Market trends in Spanish higher education

Higher education in Spain broke away from its close dependency on the State in the last decade. In this paper we analyze the steps undertaken by the Spanish higher education system which has allowed market influences to grow in recent years. We analyze the historical framework and legal changes which have facilitated market trends in higher education. We consider the influence of these market trends on the financial and organizational structure of universities. We conclude that, though the steps are still hesitant, market-like elements are increasingly affecting every aspect of higher education life.     

Wie viele Schuljahre bis zum Abitur?

Reducing the number of school years until graduation from academic-track secondary schooling (“G8”) has been one of the most important structural changes to schooling in the past few years. The reduction is one element of more compressed and accelerated processes in institutional education implemented over the last decade. The extent to which the changes in the systemic context of schooling affect organizational and instructional processes and results, or the school actors concerned (teachers, pupils and their families), has only been insufficiently investigated so far. This contribution provides an overview of this barely investigated topic. Following a review of the historical developments, the normative debates regarding reduced school time will be presented and then compared with the current state of research. The paper closes with an analysis of different models for organizing the reduction of school years and an outlook on current developments.     

Strategic decision making in higher education

One of the main objects of the recently developed policy for Dutch higher education regards the creation of a more diversified higher education system with flexible and adaptive institutions. The nature of the proposed system should, among other things, reveal itself in meaningful and discriminating institutional profiles, based on strategic institutional choices. This article reflects on the degree to which these objects are realized. After the introduction of the new planning system in Dutch higher education, the article deals with the possibility of strategic planning in higher education institutions in general. Three different, but not necessary independent, models are distinguished: the linear strategy model, the adaptive strategy model and the interpretive strategy model. It is argued that the latter model can be applied best to higher education institutions. Some evidence on strategic planning in Dutch higher education illustrates the practice in this field. Empirical evidence shows that the governmental aim to increase the diversity in Dutch higher education is not very successful up till now. On the contrary, it seems that various homogenizing developments emerge. The concept of institutional isomorphism helps to explain some of the problems institutions encounter when trying to formulate and implement their strategies.     

Steering Dynamics in the Dutch Education System

Based on detailed empirical analyses, we paint a layered picture of emerging steering dynamics. Inspired by Foucault, we put the focus on roles stakeholders define both for themselves and others, how they give sense to policy, how they work together in policy elaboration and implementation, and the subtle and sometimes deceitful function of soft policy instruments such as information, communication, support and research. The policy to stimulate ‘schools as learning organisations' in secondary education in the Netherlands is used as a case study. The Dutch education system is one of the most decentralised en complex systems in the world. While central Government aims to turn schools into learning organisations, it has no formal responsibility nor any direct means of control in this area. The study draws information from (1) relevant government reports, policy documents and websites and (2) semi‐structured interviews with key actors. Data analysis consisted of data reduction through coding and memoing, data displays in tables and networks, and drawing and verifying conclusions. In the ground layer of the steering picture, we reconstruct how ‘schools as learning organisations' came to be a topic for Government policy. The next layer identifies 20 (networks of) actors who play a substantial role in steering. The mutual relationships between the main actors are manifold, while funding appears to be an important means for the Ministry to position actors in a steering network. A wide array of steering modes was identified. The last step in our analysis adds a dynamic element to the picture, as we look at how different actors interact, starting with how actors envision their own steering roles and the role of others. The non‐complementary role definitions that were identified in the documents, were confirmed in the interviews. Our results illustrate, in Foucault's terminology, different processes of responsibilisation and normalisation. Above all, the study illustrates that the theoretical framework provides a promising starting point for the empirical study of steering dynamics in complex education systems.     

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.     

Worlds apart? Amalgamation and the restructuring of the higher education system in Australia and the Netherlands

Both in Australia and the Netherlands, the higher education system is experiencing profound changes. In this article an attempt is made to analyze these changes and to explore to what extent similarities exist between two countries who are geographically far apart and whose higher education systems are located within different traditions. The article focuses an two main themes. In the first part the change and reforms within higher education policy are explored. After presenting an overview of the Dutch higher education system and the recent policy developments which have taken place, a comparison is made with the recent changes that have occurred in Australia. In this comparison, emphasis is placed on governmental steering, control and institutional autonomy. In the second part of the paper, one of the major instruments adopted in both countries for system change is discussed, namely institutional amalgamation or merger. The objective of the article is to bring forward some broad trends apparent in both countries, not a detailed analysis. A second limitation is that attention is confined to the policy documents and actions of the Australian federal government. State governments’ responses and actions are not taken into account. Although this is a severe limitation, an incorporation of State plans and actions would exceed the scope of this article.     

