Private Higher Education in Russia: capacity for innovation and investment

This article considers the potential role of private institutions in the development of Russian higher education. After decades of a government centralised higher education system, there is a clear trend towards the privatisation of education institutions and the diversification of education practices. Some commentators consider this to indicate that the Russian State is losing control of education; others welcome private initiatives, both in formal and informal education. Russian higher education has also been greatly challenged by the current demographic gap: the total number of secondary school graduates expected in 2012 is half that of 2006. This strengthens the competition for the enrolment of students in private and public (federal and municipal) institutions. Based on recent interviews with senior management at a number of provincial private universities, this article suggests possible avenues for private universities to extend into the education market and considers the implications.     

DEUS and the DEUS TraiNet

Historically DEUS (Danish Enterprise University System) grew out of a number of distance learning projects in various educational sectors, i.e. both open university degree courses and tailor-made continuing and training courses. The DEUS TraiNet is recognised as a UETP (University Enterprise Training Partnership) by the COMETT programme. It is a network of universities, organisations and Danish companies established with a view to promote collaboration between industry and higher. education institutions. DEUS partners are engaged in a number of international projects including COMETT, ERASMUS and the DELTA-programme. DEUS is a fill sponsor of EuroPACE.     

Finance reform in Japanese higher education

One of the characteristics in Japan's system of higher education is its large private higher education sector. However, recent financing reforms have targetedmainly national universities since the largestproportion of government support to highereducation goes to these institutions. Recentreforms have been changing the structure and natureof national university finance. These changeswere also influenced by a large private sector. Private universities also compete with nationaluniversities in order to increase financialresources. Therefore, there is a need toreconsider resource allocation and thedistribution of functions among whole universities.     

Internationalising higher education: comparing the challenges of different higher education institutions in Malaysia

Internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia is seen as a means for improving and empowering higher education so that the higher education institutions in the country can become comparable to the best in the world. While the government has spelt out the directions as well as some of the targets for internationalisation, higher education institutions in the country have been internationalising for different reasons and with different levels of priority and intensity. Public universities, especially the older ones, have been engaged in internationalisation as part of their academic growth and development. Concurrently, a variety of private institutions of higher learning has evolved since the opening up of private higher education from the 1980s. These include private universities that have been established by large corporations, smaller private colleges that have been elevated to the status of degree-conferring institutions as well as branch campuses of foreign universities. The objective of this paper is to examine the different concepts and challenges of internationalisation faced by the different types of higher education institutions in the country, using the case study approach. It was found that in each of these cases, the concept of internationalisation and the challenges faced are different, although funding is raised as a problem in three of the four cases. These different challenges imply that current policies may have to be fine-tuned in order to address the different needs of these institutions in their respective efforts to internationalise.     

From state to market coordination: the Chilean case

Chile's higher education system has moved a long way from state and professional towards market coordination. Presently, market oriented policies predominate across the system, based on a loosely regulated private provision of higher education and the use of a set of “para market” mechanisms designed to enhance competition between state supported universities. The effects of these policies on the number and differentiation of higher education institutions, on enrollment, on the evolution of professional careers and academic degree programs, and particularly on the funding of the higher education system are here analyzed. A balance is drawn, specifically with respect to the nature and quality of private institutions and their public regulation, and to the competition for funding between state supported universities.     

Trends in private higher education in Australia

The last decade has witnessed a significant growth of private higher education around the world. The growth included the number of private education providers, and also the growing number of students. While some countries are experiencing trend growth, others are witnessing decline. Some of the reasons for the decline include increased regulation and stringent accreditation and reaccreditation of higher education institutions and courses, government policies to encourage the growth of public universities, and acquisition of small providers by large private education institutions. The growth of private higher education has increased competition, and it has also established collaboration with public institutions. The growth of private higher education has also raised concerns about ethical governance, maintenance of academic standards, and mechanisms to plan, review, and improve educational outcomes. This paper focuses on Australia where despite growth, there is limited research about private higher education. This paper reviews literature on the global growth and decline of private higher education. It then analyses the trends in Australia and possible scenarios for the future of private higher education in the country.     

