AFFIRMATIVE ACTION IN AUSTRIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The slowness with which women were admitted to academic careers in Austria, following the graduation of the first women from an Austrian university in 1897, is evoked. Measures to be taken to bring the number of women in academic positions into equilibrium with the number of men in such positions are evoked in general terms.     

TECHNICAL COMPATIBILITY OF VIDEO RECORDERS IN AUSTRIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

The author describes the swift growth in the number of VTRs installed in Austrian universities and colleges. The range of equipment available is discussed and a possible resolution of the problems of videotape exchange in institutions of higher education is suggested.     

OECD S EXAMINATION OF AUSTRIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

For the third time, Austria has been the subject of an OECD survey covering education and science. After the general analysis of the education system in 1966 and the study on research policy in 1970 OECD's experts have turned to the question of evolution in Austrian secondary schools.

We give below a report prepared by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Science and Research on OECD ‘s examination of national educational policies concerning Austrian higher education.     

ACADEMIC DRIFT AND BLURRING OF BOUNDARIES IN SYSTEMS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

A tendency towards academic drift and the blurring of boundaries exists in most differentiated higher education institutions as faculty members, particularly in non‐university sector institutions, seek to emulate the research paradigm of universities. As non‐university sector institutions perform essential educational and training roles in meeting the labour requirements of complex developed societies, their specific characteristics and functions must be protected. The best way to guarantee protection is to maintain the separate administrative identities of non‐university sector institutions and to encourage an ethos favouring such separation.     

PROBLEMS OF ACCESS TO HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE CONTEXT OF ACADEMIC STRUCTURES

Problems of access to higher education are currently receiving considerable attention. One of the factors governing access to higher education systems and institutions is the structure of the systems themselves. This problem was the main concern of a research report written by Professor Burton R. Clark, Chairman of the Programme of Comparative and Historical Studies of Higher Education at Yale University, and the main elements of the report are given below.     

学术职业化与美国高等教育的发展

本文借鉴职业社会学的相关研究成果 ,通过探讨 16 36～ 1914年间 (特别是 19世纪后期 )美国学术职业化进程以及在这个过程中发挥作用的主要因素 ,分析了美国高等教育发展的内在动力机制。     

具有连带产品属性的高等教育

高等教育区别于其他多数产品和服务的一个重要特征是 :它是一种“连带产品”。当学生选择本科学院时 ,首先考虑的不仅是大学的教授、课程和设备 ,而且还同时考虑学校里其他同学的学术能力和社会经济背景。大学里的教授和管理者在选择工作机构时同样考虑他们同事的学术水平和社会背景。这种情形在著名大学表现得尤其突出。高等教育的这一特征对高等教育的分层、竞争、非营利属性、院校规模以及偏好的同质性等现象都有一定的解释力。显然 ,未来的高等教育系统将具有双重性 :在底层 ,竞争相对单一 ;在顶层 ,分层相对突出     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN ISRAEL

We give below an article written for the Bulletin dealing with the present situation and development of higher education in Israel. The author of the article, Mr. Shmuel Bendor from the Planning and Grants Committee of the Israeli Council for Higher Education, is also the CEPES liaison officer for Israel.     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN LATVIA

This report considers ways in which the Republic of Latvia and other developing countries can evaluate the situations in which they find themselves and then act to obtain the greatest benefit from the development of higher education, science, and research. For fifty years higher education, science, and research in Latvia were separated from their equivalents in western countries. In addition in Latvia higher education was isolated from industry as well as from science and research. Now the reform of higher education, science, and research must be given a legislative basis. As Latvia would like to join the European Union, it should base its regulations concerning higher education, science, and research on those of the European Union. The necessary legislation must provide possibilities and mechanisms for the co‐ordination of the interests of the whole society and the interests of the academic community     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN ICELAND

We give below a short summary of the latest developments in higher education in Iceland.     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN ISRAEL

As I look back on my experiences in Jewish education in the United States I am struck by the extent in which we, as leaders and researchers, misread sociological factors which affect the development of the Jewish community and their consequential effects upon Jewish education. The unpredictable element, even under the most scientifically researched procedures, are characteristic of our modern Jewish history.     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN DENMARK

Similar to the enrolment trends which could be observed in higher education in most of the other European countries in the 1960s, the number of students in Denmark also increased rapidly in that period. To accommodate this increase, the capacity of the higher education system was expanded and a number of organizations, admissions and study reforms were introduced.

The following is a report on the situation of higher education in Denmark.     

DROP‐OUT AS A MANIFESTATION OF REPRODUCTION DYNAMICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The link between drop‐out rates and the indicators of the socio‐cultural background of undergraduates is analyzed. The conceptualization of the drop‐out problem is based on the theory of cultural reproduction. The tension inherent in this Bourdieuan concept is linked to the opposition between different student cultures and the one‐dimensional, largely hidden, cultural expectations of higher education institutions. One can argue that students who have the most favourable sociocultural backgrounds obviously adapt themselves better to the quite elitist culture of the academic world. The likelihood of this kind of existence of cultural screening is, however, related to the hierarchical status structure of the given academic field. Presumably, the disciplinary culture of top‐units, that corresponds to the culture of the dominant classes, hinders the efforts of common undergraduates to complete their studies. The empirical findings of this study indicate that persons who withdraw from higher education without having been awarded a diploma come from a lower social class background slightly more frequently than do those who do not withdraw, and, surprisingly, are males living in urban and more educated communities. Such unequally biased post‐selection is also more common for the middle and upper than for the lowest‐ranked fields of the academic hierarchy. Generally speaking, differences between social classes, so far as this phenomenon is concerned, are quite small, but may become more pronounced.     

HIGHER EDUCATION STRUCTURES IN ROMANIA

The higher education system of Romania has been one of the sectors of Romanian society most determined to undertake drastic reform and restructuring. The reform process, which got underway during the first months of 1990, is complex, particularly the efforts in favour of restructuring and diversification aimed at adapting Romanian higher education, both in terms of national and of curricular structures, to the realities of a market economy and liberal democratic principles. An appropriate legal framework is to be provided by two new laws, the Law on Education and the Law on Quality Assessment and Accreditation.     

LEGAL LITERACY IN HIGHER EDUCATION

The departure point of this article is the assumption that the United Nations, in particular the Commission on the Status of Women (set up in 1946) and the specialized agencies of the organization, have provided decisive influence in establishing throughout the world the individual rights of women: The impact of the international community in promoting the advancement of the status of women has moved them in the course of this century into the mainstream of social change. Apparently, a new educational philosophy, related to the personal rights of women and men, will have to be formulated for the twenty‐first century. Since inter‐university co‐operation related to international teaching and research is being strengthened, why not benefit from the multilateral achievements mentioned cursorily in this article, which would allow the more efficient use of scarce resources? It therefore seems perfectly obvious that the objectives of the International Literacy Year 1990 and its follow‐up plan of action should be used to invite higher education to make efforts to promote “legal literacy” up to and beyond the year 2000.