Central Government and Higher Education Planning 1965–1986

The development of a planning body for public sector higher education in England has created the potentiality for an integrated planning approach to university and non-university higher education. Following a difficult birth, the National Advisory Body has worked with the University Grants Committee on a range of transbinary issues. The contrasting relationships between the Department of Education and Science and the two planning bodies is discussed and the need for further developments of the planning machinery debated. The arrangements for Wales and Scotland are also discussed .     

The Creation of a Vocational Sector in Swiss Higher Education: balancing trends of system differentiation and integration

The article discusses the establishment of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education as a complement to the existing two‐tier system of cantonal Universities and federal Institutes of technology. The origins of this new player, its missions and organisational features are discussed. This overall discussion is placed into the context of changing landscape of Swiss higher education policy characterised by increasing pressures for geographical reorganisation of the higher education sector under the auspices of a more direct role of the federal government. The article makes two points. First, it argues that the creation of a vocational sector in Swiss higher education combines two contradictory trends. On the one hand, this new sector tends to provide differentiation at the system level, through the creation of a new, more marked‐oriented sector of higher education. On the other hand, system differentiation at the system level is threatened by increased demands for greater inter‐institutional cooperation and system integration, emanating principally from the federal level. Second, the article also argues that the distinction between ‘academic/scientific’ vs. ‘vocational/professional’ education generally referred to when studying the emergence of non‐university sectors in higher education, is not pertinent for the analysis of the Swiss case. Two reasons are brought forward to sustain this argument. First, this distinction reinforces an artificial binary divide, no longer relevant to assess the evolution of higher education institutions placed in a context of academic and vocational drifts. Second, the ‘academic’ vs. ‘professional’ opposition does not take into consideration the political organisation of the country and how this impacts on policy making in higher education; a crucial element in the Swiss context.     

Academic staff and academic drift in Australian colleges of advanced education

The Australian colleges of advanced education have been developed since the mid-1960s mainly on the initiative of the federal government with the aim of creating a separate sector of higher education parallel to the universities. They illustrate well what has been referred to in the literature as academic drift, a process whereby non-university institutions aspire to become more like universities. Academics in the colleges of advanced education have contributed to the process of upward drift. Academic drift in turn has produced important changes on some key characteristics of college academics.     

Non-university sector of higher education closer to the labour market: the Polish experience

Higher education in many countries has been influenced by major factors of change due to globalization and reinforced by the development of internationalization, competition, new and different social demands, strategic importance of higher education as a business, etc. As a result of a tremendous growth in the number of students, higher education is moving towards 'mass studies'; in many cases, this is not coupled with proportional increases in expenditure on education, thus lowering the quality of education. Many countries are trying to solve this problem by developing two sectors of higher education, which may be called 'university sector' and 'vocational/non-university sector'. While the mission of the university sector is to educate intellectual élites, higher vocational education schools should, in principle, offer mass education at the undergraduate/first-stage level. Both types of higher education institutions are needed, and thus one could not speak of any subordination of one sector to another. In 1997 the Polish Parliament passed the Act on Vocational Higher Schools. The Act served as the basis for the establishment of the Accreditation Commission for Vocational Higher Schools, which has the task of laying down educational standards and defined conditions which should be met in order to establish and provide courses in specific vocational specialization as well as staff requirements for such specialization. Furthermore, standards were introduced for teaching facilities and curriculum contents. During the 3 years since the introduction of the Act, 16 public higher vocational education schools and 44 non-public higher vocational schools have been established.     

Bologna in Context: a horizontal perspective on the dynamics of governance sites for a Europe of Knowledge

This article presents a horizontal perspective on the dynamics of governance sites currently active for the European of Knowledge and places the Bologna process in this wider European level context. It introduces two dynamics of change in political organisation: a) institutional differentiation and specialisation and b) the interaction between institutional spheres and sectors. Signs of sectoral differentiation are identified in the history of European integration that is relevant to the Europe of Knowledge. The argument is that the nature and sequence of the differentiation process are key to understand current governance processes. It is illustrated by showing how a horizontal dynamics has been played out in the case of the EU's Lisbon strategy and in particular the cooperation taking place in the framework of the EU's “Education and Training 2010” work programme. The analysis shows how the Bologna process, although perpetuated as a sector internal governance site, has co-evolved and interacted with this strategy, partly as an object of emulation and source of support and partly as a competing governance site. A horizontal dynamics of change is also evident in the larger Lisbon strategy as it lifted research and higher education policy to the centre of the European integration project. It resulted in the development of several governance sites with different foci targeting European higher education. A more prominent place on the political agenda came together with demands that research and education should be integrated with the overall political and economic objectives of the EU.     

