Higher education the world is at present changing. One of the factors contributing is the changing economic situation. A triangle, i.e. the academic community, the state, the market demand, and the interaction between those factors, controls higher education in a country. This pattern of interaction is undergoing a transformation as most countries would like to reform their higher education system through a series of directed and systematic regulation and deregulation. Williams (1995) uses the term "marketization" for those processes.
Competition in the international economy as one of the results in a heavy burden for developing countries. In the New World order human resources is an important if not the most important factor in determining the success of economic and national development. One of the result of global capitalism on higher education is the rise of competition as governments try to raise enrolment in public and private universities. This results in suffer competition should result in improved capacity to compete among universities and as a result there should be a decrease in the costs of higher education and research. Universities do not only have to compete among themselves, but also in developed countries as there is an increase in competition to obtain the best students, the best teachers, and bigger funding for education and research. Universities do not only have to compete among themselves, but also with the industrial and public sectors, for instance to get the best teachers, different countries have different approaches to this problem. Malaysia e.g. approaches the problem by empowering the universities, i.e. by giving more autonomy through corporatization of the universities.