Knowledge management as a mechanism for technological and organizational change management in Israeli universities

During the last decade, the higher education sector has experienced many pressures and changes (Hanna, Educause Review, 38(4), 25–34, 2003; Scott, Educause Review, 38, 64–80, 2003; Waterhouse, The power of e-learning: The essential guide for teaching in the digital age, 2005). Universities around the world are facing the need to adapt to a rapidly changing educational and social landscape, in which technology is both the main cause of change and a tool for dealing with the change. This study examines the organization-wide technological changes that have infiltrated every aspects of life at all universities that are part of the higher education system in Israel during the last 7 years: the introduction of on-line instruction, e-learning and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) technology for university work processes The research findings show that there is a mechanism for managing organization-wide technological changes at Israeli universities but it is not a rational one. This study proposes a model for managing organization-wide technological changes in universities on the basis of the existing mechanism, using knowledge management strategies for the purpose of change management: KM-M-CM (Knowledge Management as a Mechanism for Change Management) Implementation of this model will make it possible to realize the challenge of transforming the university from a "knowledge institution" to a "learning institution." It will come life to the extent that the higher education system in Israel, its leaders and decision-makers understand the need for a permanent mechanism to manage change and adopt this rational model in order to establish it.     

20世纪90年代德国高等教育财政改革述评

20世纪 90年代是统一后的德国高等教育财政改革十分活跃的 1 0年。高等教育拨款、科研经费、学生资助三个层面的改革举措 ,使德国高等教育财政体制和运行机制向以市场为导向、以效益为本位、以多元投资为特征的方向演变     

Constructivist research in educational technology: A retrospective view and future prospects

Along with a socially urgent impetus for revolutionary reform of an educational environment appropriate to the 21st century society, constructivism is highlighted in various fields related to education as an alternative educational ideology and approach. Despite its radical shift from traditional learning environments, and the diverse interpretation and understanding among scholars on the nature of constructivism, constructivism surely has brought out meaningful changes and developments in understanding how people learn. In light of this context, the present study aims to retrospectively review the last decade of constructivism, which will be followed by a brief prospective on its future in the next decade, simultaneously taking into account expectations as to how constructivism can stand firm as a theoretical basis for the digital age.     

Some economic and ideological aspects of the reform of education and training in England and Wales in the last ten years

This paper reviews the changes, which have been introduced to public education in Australia, particularly over the last decade. These changes are analysed against the background of the free, compulsory and secular Education Acts that were implemented in every Australian colony during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. This legislation has formed the cornerstone of public education in Australia since that time. The principles of free, compulsory and secular public education and the underlying social values which underpinned the legislation are re-examined, together with the factors leading to the development of the centralized state education bureaucracies which were set up to administer the Acts. In considering current changes to public education policy in Australia, the paper argues that the principles underlying the establishment of public education have been significantly eroded. In the space of little more than a decade, the social values underpinning the Education Acts have been dramatically changed, leading to a re-invention of what public education means in this country.     

A changed language of education with new actors and solutions: the authorization of promotion and prevention programmes in Swedish schools

This article demonstrates how changes in the language of Swedish education policy have opened up a new social perception of education, in which space has been created for new actors, models and solutions in terms of managing activities in schools. Specifically, it seeks to illustrate how various promotion and prevention programmes have been authorized and disseminated without critical inquiry or resistance in the education sector. To this end, we analyse how the specific, essentially contested concepts of health, value base and communication have been employed in authoritative national documents over the two last decades. For our analysis, we draw on speech act theory, with a focus on linguistic performativity, as we have been interested in analysing how concrete authoritative actors have ‘performed’ various arguments. The analysis helps us to understand how the linguistic force originating from authoritative agencies can be used by different actors as a way to legitimize their arguments and actions. The results demonstrate how different national authorities, as a consequence of their use of the three concepts analysed, have contributed to the establishment of promotion and prevention programmes in education.     

The case of the Jewish High School in Berlin: a denominational school dealing with diversity

The following contribution deals with the conception of Jewish schools in Germany. With regard to the British debate about state funding for religious schools, current developments in the Jewish educational system in Germany will be presented. After this, the constitutional framework for the establishment of denominational schools in Germany will be analysed. The second and major part of the article deals, as a case study, with the Jewish High School in Berlin, which is the only Jewish secondary school in contemporary Germany. In an empirical qualitative approach, the desires and expectations of the pupils in their religious education take centre stage. Before moving to the empirical study, an overview of the history of the Jewish High School, its re‐establishment in 1993 and a profile of the pupils and the school will be provided, in order to understand the special character of this school. The conclusion in the last part raises the question of new directions emerging from a Jewish school which has pupils who are heterogeneous culturally, religiously and socially and which does not react with a strategy of cultural preservation, but with a policy of inter‐religious dialogue.     

Responding Creatively to Challenges in Teacher Education: four women teacher educators tell their stories

This paper reports on a study that has mapped the stories of a group of women teacher educators. While the focus is on the period of change during the last 10 years from primarily teachers’ colleges to university‐based teacher education, the broader context of the individual women's lives is explored as well. The stories are mapped against each other and against relevant literature. In this way the study considers the challenge of change on the experiences of these women teacher educators. This study has been informed by feminist theory and has been constructed within a framework which is both narrative and collaborative. As Acker notes ‘one advantage of narrative is that history makes itself evident in the world of its actors’. In this way the intersections of the personal histories and biographies of the teacher educators within the social context in which they work are examined. These women teacher educators’ stories demonstrate similarities and differences in actions and reactions to the challenges they have faced in the last decade in teacher education. The similarities and differences are due to individual histories, career experiences and the character of the institutions in which they live their professional lives. In presenting this paper, the key focus is on reporting how the forces inherent in the changing nature of the educational environment have impacted on these teacher educators in such a way as to present challenges for each in the way they have developed in their profession as teacher educators.     

