ABSTRACT. During its Sixteenth Session conference in Istanbul (1989), the Ministers of Education of the Council of Europe recognized the rapid development of the information society (Council of Europe, 1989). Their prediction was that new communication technology would impact areas of social, political, economic, and cultural life, requiring fundamental changes in education to provide subjects with the knowledge and skills needed to participate in a global economy. The purpose of this study is to provide an analysis of the European anticipation to modernization and its resulting approach to traditional institutions of knowledge. From there, insights into the impact of this European Integration are shown to influence US educational policy in intended and unintended ways. The global impact of European Integration is explored using the local case of educational policy at the University of Illinois. This analysis exposes the inescapable influence European policies are having on US higher education admissions standards, educational policies, and the potential fulfillment of higher education goals in the U.S. The lessons learned from this analysis will enable a generation of wide-ranging guidelines to promote a successful transition by US policymakers to a more globally competitive educational environment. pp. 68–77

Keywords: modernization, access, globalization, European Union,
supranational organizations