Colleges and the Governance of Higher Education

The governance of higher education in colleges and college sectors that offer other types of education and training is distinctive in four main respects. First, governance structures are frequently separate and different for higher education and for other segments of tertiary education. Second, the size and scope of the higher‐level education taught by individual institutions will bear on the extent to which the management and governance arrangements in colleges are joint or divided. Third, the growth of small and distributed forms of higher‐level education has created specific problems and dilemmas for national and sub‐national governance. Fourth, the multiple missions of many colleges continue to pose questions about their educational and organisational coherence and governability. It is only in recent years that a base of evidence has been available to comprehend these developments, although definitional difficulties and data deficiencies remain.     

Policy-Practice Proximity: The Scope for College-Based Higher Education and Cross-Sector Collaboration in Wales

In relation to the size of its population, Wales has a relatively large number of higher education institutions, several of which are small and located in rural areas. Compared with other parts of the United Kingdom, only a small number of higher education students are taught in Welsh further education colleges. Nevertheless, efforts have been made to increase higher education provision in the colleges, beginning in the late 1980s with the encouragement of franchising arrangements by the Wales Advisory Body and later with a joint initiative by the Higher and Further Education Funding Councils for Wales to expand some sub‐degree higher education in the colleges by direct funding. These developments represent just one strand of activity linking the higher and further education sectors in Wales and have not been a subject of major or regular policy attention. For reasons of scale and geography, and through the enabling structures and processes serving both funding councils, cross‐sector initiatives and collaboration have generally been given high priority in strategies to widen access and build progression. The administrative devolution reflected in these arrangements has been increased by political devolution since 1999, with as yet unclear implications for the future development of higher education in the colleges.     

Mass Higher Education and the English: Wherein the Colleges?

One of the distinctive features of the English encounter with mass higher education has been the uncertain and ambiguous role of further education colleges as providers of undergraduate education. Both before and during the major expansion that marked the shift to a mass scale of higher education in England, the higher education offered by colleges in the further education sector was commonly regarded as a residual or ancillary activity; its courses mostly at levels below the first degree and its growth in numbers among the slowest in higher education. In the period that followed, these same colleges were accorded a special mission in the delivery of short‐cycle undergraduate education and, through their involvement in foundation degrees, were expected to lead a large part of the expansion in future years. The elevation of this provision, from a zone of ‘low’ or no policy to one of ‘high’ policy, has coincided with a radical reform of the planning, funding and quality arrangements for post‐compulsory education. Under conditions less than favourable to the achievement of their higher education goals, colleges remain the responsibility of one administrative sector and higher education institutions the responsibility of another.     

How do Higher Education Institutions Enhance their Financial Autonomy? Examples from Finnish Polytechnics

Numerous studies have addressed how state authorities and public funding bodies control, regulate, steer, supervise or oversee higher education institutions. There are fewer studies on how higher education institutions respond to the actions of the mentioned authorities. States have aimed at increasing the autonomy of higher education institutions. At the same time institutions are expected to generate social benefits and economic growth. There is an endless tension between a policy that will strengthen the autonomy and simultaneously retain a space for state steering. The Finnish polytechnic and university sectors have very different origins from which their financial autonomy takes its shape. This article sheds light on how six Finnish polytechnics aspire to enhance their financial autonomy. The polytechnics operate under two separate steering systems, the state and local owners, and both of these actors exercise their own steering. This article shows that polytechnics are willing and able to enhance their financial autonomy. They calculate their advantages and habitually engage with the Ministry of Education or their owners depending on the case in question. The financial autonomy of polytechnics does not culminate in a form of diversified funding sources, but as balancing between the two masters on whose resources they are heavily dependent.     

Higher Education Policy and Legitimacy Building: the Making of a New Academic Credential in Ontario

Canada's province of Ontario introduced a new policy in 2000 allowing community colleges to offer a new type of undergraduate degree. This decision was a significant policy change for the government considering the nature of Ontario's binary system, where a rigid separation has historically prevailed between the university and college sectors. Drawing on multiple sources of data, this study indicates that the decision to create a new type of applied bachelor's degree generated a series of uncertainties and challenges for higher education institutions, students and government agencies. The paper highlights the need for policy makers to consider the socio‐cultural aspects of higher education systems in policy design, particularly the role of legitimacy.     

