Performance Indicators as a Foundation of Institutional Autonomy: Implications for Higher Education Institutions in Europe

There has developed moderate discussion in European higher education about the use of performance indicators for both accountability and evaluation purposes. This paper begins by summarizing governmental expectations, institutional objections, and several of the controversies surrounding performance measures. We then report on using performance indicators for both external accountability and strategic planning in a case study of a public research extensive university in the United States, including how the flows of resources and students have changed following the use of institutional performance measures in strategic planning.     

大众化时期高校趋同现象探析——以师范院校为例

我国高等教育进入大众化阶段后,高等学校在角色和功能分化的同时也存在趋同现象.以师范院校为例,院校趋同主要表现在学院升格更名为大学、专业设置重复、使命重叠和专科升格为本科院校及院校增设研究生专业.盲目追求综合性、研究型的大学身份,模仿重点院校增设本科和研究生专业,造成专业重复和使命趋同,致使多样化、特色化办学格局难以形成.促进教育制度安排的理性化以及教育政策价值的多元化将有利于大学的分类发展,进而从根本上促进高等教育的层次调和与平衡.     

高等学校办学自主权探析

高等学校办学自主权不同于国家公权力，也不同于私人权利，它以学术权力为内核，以国家公权力的外在授权为表现形式，前者体现其合理性，后者体现其合法性。正确认识其性质是确立高校和其他社会主体关系的关键，也是建立有效的权利保护机制的基础。     

Internationalisation as a Challenge for Higher Education in Europe

'Internationalisation' became a key theme in the 1990s both in higher education policy debates and in higher education research. Starting off from a heterogeneous set of phenomena, internationalisation does not merely mean varying border-crossing activities on the rise anymore, but rather substantial changes: first, from a predominantly 'vertical' pattern of cooperation and mobility towards the dominance of international relationships on equal terms; second, from casuistic action towards systematic policies of internationalisation; third, from disconnection of specific international activities on the one hand and on the other internationalisation of the core activities towards an integrated internationalisation of higher education. Though higher education policy remains predominantly shaped on a national level and tends to underscore specific traditions and conditions of individual countries, the responsibility of individual institutions of higher education in Europe for their own future grows in the process internationalisation which is accompanied, among others, by growing pressure for diversity and increasing popularity of managerialism as well as by a policy of the European Commission which seems to favour de-nationalisation of higher education.     

Higher Education in Ethiopia: Expansion,Quality Assurance and Institutional Autonomy

This article chronicles the key challenges facing Ethiopia as it embarks on an ambitious, ideologically‐driven and aggressive expansion of its higher education system in an effort to address its national goals of economic growth and poverty reduction. It is argued that the urge for higher education expansion has placed undue pressures particularly on the state of quality enhancement and autonomy of universities. As government pressures for more expansion mounted, universities struggled with dwindling per student budgetary allocations, shortage of qualified staff, inadequate supply of much needed inputs and the erosion of their autonomy. It is suggested that while higher education expansion remains an important goal for Ethiopia for many years to come, a reasonable balance should be struck between the ideological aspects of expansion and the practical realities of limited resources, heightened concerns about the quality of student learning and the autonomy of universities.     

民办高校开展院校研究的思考

开展院校研究是民办高校进行个性化定位、管理科学化、实现内涵式发展的必然要求,也是民办高校实现可持续发展的重要保障。民办高校充分的办学自主权、灵活的办学机制,以及管理者强烈的优患意识,是其开展院校研究的有利条件。民办高校开展院校研究可以从成立机构、培养队伍、建立院校信息数据库、创设环境、学习创新等五个方面着手。     

地方高校人事自主权亟待落到实处

当前,地方高校存在机构及岗位设置自主性缺乏,人员总量内进人用人管理模式固化,绩效薪酬分配体系不完善,教研人员外事审批严格套用公务员标准等人事自主权落实不到位问题。其主要原因在于各方共识不足,计划色彩浓厚,碎片化改革多,省级统筹乏力。破解束缚地方高校人才发展瓶颈的关键在于凝聚多方共识,形成整体合力;厘清两个区别,凸显教育特性;突出管办分离,优化管理方式;注重全程发力,把握重点环节。     

