This book offers both a theoretical and empirical examination of elite education, at all stages from the early years to university level. The book explores the various manifestations of internationalisation of education; the implications of these for national education systems; the formation and re-articulation of elite forms of education locally and globally; and how these facilitate the reproduction or disruption of processes of inequality.  The collection critically considers these questions by drawing on contributions from around the world, and focuses on how internationalisation processes shape the various stages of the education system – from early years settings to higher education – in oftentimes quite different ways. At the same time, by engaging with the issues through a range of theoretical lenses, the book invites readers to consider in greater depth the various ways we can come to understand how processes of internationalisation are both embedding butalso at times destabilising the formation and purpose of elite education provision and potentially the configuration of elite groups themselves.  The book will be relevant to academics, researchers, students, policymakers and educators working in or on the field of ‘education’ across the world.

“This book offers an important contribution to the field of Comparative Education. Its value withstands the broad (but also in depth) detailing of possible theoretical frameworks that might be useful in analysing internationalisation, of and in, elite education. … I think that this book would be found as a valuable resource both for the newcomers to the field but also to scholars interested in globalisation in and of education and comparative education scholars interested in mobility and education in general.” (Miri Yemini, Comparative Education, February, 2019)

Claire Maxwell is a reader in Sociology of Education at UCL Institute of Education, University College London, UK.

Ulrike Deppe is a post-doctoral researcher at the Centre for School and Educational Research at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Heinz-Hermann Krüger is Professor of General Education Science at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany.

Werner Helsper is Professor of School Research and General Didactics at the Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany