Spatial recruiting competition in Chinese higher education system

How geographical neighboring competitors influence the strategic recruiting behavior of universities is still unclear because previous studies assume spatial independence among universities. Using data of Subordinate Universities of the Ministry of Education in China, this study found that the choice of admission score level by one university was spatially autocorrelated with its neighboring competitors and four strategies came into being within spatial enrollment competition. The intenseness of spatial competition decreased as the number of neighboring competitors increased while the difference of admission score increased as the distance between competitive universities increased.     

Mapping the field of stratification in higher education: the Finnish experience

In formal terms, Finland has a comprehensive higher education system. There are 20 institutions of higher education in the country, all owned by the state, and one of the central objectives in higher education policy has been to establish all of them on an equal footing in terms of basic resources and status. Not until the 1990s has a shift taken place towards the official injection of a competitive element into higher education policy.During recent decades, the state's grip on the steering of the universities has been tightening; but the shift towards increased competition means a shift towards domination by market forces.This article examines both the changing tasks of the university, and the fact, despite the egalitarianism of official democratic higher education policy, of stratification. The aim of the article is to analyze the diversification linked to the selection function of the Finnish higher education system, and thus to create a basis for the investigation of changing higher education policy.     

建设中国特色世界一流大学的根本遵循

基于博弈论构建制度生成与演变的解释框架,分析从重点大学到“双一流”建设的历程,探讨“双一流”战略如何打破身份桎梏、重构开放竞争背后的动力机制及创新路径,厘清战略演变的制度逻辑,发现：中央政府战略目标转变等外生环境变化提供了增量资源与资源再分配的机会,为“双一流”建设提供了动力源;引入地方政府、地方大学作为主要博弈参与者克服了计划资源分配弊端,形成多方参与博弈的开放竞争新格局。在新博弈规则的驱动下,中央政府、地方政府、高等院校逐渐改变其主观博弈模式,集中增量资源大力发展优势学科,为进入“双一流”行列提供内生动力。“双一流”战略取得了较好成效,营造了开放、竞争、动态的制度环境,初步构建了中国特色一流大学和一流学科建设模式。未来将面临处理好外部治理与内部博弈之间的关系、一流大学聚集性与高等教育系统均衡性之间的关系的挑战。

     

The internationalisation of American higher education: a positional competition perspective

This paper examines the potential negative consequences of the internationalisation of American higher education from the perspective of positional competition theory. This analysis suggests that internationalisation efforts undertaken by colleges and universities contribute to positional competition between students vying for admission, between graduates competing for prestigious, well-paying jobs, and between higher education institutions themselves, who compete for prestige. As positional competition necessarily involves displacing other in obtaining advantage for one’s self, the paper further describes how the positional competition engendered in part by the internationalisation of higher education contributes to the replication of social patterns of inequality.     

Making sense of institutional positioning in Finnish higher education

This paper examines how institutional positioning has emerged in the meaning-making activities between Finnish higher education institutions and the Ministry of Education and Culture. The study is based on a qualitative analysis of the performance agreement documents of all higher education institutions filed with the ministry for contract periods 2010–2012 and 2013–2016. The results show that, in the first cycle, higher education institutions used profiling vocabulary in vastly different ways, and their lists of priority areas were quite wide ranging. By the second cycle, profiling statements had become more specific and structurally more alike, but the lists of priority areas continued to have a wide scope. As a response, the Ministry has consistently demanded and rewarded more focused profiling efforts and used the concepts of profiling to support other steering measures.     

The transformation of Australian higher education from binary to unitary system

The policies of the Australian federal government are clearly intended to bring about a fundamental transformation of the country's higher education system. The Australian case, however, presents several paradoxes. Policy changes are being initiated by a federal government that has no legislative control over state chartered higher education institutions. While the federal government wishes to see a more diversified and adaptive higher education system, it seems to be implementing a reward structure for individual institutions and academics which encourages imitation of the elite universities. Although government claims that its new policy initiatives are designed to debureaucratize the system, a significant proportion of the Australian academic community claims that government is centralizing control. This article explores these and other issues facing Australian higher education, not for the purpose of resolving the seeming paradoxes, but to suggest a particular research agenda for investigating change in higher education.     

Making sense of institutional positioning in Finnish higher education

Tertiary Education and Management - This paper examines how institutional positioning has emerged in the meaning-making activities between Finnish higher education institutions and the Ministry of...     

Models for the development of generic skills in Finnish higher education

This article examines how Finnish universities and other higher education institutes have responded to the challenges posed by rapid changes in the world of work and societies all over Europe, particularly with reference to the development of generic skills. The data were collected by means of individual and group interviews at three Finnish higher education institutes, including two universities and one university of applied sciences. The interviews involved 63 persons in charge of management, development and teaching at these institutes. As a result of the qualitative data analysis, we distinguished four models to represent the development of generic skills, which we named (1) Specialist Model, (2) Science-based Renewal Model, (3) Project-based Integrative Model, and (4) Model of Networked Culture. These models serve as analytical tools that help higher education institutes to examine their existing practices and to develop new ones.     

中国高等教育公平竞争制度的选择与构建

公平竞争是现代高等教育的核心制度.中国的高等教育当前正处在转型期,公平竞争理应成为高等教育制度的核心选择.为此,在高等教育制度构建上需要保证高等教育竞争中不同制度主体都有起点上的平等性,并且规范竞争过程规则的正当性,以及在结果上的"对称性",即保证贡献与收益的对等并且补偿弱势群体.     

