My research is grounded in a commitment to understanding and shaping higher education policy through critical, comparative, and equity-focused perspectives. I research the intersections between the policy process and lived experiences, focusing on the actors who are leading change in education policy. Three central questions guide my work:
- How and why does higher education policy change happen across contexts?
- What are the consequences of educational policy change?
- How can the historic barriers and current challenges to equity in higher education policy be addressed?
These questions connect my scholarship across diverse regions – primarily Central Asia, Canada, Europe, and Latin America & the Caribbean – and across three interrelated research axes: the new geopolitics of higher education, the dynamics of structural reform, and addressing systemic inequities.
Across all areas, I aim to generate actionable, policy-relevant knowledge that bridges academic and practitioner communities. I see research as a means to create understanding and engender transformation, and as such it must remain responsive to shifting political, social, and institutional landscapes.
I have published widely in peer-reviewed journals and books and also write for a more general audience. Recordings of my seminars/podcasts are also available.
The new geopolitics of higher education
I conceptualize the new geopolitics of higher education as a response to shifting global dynamics such as rising nationalism, weakened governance, and growing authoritarianism. I introduced the SAIOS framework (scales, agents, interests, opportunity structures), which has become foundational in this area. I continue to refine this framework, including in current work examining how Gen Z students in Kazakhstan make sense of global issues.
Structural reform in higher education
In this axis, I investigate how governments justify reforms, the influence of international dynamics, and the legacy of historical systems. I use comparative policy analysis to understand how actors, agendas, and alternatives shape reform. I apply critical frameworks to interrogate how power operates in policy discourse, particularly in the evolving Canadian landscape for international students. I continue to advance this highly topical research through publications and a 2026 special issue of the Canadian Journal of Higher Education.
Addressing systemic inequities in higher education
This axis reflects my belief that higher education’s transformative potential can only be fulfilled through culturally appropriate policies that address systemic barriers to inclusion. I approach this through a rights-based and social justice lens, studying who has access, who ‘succeeds’, and how systems can better support students. I developed a social justice framework for the right to higher education, which I expanded in a major comparative study introducing a new typology of equity policies. Currently, I am exploring how to sustain equity commitments amid global retrenchment, initially focusing on Latin America and the Caribbean.
Emma Harden-Wolfson 