苏联解体后俄罗斯高等教育结构体系变革

1991年苏联解体以来,俄罗斯高等教育结构体系发生了且正在发生着深刻变革,已经远远走出我们所熟悉的苏联时期的轮廓:在层次结构上,它逐渐改变技能专家—研究生两级结构,越来越走向国际通用的学士—硕士—研究生/副博士结构;在形式结构上,改变清一色国立高等教育局面,私立高等教育异军突起,形成国立和私立共同发展的双轨型办学形式结...     

Lifelong learning: Implications for institutions

Lifelong learning poses a large number ofthreats and opportunities for the traditionalhigher education institutions. Not justprogramme offerings and means of delivery willhave to be restructured, but, morefundamentally, universities and colleges willhave to rethink and reshape their businessconcept, that is: their way of creating valueand maintaining their competitive edge overother providers in the education system.It will be argued that a business concept thatis based on the idea of creating value throughenhancing differentiation requires highereducation providers to move as much as they canto a student-centered provision of educationand training. This has far-reachingconsequences for the curriculum, the concept ofresearch, the interaction with students, andthe relationships with other institutions inthe education system. It may very well lead toan education system in which there is room forsome universities to transform themselves intodual-sector institutions, that contain both ahigher education part and a vocational part.     

Academics in an Era of Structural Change: An Australian Experience

This article reports upon the results of a survey of academics in ten post‐binary institutions, with respect to the impact of systemic restructuring upon them. Specifically, it is concerned with respondents’ perceptions of the effects of amalgamation/redesignation, the values of the post‐binary universities and the nature of the Unified National System. The study's findings reflect higher education institutions undergoing profound and discomfiting consolidation. Mergers, with some notable exceptions, seem to have been more difficult in the incorporated than the redesignated universities. Although binary backgrounds and subsequent placement in a redesignated or incorporated institution, have had a strong influence upon respondents, there is also notable agreement amongst them in relation to the values of the post‐binary institutions, the nature of the Unified National System and the increasing privatisation of the universities. While official expectations were for a more diverse higher education system, influenced by the legacies of the former CAE system, and those of the former binary universities, the college legacy is not perceived to be notably significant in the new order. The absorption of the former binary system, into a unitary system of universities, has been difficult, and the values of the new higher education institutions are regarded as being neither highly adaptive nor pluralistic.     

IS09000与西方高等教育质量管理：商业与掌术一次邂运

20世纪末以来，西方高等教育质量管理导入IS09000并不是一个模糊的景象，西方高等教育机构在传统学术质量管理受到国际化与产业化绩效评估的挑战时，确实认为IS09000可以解决一些问题，但他们更愿意寻求更适宜大学的质量管理方式。在西方高等教育理论的视野当中，IS09000与高等教育的质量管理是一个曾经掀起争论但在现实中已经沉寂的事物。真正的大学只是将教务管理、后勤服务交给IS09000，在教学与科研上则保持学术标准。积极导入IS09000并能在导入过程中获得好处的是一些非正规高等教育机构和新兴高等教育机构，因为在传统学术的竞争中处于下游的它们能在标榜导入IS09000的过程中更好地赢得市场竞争。     

