Today, a substantial portion of higher education is provided outside of the traditional universities in non-university institutions with a multitude of varied characteristics. In recent decades, higher education systems have been subjected to many changes and reforms throughout the world. One of the most important was undoubtedly the expansion of higher education in the second half of the last century from an elite system to one for the masses. While institutions of higher learning have been in existence for approximately 1,000 years, this exponential growth has been much more recent. This movement toward mass higher education has created substantial national impacts on the development of the systems of higher education. While common denominators of change and adaptation can be identified globally, there remain important differences from country to country. There are many factors challenging higher education today and in the foreseeable future. In one form or another, these issues and trends can be seen in higher education systems throughout the world. They include chronic underfunding, marketisation and competition, alternative providers, massification, internationalisation, governance, leadership, strategic management, accountability, accreditation, and social relevance. Another key factor for many countries, especially in Europe, and the focus of this book, is the current and future status of the higher education systems that differentiate the university and non-university sectors.

This book rediscovers a traditional mode of knowledge that remains viable today. Contrasted to the academic and cultural fads often based on the scientific methodology of the Cartesian legacy, or any number of trendy experiments in education, Poetic Knowledge returns to the freshness and importance of first knowledge, a knowledge of the senses and the passions.

"Poetic knowledge" is not the knowledge of poetry, nor is it even knowledge in the sense that we often think of today, that is, the mastery of scientific, technological, or business information. Rather, it is an intuitive, obscure, mysterious way of knowing reality, not always able to account for itself, but absolutely essential if one is ever to advance properly to the higher degrees of certainty. From Socrates to the Middle Ages, and even into the twentieth century, the case for poetic knowledge is revealed with the care of philosophical archeology. Taylor demonstrates the effectiveness of the poetic mode of education through his own observations as a teacher, and two experimental "poetic" schools in the twentieth century.

Today, a substantial portion of higher education is provided outside of the traditional universities in non-university institutions with a multitude of varied characteristics. In recent decades, higher education systems have been subjected to many changes and reforms throughout the world. One of the most important was undoubtedly the expansion of higher education in the second half of the last century from an elite system to one for the masses. While institutions of higher learning have been in existence for approximately 1,000 years, this exponential growth has been much more recent. This movement toward mass higher education has created substantial national impacts on the development of the systems of higher education. While common denominators of change and adaptation can be identified globally, there remain important differences from country to country. There are many factors challenging higher education today and in the foreseeable future. In one form or another, these issues and trends can be seen in higher education systems throughout the world. They include chronic underfunding, marketisation and competition, alternative providers, massification, internationalisation, governance, leadership, strategic management, accountability, accreditation, and social relevance. Another key factor for many countries, especially in Europe, and the focus of this book, is the current and future status of the higher education systems that differentiate the university and non-university sectors.