Universities’ Autonomy in Times of Changing Higher Education Governance: A study of the Swiss academic labour market

Although eternally debated, the issue of autonomy in higher education is rarely analysed in its complexity. To address this issue, this article uses an analytical matrix which combines the distinction between substantive and procedural autonomy and the distinction between HEI governing bodies, academic professions and individual academics. This framework allows for analysing—by the example of the Swiss academic labour market—how changes in national steering can lead to the redistribution of autonomy between the mentioned actors. Further insights relate to the observed higher education system’s decentralised character. Empirical findings—based on the examination of three special programmes initiated by the federal government—indicate that HEI actors lose some substantive autonomy in favour of the Confederation, and—against the general tendency induced by New Public Management to reinforce HEI governing bodies—procedural autonomy is rather redistributed to individual academics and academic professions.     

Structural changes in higher education systems in Western Europe

This article gives an overview and analysis of structural changes of higher education systems in Western Europe, and how the various countries have changed their systems over the last four decades. Emphasis is placed on the development of a non‐university higher education sector in most countries. The question to be discussed is the extent to which the various countries converge to a common structural model for the organization of higher education – either a binary system which is the most common model today, or a unified but hierarchical system as in the United Kingdom.     

Strategic Innovation in HE: The Roles of Academic Middle Managers

This article explains the development of, and presents a theoretical framework for, harnessing the roles of the academic middle manager in strategic innovation in Dutch higher education, thereby increasing higher education’s ability to learn, innovate and develop a competitive advantage. The framework is developed from theoretical models of role interactions in an educational context and in business organizations. It is also based on an empirical pilot study of the role of the academic middle manager and reviews of other relevant literature. The aim of this article will be to explore and discuss ways of analyzing the way in which academic middle managers influence strategic innovations in universities.     

LIFELONG EDUCATION AND THE UNIVERSITIES OF THE UNITED KINGDOM

The higher education system of the United Kingdom, of which the universities are only part, is changing rapidly. Although broad social conditions explain why universities should be centres of lifelong learning and specific institutional needs are in fact pushing them in this direction, changing demography is only one explanation among many. The kinds of programmes and related policies concerning students, teaching and curricula which are seen as relevant to continuing or lifelong education are widening and diversifying as the political and funding environment of higher education also changes. Research on continuing education and that generated by it are also being perceived differently. The new decade of the 1990's seems likely to witness significant changes in what is identified as continuing education as present trends in favour of integration or mainstreaming accelerate and new arrangements are made for more accessible and flexible forms of study both for degrees and for short courses. This process will be a part of a wider and more fundamental change as higher education moves somewhat towards a mass from an élite model and as the concept of a university and of a university education changes in step behind these changes in practice. The possibility exists that more fundamental changes in the initial undergraduate curriculum will also make universities more effective centres in terms of preparing their young students for lifelong learning.     

德国高校本科课程设置原则及结构模式分析

德国高等教育在过去的十年里不仅成功完成了学制改革,还在改革过程中保留了其教育的基本特色,成功实现了国际化和本土化的有机衔接。本文以德国美因茨大学的经济学本科专业课程设置为实例,在分析其课程设置的基础上,对德国高校在学制改革过程中所遵循的基本原则及结构模式特色进行了总结,以期为我国的高等教育国际化提供有价值的参考。     

The Implementation of Bachelor and Master Programmes in Hungary

Hungary's higher education system is being transformed fundamentally for a second time after the regime change in 1989–90. The first Higher Education Act was passed in 1993. An entirely new law issued in December 2005 involved fundamental changes in the entire higher education system. The most sweeping change was the introduction of the two‐cycle programme structure which, with a few exceptions, began in September 2006. National qualification requirements were replaced by education and outcome requirements, focusing on set competences defined for each study programme. This article provides a background, with facts and figures, of the Hungarian higher education system and an overview of the process and problems encountered that led up to the implementation of the Bachelor/Master structure. The reception of the system, based on interviews with various actors affected by higher education, reveals mixed responses, with respondents stressing the opportunity and their hope for a fundamental reform. The article also elaborates the goals and consequences of the ‘Bologna structure’. The traditional binary institutional structure of colleges and universities remains in place, but with both permitted to launch Bachelor and Master programmes. How colleges will be able to compete with more theoretically oriented universities in preparing for Master studies and, vice versa, how universities will be able to offer education at the Bachelor level that will be competitive in the job market remain to be seen. The final sections of the article deal with other aspects of the Bologna Process, such as ECTS, and the Diploma Supplement. One of the main concerns is that the quality of higher education, which was perceived to be at a high level in Hungary, even in the 15 years since mass education overtook what was previously an elite sector, should not deteriorate. The reciprocal effects of the new degrees and the job market are challenges Hungarian higher education will face a few years down the road.