The United Nations has designated 2001 as the "Year of Dialogue among Civilizations". This presentation will explore the emergence of the concept of a dialogue among civilizations since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, and the debates over a potential Clash of Civilizations initiated by Harvard Professor Samuel Huntington. The focus of the presentation will be on how universities may take an active role in this dialogue among civilizations. Views of knowledge, and institutional patterns of higher education, which are rooted in three major Eastern civilizations, the Chinese, the Indian and the Arabic, have much the contribution to the reshaping of higher education in the global arena. Particular attention will be given to the role of women in higher education in different civilizations. Some examples are given of how women's approaches to knowledge may facilitate universities in entering actively into dialogue with other civilizations, and in balancing the local with the global in their knowledge orientation. Women contributors have provided some examples of women's ways of knowing and communication within and across civilizations in the revised version of Knowledge Across Cultures which is a representative work on universities and the dialogue among civilizations published of late years. From the different points of view and cultural backgrounds they have introduced reformation and achievements in their homelands. Take, for example, Ursula Franklin who is a distinguished professor emeritus of metallurgy at the University of Toronto. Her studies and attention went beyond pure scientific investigation. She thus drew a conclusion that technology must be understood in its social and cultural context and cannot be simply transferred across social and cultural boundaries as neutral or universal set of rules or principles. Take another example of Renuka Narang who had made every effort to do her pioneering work at the University of Mumbai in developing a program of extension for rural women. Through this program the university promotes awareness of indigenous roots of knowledge in rural India, and makes it possible for the university to enter into all the challenges and opportunities of globalization.