A comparative perspective on Finnish higher education policy

The last decades have offered social scientists an abundance of material for studies of governmental reform policy in the area of higher education. Reforms of educational politics have been legion in great parts of the world, probably in a particulary high degree in Europe. My purpose is to describe Finnish higher education policy during the last two decades in the four policy areas of (1) quantitative planning and regionalization, (2) social recruitment, (3) governance, and (4) teaching and studies as compared to the development of Western Europe. In the second part of this paper the implementation of the Finnish higher education reforms is analyzed. The third part analyzes the development of the Finnish higher education system and focuses on the various alternatives not chosen by the government. In the final part I discuss the recent trends in Finnish higher education in respect to consistency and change.     

The role of time in policymaking: a Bahraini model of higher education competition

ABSTRACT

This paper contributes to discussions about the nature and scope of higher education (HE) business in light of some of the emerging ways in which countries seem to be reframing the impact of globalism. In particular, it develops a discussion about spatialities and temporalities of HE policy by drawing on the Kingdom of Bahrain’s distinctive approach to free markets, transnational capitalism, trade of international services and foreign influence. The paper draws on key HE policy documents and regulatory frameworks issued by the Higher Education Council in Bahrain. In the paper, we ask about priorities that drive HE investment in Bahrain, as well as their impact on the role of international input in HE policy building. We find that policymaking in Bahrain is driven by ‘nationalisation’ as a pragmatic strategy at the time of transition to a knowledge economy. We also find that these goals are transient, thus providing suggestions for policy analysis from the perspective of time intervals in a space.     

Leadership and gender in higher education: a case study

Literature concerning leadership styles in HE provides no distinct view on whether style relates to gender. Transformational styles are regarded by some as particularly suited to times of change, and likely to be adopted by women; but others argue such styles are unsuited to HE. In a study of leadership within an institute of higher education undergoing change, transformational and transactional leadership behaviours were identified in all senior managers, male and female. However, when official communications were plotted over time, transformational attitudes were superseded by transactional. Women managers apparently identified more with male gender paradigms and displayed male-type leadership behaviours, whilst men showed female paradigm identification and female-type leadership. Additionally, managers indicated that past experience of ‘poor’ management and their subject training had greatly influenced their leadership approaches.     

English-medium instruction in Chinese higher education: a case study

With the relentless internationalization and marketization of higher education in the past decades, English has been increasingly adopted as a medium of instruction at universities across the world. Recent research, however, has shown that despite its various optimistically envisioned goals, English-medium instruction (EMI) is not without problems in practice. This article reports a case study of an EMI Business Administration program for undergraduate students at a major university of finance and economy in mainland China. Informed by Spolsky’s language policy framework, the study made a critical analysis of national/institutional policy statements and interviews with professors and students to uncover EMI-related language ideologies, language practices, and language management mechanisms. Findings evinced a complex interplay of these three constitutive components of language policy in the focal EMI program and revealed considerable misalignment between policy intentions and actual practices in the classroom. These findings raise concerns about the quality and consequences of EMI in Chinese higher education. The article concludes with recommendations for further research on EMI policies and practices in China.     

英国高等教育质量保障体系研究——以约克大学为例

本文介绍并分析英国高等教育质量保证体系的历史沿革,对当前实行的QAA（The Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education）的主要职责、运行模式、框架设计和质量保证进行了分析和评述,对高等学校的内部质量监控做了介绍,并着重以约克大学为例介绍了高等学校的内部质量保障的制度、机构和措施,在此基础上分析了对我国高等教育质量保证的启示。     

高等教育制度创新是高等教育发展的源动力

从“大学是什么”、“大学之道是什么”入手,揭示大学制度建立发展中的基本问题,阐明制度创新是大学数百年发展进程中的不变动力。立足现实、面对挑战、着眼未来,提出了中国高等教育制度在新世纪创新发展的四项原则,并诠释中国大学应具有的理念,强调要坚定追求真理的职业信念、高扬理性。     

Gender and higher education experience: a case study

This research seeks to contribute to current discussion of gender differences in experience of higher education. Its specific focus is to compare the assessment of various university services by male and female students. The research sample consisted of 9793 students who participated in three University of Western Sydney surveys in 2004 and 2005. The results suggest that, first, female students place higher importance on the majority of the university’s services than do male students; second, as female students advance through their studies, they appear more demanding about the quality of services, while male students remain comparatively tolerant; and third, while all students consider that some areas warrant improvement, this is significantly more so for female than for male students. Specifically, the key areas for improvement from female students’ perspective are the relevance and instructional clarity of the course and efficiency of administration. It is recommended that, considering the current trends in higher education across gender, a sharper focus on these areas for improvement action could help the university ensure equity and better manage competition.     

民办高等教育在高等教育体系中的定位

传统的高等教育类型划分影响了民办大学的准确定位 ,对民办高等教育发展产生了消极影响。本文提出民办高等教育应该属于综合类高等教育 ,民办大学有条件办成以全日制本专科教育为主的综合大学 ,而不是高等职业技术学校     

芬兰高等教育的国际化及其启示

本文从高校的国际交流、与跨国公司的合作以及信息技术的应用等几个方面分析了芬兰高等教育国际化的特点,并就如何进一步推动我国高等教育的国际化提出了建议。     

Building communities in higher education: the case of nursing

The historic and current case to retain a focused clinical nursing identity within an academic context is explicit; however there is tension between the need for excellence in teaching and research, and obligation to maintain a credible clinical identity. Nursing is politically and vocationally advanced but, arguably, weaker academically. Considered an ‘old vocation’ but a ‘young discipline’, nursing lacks the traditional background found in established academic communities. Nurses still find it difficult to ‘let go’ of the past and new academics will often try to re-create a clinical role because they lack confidence in their ability to fulfil an academic one. Moving forward, the new graduate nursing programmes and the growing number of hybrid or ‘pracademic’ roles spanning education and practice will, through the co-creation of knowledge, challenge discipline boundaries and produce a new generation of leaders for the profession.