RECENT TRENDS AND FUTURE TENDENCIES OF HIGHER EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE SOCIALIST COUNTRIES OF EASTERN EUROPE

Developments in higher education in the socialist countries of Eastern Europe are of interest to a large number of the Bulletin readers. In the context of the topic on which this issue of the Bulletin is con‐centrated, the following information is presented. It is based on an article entitled “Recent Trends and issues in Higher Education in Eastern Europe”, which was written by Professor Stefan Kwiatkowski, Deputy Director of the Institute of Science Policy, Technological Progress and Higher Education in Warsaw.     

高等教育与区域发展-以"首都教育"为视角的考察

高等教育与区域发展具有相关性 ,我国经济发展呈现区域化趋势 ,沿海地区展开教育资源竞争 ,以此带动人才战略、技术升级和产业换代及文化发展。在以知识为基础的经济背景下 ,教育被列入第三产业 ,高等教育的发展有可能也有必要与区域经济发展相结合 ,研究北京地区高教发展的有利与不利条件以及高教向边缘发展 ,向沿海发展 ,向企业教育和民办教育发展的趋势。高等教育发展正面临着新一轮资源配置 ,高等教育走廊和远距离校区就是资源重新配置的表现。可以看出高等教育与区域经济发展 ,以及与交通及通讯事业发展的相关性比以往任何时候都更加突出     

DEVELOPMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGY AND US HIGHER EDUCATION

Many educators and planners point out that higher education faces a series of historically significant developments in communications technology. The response to these developments will have a strong impact on the whole system of higher learning. The following article analyses trends as well as their potential consequences, using as an example the situation in the United States. This article is based on the editorial written by George W. Bouham, Editor‐in‐Chief and Publisher of the US magazine “Change”.     

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION

Quite a large number of international meetings devoted to issues concerning higher education are organized each year. The problems of their contribution to the further development of higher education and research in this field are raised in a thought‐provoking article written for “Higher Education in Europe” by Professor E.A. van Trotsenburg, President of the European Association for Research and Development in Higher Education (EARDHE) and Director of the Institute of International Science and University Didactics, University of Klagenfurt.     

RECENT TRENDS AND CURRENT PROBLEMS IN USA HIGHER EDUCATION

In the following article, Professor John D. Millett, Vice‐President of the USA Academy of Educational Development, points out major trends and problems of higher education in the United States, especially in the context of structural economic changes. Many issues discussed in this article will also effect American higher education in the 1980s.

The article is based on a paper Professor Millett presented at the International Seminar on Efficiency of Higher Education (Nieborow, 25‐28 September 1979), (Editor's Note: In No.1, January‐March 1980 of “Higher Education in Europe” other papers delivered at this meeting were presented, as well as the summary of the seminar's discussions.)     

NEW TRENDS IN BULGARIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The process of reform in higher education in post‐1990 Bulgaria is briefly presented. The first step was a law in 1990 mandating academic freedom and university autonomy. Other legislation led to the creation of private higher education institutions and the charging of tuition fees for certain course programmes offered by the state institutions. A serious problem has been the decline in the quality of higher education and research, this due to the economic difficulties resulting from the period of transition and to too much laissez‐faire in higher education in general. In reaction, the state has taken steps to lay down basic requirements for admission to higher education; nationally mandated standards for state certification in certain subjects including medicine, economics, and engineering; and the development of a national quality assessment system for higher education. There has also been the influence of certain international programmes, most notably, TEMPUS. Everyone understands that higher education has a major role to play in order to guarantee the success of the transition process.     

THE DEVELOPMENT AND THE PRESENT SITUATION OF ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION IN GREEK HIGHER EDUCATION

This article gives a bird's eye view of tertiary level environmental education programmes in Greece. As the author points out, environmental education in this country got off to a late start because of a late perception of the need for them. By the end of the 1980's, environmental components had been introduced into teacher training programmes, into the universities both as full course programmes in certain universities and as enrichment courses in most of them, and into the offerings of adult and vocational education. What has evolved is a satisfactory and pragmatic range of offerings to which more must be added to meet increased demand.     

就学就业趋向与研究生教育发展

引语 :我国高等教育在世纪之交经历了大规模的扩招 ,大量高校毕业生进入劳动力市场 ,引发了社会对高等教育发展的广泛关注。我国的劳动力市场究竟需要什么样的大学生 ?未来高校毕业生就业状况会有哪些变化 ?高等教育应该如何面对毕业生就业的压力 ?……这一系列问题既不是纯粹的教育问题 ,也不是纯粹的经济问题。毕业生就业和高等教育发展密切相关。组织本次笔谈之初衷在于试图打破某一专业研究的思维定势 ,深化对高校毕业生就业和高等教育发展的认识 ,因此特邀学科背景不同、学术个性卓尔不群的学者阐述他们对毕业生就业问题的观点和对高等教育发展的关怀。     

CHANGING SOURCES AND PATTERNS OF FINANCE FOR HIGHER EDUCATION: A REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL TRENDS

The last decade has seen considerable changes in patterns of financing higher education in both industrialized and developing countries. Financial stringency affecting public budgets, rapid growth in student numbers, and concern for both efficiency and equity have resulted in changes both in systems of financial support for students and mechanisms for funding higher education institutions. This article reviews recent changes in sources and methods of financing higher education in OECD countries, including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It examines attempts to shift some of the financial burdens, for higher education from public to private sources, through the introduction of tuition fees and student loans, not only in industrialized countries, but also in developing ones in Africa and Asia.     

MAJOR TRENDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN FINLAND

An extensive reform of the educational system is currently taking place in Finland. Reform of the comprehensive school is being implemented already, and the emphasis is at present on secondary and higher education. The major areas of reform are now, and will be during the next few years, the quality and structure of secondary and higher education, and the measures relating to the regional development of the higher education system. We give below information on the following elements of this long‐term reform: - access to higher education;

- reform of university degrees;

- regional development of the higher education system.

     

BASIS OF FURTHER DEVELOPMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN CZECHOSLOVAKIA

We give below the main elements of the programme on which the long‐term future development of higher education in Czechoslovakia will be based.

This information was specially written for the Bulletin by Professor Jiri M#akeri?ka, director of the Research Institute for Engineering studies in Prague, who is also a CEPES liaison officer.     

HIGHER EDUCATION AND THE CONCEPT OF LIFELONG EDUCATION

The following article does not give a complete answer to the above question nor does it define the concept of lifelong education, but it shows the place and the role of lifelong education in the system of education.

The article is based on the first chapter of the study written by James B. Ingram, Director of the B. Ed. Course at Bradford College (the United Kingdom) in collaboration with the Unesco Division of Educational Structures, Contents and Methods and the Unesco Institute for Education in Hamburg.