Sectors, Institutional Types and the Challenges of Shifting Categories: A Canadian Commentary

While the English system makes a relatively clear distinction between higher education and further education, the Canadian approach has been to use higher education as a more inclusive term and to categorise sectors on the basis of institutional type. Higher education policy is decentralised and provinces have made quite different decisions about institutional categories and system structures. There has been a blurring of the boundaries between institutional types and there has been a growth in articulation, collaboration and hybrid relationships between institutions and sectors.     

Public and Private Higher Education Institutions--Joint or Separate Evaluation and Ranking: The Polish Perspective

Since 1989, Polish higher education has been characterized by the emergence of a private sector of higher education as well as by the development of procedures and institutions for the evaluation and accreditation of higher education institutions and programmes in both sectors. Currently, the two sectors are evaluated separately by separate institutions. The authors call for the convergence of the two higher education sectors. Not only would evaluations of Polish higher education institutions thus be made more accurate and comprehensive, but the two sectors would learn from one another, and the private institutions and their students would become eligible to receive state grants.     

加拿大高等教育的特点及对我国的启示

加拿大高等教育的特点可概括为:具有明确的产业意识和市场观念,依法治校;公立性、独立性与国际化;大学(本科)与学院(专科)分工明确,各自承担不同的任务;具有教师聘任的全球化和“全职”与“非全职”并用的制度;教学管理以人为本,重视学生实践能力的培养;具有灵活多样的办学模式和经费筹措渠道等。以此为借鉴,可从五个方面思考我国高等教育的改革:完善投资体制和制定分专业收费的政策,缓解学校的经费压力;实行分类指导,改变本科与专科培养目标不分的现状;管理重心下移,真正扩大高校办学自主权;建立吸纳社会和个人资金联合办学的机制;建立学分制和以人为本的重视培养学生能力的教学管理体系。     

A European Context and Framework for Business Education

Higher education in further education colleges has a long history and has expanded in recent years. However, higher education in further education colleges is often treated as being unproblematic. This paper rejects the argument that higher education is simply a level of study, noting that it is a contested concept. As such, the paper seeks to establish a robust definition of just what higher education is. It recognises that the higher education sector is characterised by diversity but argues that, in spite of the differences that exist between higher education institutions, there are certain issues relating to the further education sector that mean that higher education in further education colleges is likely to differ from that in higher education institutions. The paper considers that New Public Management reinforces these differences and, when taken alongside recruitment problems within the further education sector, questions whether or not the development of higher education in further education colleges should be welcomed.     

高职教育教学质量监控和评价体系研究

教学质量是教育的生命线,如今高职教育的教学质量越来越成为社会各界关注的焦点。高职教育教学质量监控与评价是高职院校提高教学质量的重要保证,是高职院校可持续发展必不可少的环节。目前,高职教育教学质量监控与评价体系存在运行不畅通、效果不明显等问题,今后应在深入理解高职教育教学质量监控与评价内涵的基础上,提高质量意识,推行全面质量管理,强化教学各环节的过程监控与评价。     

从分化到整合:南非高校分类变迁的内在逻辑

以1994年废除种族隔离政策为分水岭,南非的高等学校分类体系经历了由分化到整合的治理逻辑变迁。1994年之前,南非政府以学生人种、教育属性、语言文化等为维度,将全国高等学校强行区隔,多轨运作,分而治之。1994年之后,南非新政府开始调整高等学校分类体系,以高校学术职能为中心,整合教育资源,致力于促进普通教育与职业教育的融汇贯通。南非的高等学校分类变迁史表明,高校分类必须尊重教育自身的发展规律,坚持政府在高等教育发展中的主导地位,同时保持不同类型高校的特色化、差异化发展。     

中国教师教育政策的价值取向分析

教师教育政策是教育政策的重要组成部分,探究教师教育政策价值取向,对教师教育政策的调整和未来走向具有关键性、根本性的意义。我国教师教育政策的价值取向表现为:坚持优先发展教师教育的战略地位,是教师教育政策的基石;坚持以独立设置的各级各类师范院校为主体、其他高等院校参与的多渠道、多层次、多规格、多形式的教师教育体系,是教师教育政策的体制基础;坚持教师教育的免费性,是教师教育政策的核心;坚持国家对教师教育的有限干预与规范,是教师教育政策的关键;坚持师范生权利与义务的统一,是教师教育政策的法律保障。     

