Introduction : higher education in federal countries / Simon Marginson and Martin Carnoy -- The United States of America : changes and challenges in a highly decentralized system / Anthony Lising Antonio, Martin Carnoy and C. Rose Nelson -- Canada : provincial responsibility, federal influence, and the challenge of coordination / Glen A. Jones and Christian Noumi -- Australia : benefits and limits of the centralized approach / Simon Marginson -- Germany : continuous inter-governmental negotiations / Ulrich Teichler -- Brazil : problematics of the tri-partite federal framework / Robert Evan Verhine and Lys M.V. Dantas -- India : the unfulfilled need for cooperative federalism / Jandhyala B.G. Tilak -- Mexico : dilemmas of federalism in a highly politicized and semi-decentralized system / Imanol Ordorika, Roberto Rodríguez-Gómez and Marion Lloyd -- The Russian Federation : pragmatic centralism in a large and heterogeneous country / Isak Froumin and Oleg Leshukov -- China : the "commanding heights" strategy revisited / Rong Wang and Po Yang.