Higher Education in the Republic of Ireland: Participation and Performance

This paper describes the expansion and diversification of higher education in the Republic of Ireland and examines some of the principal characteristics of higher education entrants. It is estimated that in 1995, some 43 per cent of the age cohort entered the full-time higher education system in the Republic of Ireland with a further 5 per cent enrolling in UK colleges. While these increasing admission rates have been fuelled by rising completion rates at second level they reflect, primarily, rising transition rates into higher education from those who complete the Leaving Certificate. The greater part of the expansion has taken place in the non-university sector which is characterised by a preponderance of sub-degree programmes, heavily concentrated in the areas of Business Studies, Engineering and Applied Science. A noticeable feature of higher education admissions is the low percentage of older students. The great majority come directly from school with increasingly high levels of attainment in the Leaving Certificate reflecting stiff competition for places, especially in the university sector. While there continues to be large disparities by socioeconomic group in access to higher education, the most recent data point to some reduction in equality. Western counties have consistently had higher third level admission rates with lower rates in eastern counties, including Dublin, and border counties.     

发达国家院校合并的发展经验及其效果分析

从上世纪70年代开始,许多发达国家都掀起了院校合并的热潮。本文介绍了国外院校合并的发展经验:院校合并采取的形式多样;院校合并主要是在非大学里进行或者是非大学被大学所吸收;院校领导在院校合并后采取措施来整合和重建学术文化。     

Research in the non-university higher education sector – tensions and dilemmas

This article analyses the increasing emphasison research in the non-university highereducation sector in Norway as an importantfaculty task in addition to teaching. Thisdevelopment is an interesting example on thetypes of tension and dilemma that may emergewhen institutions and individual staff memberstry to imitate the research profile of theuniversities. A central dimension is thetension between traditional professional andvocational norms for education and R&D work,and academic ideals. Based on a survey amongfaculty members at the state colleges, eightpolicy dilemmas faced by these colleges intheir internal allocation of resources for R&Dare illustrated.     

The External Dimension of the Bologna Process: Higher Education in South East Europe and the European Higher Education Area in a Global World Reforming the Universities of South East Europe in|sq| View of the Bologna Process

Although the Bologna Process expresses the conviction that the higher education systems of the countries signatory to the Bologna Declaration (1999) should become increasingly comparable and compatible, it leaves higher education as a national responsibility and protects and encourages cultural and educational diversity. Given this statement of principle, the author discusses the special problems involved in adapting the higher education systems of South East Europe to the Bologna Process, citing his own country, Slovenia, as an example. He examines the issues of diversity versus integration, the modernization of curricula, the development of a proper balance between institutional autonomy and the national co-ordination of higher edu cation, the links between university and non-university higher education, and the preparation, in higher education institutions, of teachers for primary and secondary school education.     

The Governance of Higher Education in a Federal System: The Case of Switzerland

In the last decade or so, Swiss higher education has experienced important transformations. These have affected not only the components of the system, by the creation of a higher vocational education sector, but also – and more importantly – the governance structures of the system as a whole. In October1999, the changes culminated in the revision of the only federal Act co-ordinating higher education policy. Based on an analysis of the new legal framework, the present paper explore show changes in the governance of the system modify the type of relationships between federal authorities and cantonal governments. It does so by looking into three particular domains: the bodies and agencies involved in the policy-making, the patterns of funding and the issue of quality assurance. It concludes that the governance structures that emerge from the new legal framework mirror the difficult balance to be found between the two political levels. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Accumulation of Cultural Capital: The Funding of UK Higher Education in the Twentieth Century

Recent discussion of future models for development in UK higher education pay insuffcient attention to the long-term structural development of higher education systems in Europe and the USA. It is argued that, contrary to widespread belief, the US system has itselfrelied heavily on state and federal funding since the period of its major expansion in the inter-war period. It is also suggested that the problem with the UK higher education sector is that is has always lacked the level of private funding available to the US system. There are therefore few grounds to support the view that expansion of the UK higher education sector can be based on an increased level of private finance; this has never been available to a signifiant degree, and even the US system does not noeo rely on it as much as on state funding.     

Positioning Australian Universities for the 21st Century

Based on the assumption that corporate learning is a growing sector that will be serviced by companies providing learning opportunities and services quickly and efficiently on a business-to-business (B2B) basis, using electronic technologies, the paper argues on the basis of Australian experience that higher education will undergo very considerable change. In Australia universities are being encouraged to become trading enterprises; they are forming cartels and partnerships; and they are increasingly focusing on the global market. However, they are at risk of competition from large, global, non-university sector players who see education as a market. This article explores the paradigm shifts that are driving change, and provides an insight into one company's vision of what the future might look like.     

Different but equal? Assessing European dual HE systems

In higher education dual systems, graduates are qualified to apply for jobs in same professional fields along two separated educational routes. The research problem is whether the rival applicants for professional positions are treated equally in the labour market despite their different qualifications. From the graduates point of view, to be equal means to have an opportunity to be employed in accordance with one’s professional skill. Applying European survey data, the article tests to what extent the ‘distribution of work’ between university and non-university graduates seems to be based on educational qualifications or actual competence. Among 4,000 German, Dutch, Finnish, and Swiss graduates primarily in business and administration and engineering, only slight and occasional evidence of ‘status-based recruitment’ was found. All in all, the research suggests that from the view of graduate employment, the European dual HE systems work very much following the principle of ‘different but equal’.     