高等教育定价:2004年英格兰高等教育法案对大学的政策意义

2004年英格兰高等教育法案确定了不同学校、不同学科可以收取不同学费的差异收费原则。章根据这一政策，运用博弈论的方法，提出了一个高等教育定价模型。在对模型解释的基础上，从一般意义上探讨了高等教育法案对于大学的政策意义。     

Improving Performance Indicators in Higher Education: The academics' perspective

Performance Indicators (PIs) are playing an increasingly important role in many western governments' approach to the management of higher education (HE) institutions, and this includes Australia. However, the introduction of PIs by these governments in the HE sector has been far from smooth. The literature on the limitations of PIs, particularly in research and teaching, are plentiful. This paper argues that an effective way to improve the application of PIs is to obtain input from university academics. It starts with a survey of the attitudes of Australian academics from four representative universities towards the application of PIs in their institutions. Although this was found to be generally negative, the academics did point out some strengths in the current PI system. Reasons for their dissatisfaction with the indicators were also covered, such as the inability of the current indicators to capture the dimensions of academic work, and privileging research over teaching. Furthermore, the academics provided numerous suggestions for improving the application of PIs in HE.     

Culture Shock and Higher Education Performance: Implications for Teaching

The globalisation of higher education brings together learners and teachers from differing systems, creating a heterogeneous and diverse environment. Yet many higher education institutions typically rely on foreign students themselves to adapt to their new higher education environments. An investigation was undertaken as to whether traditional approaches are effective and efficient in meeting the needs of the internationally mobile student. Using data from the last ten years (1999 to 2009) from a post‐1992 University in the North West of England an analysis of over 15,000 postgraduate assessments found a significant performance difference between home country students and international mobile students. Results found that home country students perform significantly better than international students, although the latter perform better in examinations than in coursework. However, there is a substantive improvement during the dissertation stage for both groups. Possible reasons for such variations in performance are explored.     

The Institutional Autonomy of Education

This paper develops a liberal contextualist account of schooling that balances institutional autonomy with public accountability under conditions of reasonable pluralism. First a conceptual obstacle is discussed: the tendency to conceive educational autonomy according to the false dilemma of instrumentalism versus non-instrumentalism. Then an alternative is advanced—the contextualist picture—that places education's institutional autonomy in its proper light. The conclusion raises and then responds to important objections to the contextualist picture.     

美国高等院校升格及其动力探析

通过对1952年~1967年和1976年~1994年两个时期美国高等院校变化情况的考察,可以发现在大众化和普及化进程中,高等院校升格所形成的趋同给高等教育多样化带来了巨大挑战。分化和趋同是高等教育大众化以来相伴生的现象,本文从新制度理论和资源依附理论,并结合政府和市场两个因素来解释美国高等院校升格行为。     

美国高校校长的绩效评价

对高校校长的绩效进行评价以确认其管理水平,已经成为美国高校管理实践的重要内容.本文从评价主体、评价类型、评价指标和评价结果应用等四个方面对美国高校校长的绩效评价进行评述,并就美国当前高校校长绩效评价的主要问题及其优化策略进行了总结.     

Performance Indicators and Widening Participation in UK Higher Education

We investigate the relationship between the widening participation performance indicators adopted in UK higher education (HE) and the government's objective of increasing overall HE participation rates. We critically assess the development of performance monitoring in HE and identify weaknesses in the current performance indicators from the perspective of the main stakeholders. We suggest the development of internal indicators and benchmarks by HE institutions together with extensions to the current national performance indicators that could improve their usefulness.     

