"Diversity and excellence in Higher Education seem to be conflicting concepts. Nevertheless, they are dynamic and closely intertwined -- indeed they may even require each other. The book brings together insights from ten different countries to analyse these multi-facetted phenomena and discuss how they may be reconciled within higher education. To set the overall context, it critically addresses markets and managerialism, whilst foregrounding the dangers of certain behavior that European countries are currently, though often unwisely, copying from the U.S. 
In a mass Higher Education system, the social basis of the student body diversifies a fact that creates new challenges for planners and managers. The authors study of diversity concentrates particularly upon issues of equity and justice for students, addressing their life cycle transitions from school to higher education, degree completion, postgraduate education and employability. It also considers challenges posed by diversification at the institutional level, encompassing changes in management, leadership, governance and performance assessment. It addresses attempts to achieve excellence by selectivity, thereby contributing to the stratification of university systems; and it explores attempts to achieve excellence by merging smaller institutions to form larger entities. The books overall conclusion is that diversity and excellence are not necessarily enemies but relatives who cannot escape the bond between them. "     

Preface; The Challenges of Diversity and Excellence; New Challenges for Higher Education; Markets and Managerialism: Enhancing Diversity or Promoting Conformity?; Does Size Matter? The Example of the Excellence Initiative and Its Impact on Smaller Universities in Germany; University Merger Processes; The Dangerous Role of Economists in Shaping American Higher Education Policy: Europeans Should Take a Different Path; Impact of Changes on Students; Spatial (In)Justice: Mapping Post-Apartheid South African Tertiary Education Access; Merit and Student Selection: Views of Academics at the University of Porto; Why the Status Quo Isnt Good Enough Examining Student Success for Diverse Populations in the United States; Improving Access to Postgraduate Study in England; Institutional Diversity and Graduate Employability: The Bulgarian Case; Impact of Changes on the Functioning of Institutions; Multi-Tasking Talents? Roles and Competencies of Middle-Level Manager-Academics at Two Austrian Higher Education Institutions; Academic Middle Managers Shaping the Landscape between Policy and Practice; Governance through Transparency Tools: The Case of Romanian Higher Education Reforms; Can Performance-Based Funding Enhance Diversity in Higher Education Institutions?.