Academic Excellence towards World-Class Universities

Knowledge has become the currency of the new global market; the most successful societies in the future will be those that optimize the creation, distribution, and utilization of knowledge. In this optimization, the universities will playa crucial role. It is therefore important that universities achieve the highest level of intellectual standing. Universities were originally created and continue to enjoy public support because they are service organizations serving the growing needs of society for knowledge and professional skills and service. But that responsibility is best discharged not by immersion in the issues of the moment, but by taking the larger, comprehensive view of knowledge, in all its dimensions. The community that is a university is the best means yet devised for achieving that comprehensive view, with all its benefits. Perhaps the biggest challenge for the university is to balance the inevitable tension between that scholarly community, and the degree of separation that sustains it and responsible concern for the clamouring needs of society. This paper will concisely discuss the merits of world-class universities and the expected qualities required to achieve the much sought-afterprestigious status.