Public higher education in the Philippines

Summary Clearly, the national government of the Philippines has decided to increase the number and comprehensiveness of its public colleges and universities. While private colleges and universities are likely to dominate higher education in the Philippines for the remainer of this century, it appears that public, tax-supported higher education will become increasingly available there. The Philippines is not a wealthy country but it is devoting a substantial portion of its national resources to public higher education. In 1983, higher education received 2.85 percent of the national budget, a figure that has been rising for years. Compared with some highly developed countries, this is not a large percentage, but for a country that has traditionally relied on private higher education, it is a major and growing investment in the public sector.While many of the better universities in the Philippines are private, many other private educational institutions are small and struggling. As their financial resources become more limited, and as less expensive, tax-supported higher education becomes increasingly available, a lot of the struggling private colleges will probably close. This process is also being hastened by actions of the government to upgrade quality, for example in the case of the many private colleges that developed after World War II. In an attempt to improve the academic quality of these marginal institutions, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports has been given extensive authority, and while its intrusion into private institutions has been modest by some measures, its requirements are affecting them all and will speed the demise of some. This is bound to lead to a stronger role for public higher education in the Philippines, a country that is striving diligently to improve the education and hence the quality of life of its people.The author is grateful to several officials of public and private colleges and universities whom he interviewed in the Philippines in March, 1983, and particularly to Mr. S.B. Bangug, Philippine Association of State Universities and Colleges, and Dr. Amado C. Dizon, Executive Vice President, Philippine Association of Colleges and Universities, who provided major assistance.     

French academics: Between the professions and the civil service

In France, where most higher education institutions are in the public sector, permanent academic staff at universities and other higher education institutions are tenured and enjoy a broad individual autonomy. The number of staff on short-term contracts is limited. Most part-time staff are drawn from professionals, business executives, and administrators – in both the public and private sectors. In recent decades, the number of teaching-only faculty expanded rapidly as tenured secondary school teachers were transferred to higher education institutions. As universities have acquired some autonomy, especially in academic matters, recruitment and promotion of staff combine elements of centralisation at the national level with local processes. Some degree of pay differentiation has been introduced through a growing use of supplementary compensation. As the system evolves toward increased self-governance of institutions, the autonomy enjoyed by the faculty is seen by administrators as an obstacle to the development of institutional policies.     

Student equity’s starring role in Australian higher education: not yet centre field

The field of Australian higher education has changed, is changing and is about to change, repositioned in relation to other “fields of power”. It is a sector now well defined by its institutional groupings and by their relative claims to selectivity and exclusivity, with every suggestion of their differentiation growing. The potential of a “joined-up” tertiary education system, of vocational education and training (VET) and universities, has the potential to further rework these relations within Australian higher education, as will lifting the volume caps on university student enrolments. Moreover, Australian universities now compete within an international higher education marketplace, ranked by THES and Shanghai Jiao Tiong league tables. “Catchment areas” and knowledge production have become global. In sum, Australian universities (and agents within them) are positioned differently in the field. And being so variously and variably placed, institutions and agents have different stances available to them, including the positions they can take on student equity. In this paper I begin from the premise that our current stance on equity has been out-positioned, as much by a changing higher education field as by entrenched representations of social groups across regions, institutions, disciplines and degrees. In taking a new stance on equity, the paper is also concerned with the positioning in the field of a new national research centre with a focus on student equity in higher education. In particular, the paper asks what stance this new centre can take on student equity that will resonate on a national and even international scale. And, given a global field of higher education, what definitions of equity and propositions for policy and practice can it offer? What will work in the pursuit of equity?     

Where Do We Go from Here? The Future of English Higher Education

A Delphi study has been carried out, soliciting views from higher education experts on likely and desirable developments in English higher education until 2025. The paper reports the most salient findings of the Delphi questionnaire and presents two scenarios that focus largely on the institutional fabric of the system. The first scenario follows the general agreement emerging from the two rounds of the Delphi study and suggests a smaller higher education system and the return of a binary divide between about 25 research‐intensive universities and about 70 other higher education institutions. The second scenario is a counter‐scenario that intends to present an alternative picture of English higher education in 2025. That scenario suggests a compact system of six research‐intensive universities, about 40 comprehensive institutions and five private providers. With respect to the steering of the system, a key difference between the two scenarios is that the former assumes a continuing role of market forces, whereas the latter is based on a much stronger role of the government.     

