U.S. colleges and universities have become a critical driver of economic development, both in the United States and abroad. Rockefeller Institute’s Director of Education Studies Jason E. Lane explores these issues in a chapter in the latest book from the Institute of International Education, Latin America’s New Knowledge Economy: Higher Education, Government,
and International Collaboration.

The volume chronicles the rapid economic growth and social changes that have taken place across the region in recent years, and examines these developments through the lens of higher education. In the book, leading scholars from Latin America and the U.S. explore factors that have been catalysts for higher education reforms such as increased access and equity, emphasis on international study, and investment by foreign universities and corporations.

Lane examines the growing role that the United States is playing in the development of higher education in Latin America through binational agreements, student and scholar exchange programs, and the development of international branch campuses by nonprofit and for-profit educational institutions. These cross-border activities evidence the growing role that the United States is playing in the development of higher education in Latin America, as well as the region’s new knowledge economy.

Information on obtaining the book and a video of the book release roundtable with the authors can be found here.

Jason E. Lane is the director of education studies at the Rockefeller Institute, associate professor of educational policy at the University at Albany, and a provost fellow with the State University of New York.