韩国高校创业教育发展的动因、现状及对我国的启示

韩国于20世纪80年代开始推广高校创业教育,在政府主导、产学合作和高校自我变革的推动下逐步走向了高质量的发展阶段。经过了近40年的深耕培育,形成以创业支援中心为平台的社会实践教育、以创业学科建设为主导的专业化教育和以依托产学合作的生态化创业教育为主的高校创业教育三大模式,并且在教学、资源开发及成果转化上形成了鲜明的特色。我国高校应该借鉴韩国高校创业教育的经验,重视发挥产教融合在创业教育上的作用,建立和完善创业教育资源开发系统,同时构建具有包容性的创业教育成果评估与转化机制。     

论中国高校教师人力资本产权制度的构建

中国正处在由计划经济体制向社会主义市场经济体制转变的过程中.在这一变革的历史时期,社会主义市场经济的各种制度逐渐得到了确立和完善,中国高校的变革和发展也不例外.目前,中国大学教师人力资本产权制度已出现了端倪,教师人力资本在高校的资源配置中的地位得到不断加强.对中国高校教师的人力资本产权制度进行分析、总结及构建,将会对中国高等教育的改革和发展产生巨大的作用.正是从这一视角出发,文章在分析人力资本产权的性质、特点和价值实现的基础上,提出了在法律、文化、分配和管理等方面对中国高校教师人力资本产权制度进行构建.     

高校教学自主权:权源基础、权能构造及合规路径

教学自主权是学校为了实现其办学宗旨,在法律容许的范围内,独立自主地开展教育教学管理,实施教育教学活动的资格和能力。授予高校及教师教学自主权,既是对高等教育办学规律的合理回应,亦是依法治校的内在要求。教学自主权兼具权利与权力的性质,超越了公法与私法之间的法域樊篱,具体应囊括自主设定、自行实施、免于干涉、期待合作等方面的权能。教学自主权的合规行使,是助推高校规范办学、规避法律风险的重要环节。对此,应建立教学规章的审查诊断机制,优化教学行为的常规督导机制,明确滥用自主权利的追责机制。由此助推教学自主权最优效果的实现,适应我国新时代高等教育的发展愿景。     

Raising the Educational Requirements for Teachers in Infant Toddler Classrooms: Implications for Institutions of Higher Education

This article describes preschool teachers' espoused mental models (EMMs) or, in other words, their naïve understanding of young children's learning. Our research goal was to examine differences within the teachers' EMMs regarding the minds and learning of young children from different cultural backgrounds. The subjects included 18 preschool teachers from the center of Israel, all of whom belonged to the mainstream cultural background and taught in the national school system. Their classes consisted of 5- to 6-year-old children from the mainstream cultural group as well as children from Ethiopian immigrant families. We conducted individual semistructured interviews that were transcribed and analyzed to identify the original EMM structure. While analyzing the parts of the narratives that referred to Ethiopian children, we discovered a metacategory that did not exist in the original model: Culture. This finding contributes to the construct of espoused mental models for teachers of children from diverse populations.     

英国高校内部绩效管理模式探析

在政府部门的强势引导下,英国高校建立起了内部绩效管理体系。依据高校绩效管理模式的不同来源,可以划分为内生性与外源性两大类。本文在对英国高校绩效管理改革背景进行梳理的基础上,对两类绩效管理模式的运作框架及其特点进行了分析,并结合个案对两类模式的整合进行了初步的探讨,以期为我国正在推进的高校绩效管理改革提供借鉴。     

Higher Education as a Field of Study and Research in Europe

This article describes the emergence of higher education as a field of research, scholarship and study. In the first part, the meaning of higher education as a field of research is defined contrasting Europe and the US. Then, the institutional basis of higher education research in Europe is analysed (learned societies, institutes and centres, professorships, journals, study programmes). In the second part, the main areas of research and knowledge production are discussed, while the third focuses on the relationships between higher education research, policy and practice. The article ends with sections on future perspectives and conclusions.