road to Academic Excellence: the Making of World-Class Research Universities”, was published in September 2011.

Developing countries face significant new challenges in the global environment, affecting not only the shape and mode of operation but also the purpose of their tertiary education system.  Among the most critical dimensions of change are the convergent impacts of globalization, the increasing importance of knowledge as a main driver of growth, and the information and communication revolution.  

Both opportunities and threats arise out of these new challenges.  On the positive side, the role of tertiary education in the construction of knowledge economies and democratic societies is now more influential than ever.  Tertiary education is central to the creation of the intellectual capacity on which knowledge production and utilization depend and to the promotion of lifelong learning practices.  Another favorable development is the emergence of new types of tertiary institutions and new forms of competition, inducing traditional institutions to change their modes of operation and delivery and take advantage of opportunities offered by the new information and communication technologies.  

At the same time, most developing countries continue to wrestle with difficulties produced by inadequate responses to long-standing challenges faced by their tertiary education system.  Among these unresolved challenges are the sustainable expansion of tertiary education coverage, the reduction of inequalities of access and outcomes, the improvement of educational quality and relevance, and the introduction of more effective governance structures and management practices.

In this context, the presentation will explore the role of tertiary education in building up the capacity of developing countries to participate in the global knowledge economy, with a particular focus on the importance and special challenges faced by business studies.