Education in the knowledge-based society: the case of the Philippines

There has been a sustained interest in the contribution of higher education in local, regional and national development in many countries. Along this line is the increasing internationalization and globalization of services to which the higher education sector is anticipated to respond through the updating and modernization of its offerings, changing of its formal structures and methods, policies regarding access, among others. The challenges of higher education in the global context anticipate the internationalization of this sector as a means that can provide an efficient response to and training for the evolving demands of modern society. This article reviews the programmes enacted by the Philippine government in response to the changing context of higher education with the move towards the knowledge-based society as central in policy. Issues relevant to the growing internationalism of education as seen through, among others, related human capital training, the role of research and development (R&D), and the increasing privatization of education as a result of the expansion of higher education will also be discussed.     

肯尼亚私立高等教育的发展和挑战

2世纪80年代以来,非洲的高等教育危机引发了私立高等教育的发展,肯尼亚是一个典型的代表.肯尼亚私立高等教育历史虽然不长,但发展速度迅猛,已经成为高等教育的重要组成部分.本文立足肯尼亚的现实,分析了该国私立高等教育发展的原因,介绍了其发展现状和私立高校的特色,最后从持续发展的角度提出了私立高等教育面临的挑战,意在全方位地展现肯尼亚私立高等教育发展的概貌.     

The past,present and future of widening participation research

The provisions of the Higher Education Act (2004) have renewed interest in widening participation research. Therefore, this paper explores the development of this scholarly field, primarily in the United Kingdom, by examining major trends in the study of higher education. Political debates related to higher education, the prevailing structure of the sector and predominant sociological perspectives have largely shaped the empirical and theoretical concerns of widening participation research. These delimiting factors have resulted in incomplete accounts of the barriers to higher education, which do not fully explore the relationship between students’ social characteristics, learning experiences and university careers. Furthermore, contemporary research runs the risk of reinventing the wheel and replicating the mistakes of the past, since there has been a collective act of forgetfulness with respect to earlier contributions. In contrast, this paper provides guidelines to facilitate a holistic agenda for future widening participation research.     

Institutionalization of Higher Vocational Education in China: A Neoinstitutionalist Perspective

From the perspective of neoinstitutionalism, higher vocational education has become an emerging institution in Chinese society. Its development over three decades entails a trend of institutionalization of higher vocational education. In such a process, higher vocational education is gaining legitimacy and experiencing isomorphic changes. Various challenges have indicated an absence of institutional legitimacy at all levels of higher vocational education, namely regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive legitimacy. The latter two are considered key for the ongoing process of institutionalizing higher vocational education. Moreover, the emergence and development of higher vocational education in China has indicated isomorphic changes in Chinese higher education in terms of non-university sectors, practical/skills learning, teachers with dual qualifications and graduate employment.     

Development of private higher education in Macau: Exploring the relationship between government and private sector

The development of private higher education in Macau has experienced rapid growth in the past two decades. The purpose of this paper is to understand this trend by investigating the facts and figures supplied by official sources and to analyze the role between the Government and the private sector. This paper shows that the attitude of the Macau Government is neither authoritative nor laissez-faire toward private higher education. On the one hand, the Government is investing heavily in the public sector. On the other hand, it is assisting the private sector by various means. However, there is a lack of systematic planning in the area of public-private partnership. There are also two issues which may hinder the current development of private higher education. They are an outdated legal framework and a lack of standardized quality assurance measures.     

试论我国民办高等教育可持续发展的政策环境

改革开放以来,我国民办高等教育长足发展的同时存在不容忽视的问题:国家发展民办高等教育的指导思想与性质定位不够明确,政策和法律法规模糊,政府对民办高校的管理模式僵化,政策的失衡导致民办高校与公办高校同等的公平待遇难以落实。因此,急需用科学发展观指导民办高等教育的发展,加强立法,规范政策和完善管理制度,建立可持续发展的政策环境,促进民办高等教育和公办高等教育和谐发展。     

Three Decades of Implementation Research in Higher Education: Limitations and Prospects of Theory Development

The article adopts a comparative approach to review three periods of theory development in research into higher education policy implementation. Given the conceptual affinity between Cerych and Sabatier's 1986 seminal study into higher education policy implementation and public policy implementation theory, the field of public policy is chosen for reference and comparison. The article argues, first, that the underlying characteristics of higher education research such as sector‐isolatedness, application drift and sensitivity to political agendas hindered the development of sector‐specific theories of policy implementation. Second, this gap in theory formation started to be narrowed from the late 1990s onwards, due to critical reappraisal of the 1986 study and due to limited utilisation of mid‐range theory concepts conceived within or related to the public policy field. It is through the utilisation of such public policy theory that higher education implementation research may reach a more mature stage.