个性化深度辅导与首都大学生发展的实证分析

深度辅导政策是我国高校为培养创新人才和适应高等教育多元化的形势而实施的促进学生个性化发展的创新举措,深度辅导政策形成了高校学生和辅导员之间深度交流的新型互动模式。本研究针对北京地区不同院校类型,分析了这种新型互动模式的现状、影响因素以及对大学生个性发展的促进作用。研究发现,学生的个人特征、高校学生工作的环境特征、学生学习生活状态、学生心理认知发展需求等因素都会显著影响深度交流的可能性,深度交流在一定程度上促进了学生的自信心、学习动力和生活目标的提升。但是数据也显示了在促进大学生个性化发展方面,高校深度辅导工作还有待完善。比如高校需要进一步提升深度交流的覆盖率;要努力为辅导员队伍建设的可持续发展搭建平台;面对多元化的学生群体,辅导员在实际工作中还应该更多关注个体学生认知发展模式的异质性,加强深度交流的灵活性和针对性;要突破高校心理健康教育的传统模式,进行心理健康教育的创新,促进学生的成长和发展。     

加拿大高等教育的量变、质变及其特征

加拿大高等教育过去40年的数量发展主要表现为高等学校学生、教师及学校数量的显著增加,其质变主要表现为越来越强调应用研究、国际化和商业化等。加拿大高等教育体系的主要特征为:政府干预日益增多,大学与经济间联系日益加强,市场规则与机制逐步引入,大学集权管理不断加强,大学功能日益商业化。     

人文素质教育与政治文明建设者的培养

要确立人文素质教育在整个高校教育体系中的核心地位。必须转变教育观念。改革人文素质教育内容和课程设置,加强高校师资队伍建设,从而强化大学人文教育,促进社会主义政治文明建设者的培养。     

A probabilistic approach to student workload: empirical distributions and ECTS

The ECTS, European Credit Transfer System, is now widely used throughout higher education institutions as it facilitates student mobility within Europe and the comparison of study programs and courses. Most European institutions provide students with the number of ECTS each course and module is worth. A full-time student needs to complete 60 ECTS per academic year, which represents about 1500 to 1800 h of study. However, there is a lack of research showing that ECTS metrics have been properly implemented in different degrees and universities. The aim of this paper is to assess the relevance of the ECTS metric as a valid indicator of students’ and courses’ workloads. Detailed workload measurements have been taken in two Spanish universities, with 250,000 work hours monitored from 1400 students. This is the first study published with such a large dataset that includes a range of simultaneous courses and throughout a whole semester. Empirical distribution functions of workload indicators have been obtained. Evidence is provided indicating that nominal ECTS credit hours may be overestimated, that the variability of student workload could be too large for ECTS to sensibly characterize course workload, and that workload statistics of courses with same nominal ECTS are generally not comparable. Although the ECTS metric conception seems to be a valid metric to facilitate mobility between different institutions and higher education systems, in practice, according to this study, it requires revision, at least in the two institutions that have been included in this study. Further studies like the present one are required to test if this is a broader problem that has implications for the comparability of degrees across Europe.     

从英国大学的管理体制看大学管理

在欧洲共同体国家里,英国是大学毕业生人数占人口比例最大的国家之一。近年来英国高等教育体制变化较大,也非常有成效。分析对比中英两国在大学管理上的差异,了解英国在大学管理方面的一些作法和经验,对于走出我们在高校管理中的一些局限,使高校管理更加符合高等教育的发展规律,更加适合中国特色社会主义的发展方向,加快与世界接轨并迈向更高水平具有重要意义。     

从英国大学的管理体制看大学管理

在欧洲共同体国家里,英国是大学毕业生人数占人口比例最大的国家之一.近年来英国高等教育体制变化较大,也非常有成效.分析对比中英两国在大学管理上的差异,了解英国在大学管理方面的一些作法和经验,对于走出我们在高校管理中的一些局限,使高校管理更加符合高等教育的发展规律,更加适合中国特色社会主义的发展方向,加快与世界接轨并迈向更高水平具有重要意义.