以人为本 改进管理 促进高等教育和谐发展

高等教育是各个国家国民教育的重要组成部分,是促进社会、经济发展的重要动力。改革开放以来,中国高等教育规模持续扩大,高等教育质量不断提高,高校对社会、经济的贡献日益凸显,高等教育改革取得突破性进展。与此同时,高等教育也存在着投入、质量、师资等方面的问题。为了有效地解决这些问题,需要在认真审视高等教育的培养目标,树立大众化的高等教育质量观和质量标准,密切与社会、经济的联系,加强高等教育的经费管理,促进国际教育交流与合作等方面做深入细致的工作。     

从教学机构向培训机构转型:皖江地区高职院校办学模式创新路径刍议

随着区域经济战略转型步伐的加快,皖江地区高职教育现有模式的弊端日渐凸显,如不能有效吸纳生源、专业设置失当等。这些劣势在与培训机构的对比中显得格外突出。为了取长补短,高职院校的培训机构化具有付诸实践的现实意义。实际上,高职院校实现转型的关键在于制度建设能否及时推进。在此基础上,通过施行以团队为主体的方阵化教学、推行立足于通识教育基础之上的专项技能教育等多种措施,办学模式的创新有望化为现实。     

高等教育拨款委员会的设置原则

高等教育财政拨款制度直接影响着我国高等学校的办学自主权。在作为改革探索的高等教育拨款委员会设置中，应以保障办学自主权价值导向为首要原则，同时，还应坚持其法律地位的相对独立性原则、组织结构的合理有效原则、机构运行的参与原则和公开原则。通过五个原则层层推进、相辅相成的体系设置，使高等教育拨款委员会既能较好实现政府对高校设定的政策目标，又能有效防止行政化对高校自主办学的不当影响。     

Higher Education as a System: The English Experience

With particular, although not exclusive, reference to England, this article explores the appropriateness of describing higher education as a system. It has two main purposes: to explore the grounds for labelling English higher education as a system and to argue that, because this is no longer an appropriate label, a different conceptualisation is required. The central argument is that the structure of higher education is formed through the interaction of the state, market and higher education institutions and is, therefore, a shifting political construct. Furthermore, it will be hypothesised that the English (indeed, the British) model of higher education is better described as an increasingly internally differentiated network of sectors rather than as a system.     

我国高等教育布局结构面临的挑战及对策建议

本文对我国高等教育布局结构中面临的各种挑战进行分析,指出当前我国高等教育布局结构中存在如下主要问题：片面追求高校综合化;人才培养结构与专业结构的发展定位不适应;行业类专门院校服务能力明显下降;新建本科院校办学特色作用发挥不突出。针对这些问题,文章提出了下列对策建议：加强系统的整体规划,落实有效的评估与监测调控;加强分类指导,建立相关标准;建立起新的体制机制,加强高校与行业企业的联系;建立人才需求预测及预警机制。     

高职院校招生的创新性思考

伴随着普通高校招生录取率的大幅度提升,出现了全国性的高职院校生源不足的现象,有些高职院校甚至感受到了办学的危机,必须在原有的高招模式下,调整与改革高职院校的招生政策,逐步扩大中职学生“推荐免试”升入高职院校的机会,将“注册入学”作为中职学生对应进入高职院校继续学习的途径,建立起中职学校与高职院校有机衔接的办学机制,使高职院校获得充裕而稳定的生源。     

Transformation of the Adult Education System in Slovakia

This article examines trends in adult education in Slovakia since it became a separate republic in 1993. Economic and social transformations during this period have led to a re-thinking of the adult education system. The author describes four basic modalities for providing adult education in Slovakia: (1) schools and colleges; (2) cultural centres and similar institutions; (3) institutions for vocational training; (4) voluntary organizations such as trade unions, political parties and ethnic minority groups.     

高等学校的政治权力及其监督

高校的政治权力是基于高校所有权的一种"主权",决定着高校发展的根本方向,具有全局性和战略性等重要特征.政治权力的这种最高权力特征在高校中又面临着高校学术"事权"的最终权威裁定,因此高校的学术权力是高校政治权力审议监督的合法力量.只有正确认识高校政治权力的独立性存在及其特征,并以学术权力的审议监督为权力制衡机制,才能防止高校政治权力和行政权力的过渡膨胀,促进高校的权力平衡,真正有助于完善高校的内部管理.