The International Handbook of Universities gives updated information on some 15,000 universities and university‐level institutions in eighty countries. It was first published in 1959 in response to the growing need for authoritative information about higher education worldwide. The Preface tells us that the information is provided by “the competent authorities or academic bodies, their websites or official documents”. The information thus gleaned is presented in a standardised layout that is easy to follow.
The countries are arranged alphabetically from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe with, oddly, Belgium featuring as two: Belgium – Flemish Community, and Belgium – French Community. Within each country there is an introductory section on the education system, followed by individual institutions arranged alphabetically by name (rather than place). There are three exceptions: Canada and the USA are subdivided by states, and France by overseas territories (there is no national division within the UK where England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland are treated as a single entity despite increasingly differing education systems – maybe something to change in future editions).
The introductory section to each country gives a description of the overall structure of the higher education system: the different stages of study, the admission requirements, the quality assurance or regulation system, and information on national bodies responsible for higher education. In the listings, a distinction is usually made between Public and Private Institutions, with each having a separate sequence. The name of each institution is given first in English, followed by the name in the national language where appropriate. Contact details and website addresses follow with details of the Academic Head, Chief Administrative Officer, and Director of International Relations.
A listing of faculties, colleges, departments, schools and institutes within each institution gives a general guide to its academic structure and normally includes the fields of study offered for which there is a standardised terminology. In addition there is a brief description of the history of the institution and, where available, information on co‐operation programmes with institutions in other countries. An indication is given of admission requirements, with the names of degrees, diplomas and professional qualifications with accrediting agencies. Information is given on fields and duration of studies, main languages of instruction, tuition fees, library holdings (i.e. number of volumes), special facilities and student residential facilities and other services. Overall academic staff and student numbers are given plus publications. The arrangement is standardized and concisely presented, though not all the topics feature in all entries. Finally, a note is given of when the information was last updated.
There are two indexes. The first is a listing of all the institutions featured, using both English and home languages, from the Aachen University of Applied Science to the Žytomyr'skij Nacional'nij Agro‐ekologičnij Univeritet/Zhytomyr National Agro‐Ecological University (of the Ukraine). The second index is an index of fields of study. It is prefixed by an alphabetic‐classed list of standardized subjects. There are 20 main classes with sub‐headings and further divisions. One main heading is Health Science, with a sub‐heading Dentistry, and a further sub‐heading Periodontics. Another main heading is Information Science with six sub‐headings, one of which is Library Science. This latter includes Ancient Books, Archiving, and Documentation Techniques. The main Index of Fields of Study, to which this subject listing is the key, is mind‐blowing! It consists of 207 large‐format pages, each having 16 columns of page numbers, 75 lines to a page. Or some 281,520 page numbers! Looking under those relating to Ancient Books (what an odd term!) are 21 page references. Sadly, there are no courses on Ancient Books in the UK. Going back up the hierarchy, there were 544 courses on Library Sciences, of which six were available in the UK: at the universities of Aberystwyth, Northumbria, Manchester Metropolitan, Robert Gordons (Aberdeen), Brighton (two page references to the same course!) and University College, London. What no Sheffield or Strathclyde? Wrong subject heading! Try Information Management for the former and Information Science for the latter. Apart from the pitfalls of taxonomy, and the extremely heavy wrist‐breaking volumes to manipulate, one has to identify the page number range of the country of interest, and then match this number range to the index. Cumbersome, but it does work!
How good is the information? The layouts are clear and most entries have a “last updated” note. Most of these are dated November 2009, though that for Colorado School of Mines is dated 01/02/07 and those for Mesa State College and Fort Lewis College, both Colorado, is February 2006, while Colorado State University has no date given (probably not updated since the previous volume). Given the apparent year‐long production schedule, understandable in a 5,000‐page 12 kilo shelf‐bending mammoth covering 15,000 institutions from 180 countries, I suppose we must forgive the presence of David Lammy as UK Minister of State for Higher Education, though ousted in May 2010! The information is only as good as reported or documented and while some institutions are short of almost any information, there is always the backstop of institutional websites and contact details.
One major criticism I have is the lack of standardization in the headings used. Some institutions are cited as “University of x” while others as “x University”, with yet others cited as “University of the x” (when “the” becomes a filing term for a computer). Add to this institutions starting with peoples' names and other variations such as the Laura and Alvin Siegal College of Jewish Studies or the twenty‐first Century University Centre (Pachuca), then finding what you are seeking, especially in an index of 190 pages, can easily result in failure. The index does frequently add a place name to assist, but there are no double entries or see references, and no index of places per se. I had great trouble finding institutions in the (familiar to me) UK section for these reasons. Aberystwyth University to Thames Valley University is plain sailing, but then comes a sequence of seventeen institutions from The Arts University College at Bournemouth to The University of York. This is followed by another sequence from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance to York St John University including the plain University of … heading (though with a sub‐sub sequence from University of the Arts, London to University of the West of Scotland). Add to this the separate sequences under the federated universities of Cambridge, London and Oxford, then we have something of an alphabetical jungle. I know a place name listing also has problems – Edge Hill University is at Ormskirk not Edge Hill in Liverpool and there can be dispersed campuses such as at the University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester!, but cross referencing is needed for such a large directory. It is not rocket science!
One suggestion I have to overcome the unwieldy complexity of this work and improve marketing would be for the individual volumes to reflect a regional approach: Europe, the Americas, etc. But given these caveats and the complex nature of this work, it is good to know the information in the handbook, as well as more comprehensive data on higher education systems and credentials in the countries covered, is available online at www.whed‐online.com (WHED=World Higher Education Directory) and on CD‐ROM. Contact onlinesales@palgrave.com for subscription details.
While most libraries may prefer to stock more localised reference sources, or subscribe to the online or CD versions of this handbook, students and administrators who prefer a print source to surf, will find this impressive work a useful resource.
