A University Grants Commission in a South Asian setting: The Sri Lankan experience

University education in Sri Lanka in modern times has a short history of just over six decades. From 1921 to 1959 there was one University College (1921–1942) or University on the island. With the establishment of two other universities in 1959, the need for co-ordination of higher education activity through a University Grants Commission (UGC) or similar body arose.The establishment of the National Council of Higher Education (NCHE) in 1966 was part of a policy of bringing greater government influence to bear on universities and was therefore resented and resisted by the latter. However, the new body, while it lasted, served as a very effective buffer against undue government interference in university affairs. The six year period beginning in 1972 saw a process of centralization of university education under strong government control. The UGC established in 1979 has much the same powers as the NCHE, a wider range in fact than those enjoyed by the British UGC, and much greater influence in university education than the British prototype.Universities in Sri Lanka have always depended on the state for almost all their funds. While this has naturally given government much influence in shaping the structure and expansion of universities, the principle of university autonomy was strongly entrenched between 1942 and 1966. There was a departure from this in 1966, but more particularly between 1972 and 1978. The Universities Act. No. 16 of 1978 re-introduced the concept of autonomous universities. The one area in which state influence has been the predominant factor is university admissions and this influence began in the mid-1950s long before the concept of university autonomy came under systematic attack from the government's Ministry of Education.The author has been a member of the University Grants Commission since its establishment in 1979. The views expressed in this article are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the University Grants Commission or the University of Peradeniya.     

Applying the Varieties of Capitalism Approach to Higher Education: comparing the internationalisation of German and British universities

In recent years, the global market for higher education has expanded rapidly, while internationalisation strategies have been developed at university, national and European levels to increase the competitiveness of higher education institutions. This article asks how institutional settings prevailing in national models of capitalism motivate distinct national approaches with regard to the internationalisation, globalisation, and Europeanisation of higher education systems. While the university is defined as an organisational actor embedded in the higher education system, the higher education system itself represents an institutional subsystem within the national model of capitalism. An analytical framework is then developed on the basis of the Varieties of Capitalism approach to compare the internationalisation of German and British universities. Findings indicate that the relations between the various actors involved in the internationalisation of universities are based largely on market coordination in the British case. In contrast, this process in Germany relies more on strategic interactions between the various organisational actors in higher education. The development paths in the internationalisation of universities are found to be influenced by and reflect the specific mode of coordination in the respective higher education system and the national model of capitalism more generally. This comparative case study shows that recent conceptions of path dependence as well as conceptual tools developed in the Varieties of Capitalism literature, such as institutional complementarity and comparative institutional advantage, may be fruitfully applied to research on institutional change in higher education systems.     

Ensuing dog fight: the AHA Commission on the Social Studies' testing controversy

The American Historical Association's (AHA's) Commission on the Social Studies was a compilation of prominent scholars who, from 1929 to 1934, investigated social studies education in American public schools in order to provide some cohesive recommendations for teachers. The AHA Commission had a controversial ending, with one of its members, University of Iowa curriculum professor, Ernest Horn, leading a protest against the Commission's final summary volume. This historical inquiry unveils that the cause of controversy revolved around the use of objective testing (now known as standardised testing) in the social studies curriculum, resulting in two duelling camps within the Commission: those who were against the use of objective testing and those who promoted its use. The Commission, therefore, became the battleground for one of the first debates on the role of standardised testing in the school curriculum.     

Uncovering influence through Social Network Analysis: the role of schools in Education for Sustainable Development

Abstract

This paper examines the implementation of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in Germany and explores the possibilities of Social Network Analysis (SNA) for uncovering influential actors in educational policy innovation processes. From the theoretical perspective, an actor’s influence is inferred from its relative position within issue-specific information flows and the trust placed in its capacities and expertise, instead of relying on an actor’s openly expressed role and policy preferences. Drawing on techniques from quantitative SNA enables to analyse the social interactions as well as the frequency and type of information exchange amongst actors in a particular issue area. Empirically, I focus my attention on the educational innovation of ESD, which has been initiated at the global level, but is mainly put into practice at the national or regional level. Data for the study come from mixed mode interviews with a standardised questionnaire. The interviews were conducted and analysed using egocentric and complete SNA. I find, amongst others results, that NGOs and governmental actors occupy significantly more central, prestigious and influential network positions than schools in the course of implementing ESD in Germany. Furthermore, school representatives exhibit few and weak relations, and mostly share links with other formal education actors.     

The Australian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse

The Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse is the largest royal commission in Australia’s history and one of the largest public inquiries into institutional child abuse internationally. With an investment from the Australian government of half a billion dollars, it examined how institutions with a responsibility for children, both historically and in the present, have responded to allegations of child sexual abuse. Announced in the wake of previous Australian and international inquiries, public scandals and lobbying by survivor groups, its establishment reflected increasing recognition of the often lifelong and intergenerational damage caused by childhood sexual abuse and a strong political commitment to improving child safety and wellbeing in Australia. This article outlines the background, key features and innovations of this landmark public inquiry, focusing in particular on its extensive research program. It considers its international significance and also serves as an introduction to this special edition on the Australian Royal Commission, exploring its implications for better understanding institutional child sexual abuse and its impacts, and for making institutions safer places for children in the future.     

Comprehensiveness and diversity in secondary compulsory education in andalusia: an unresolved challenge

This article outlines the contradictions and challenges of introducing comprehensive, compulsory education in Andalusia for students up to the age of 16. Following a documenting of the developments, it is argued that while the intention was for a significant, planned reform, it is better characterised as one that is, at best, an improvisation. The article discusses the continuing difficulties that may be attributed to a number of policies of the Conservative government of the day, which allowed the development of two systems of education that were not grounded in concepts of equity and social justice to evolve. The work of John Elliott has been acknowledged as an important influence upon the inquiry that was undertaken and the subsequent analysis of its results. Thus, not only are the results of an action-orientated study reported here, but also there is an extensive set of guiding principles that could enable the reform to be truly actualised.     

服务社会，加强远程教育公共服务体系建设

发展教育服务业,促进社会服务的均等化,是社会发展进步的需要,对于以远程教育为主业的广播电视大学意义重大。加强公共服务体系建设,要整体推动、系统运作,充分利用电大的系统优势、国有资源和办学基础,促进资源共享、优势互补,促进公共服务体系的规模化、网络化、连锁化运营,促进与社会多方多元的合作,处理好开放教育与公共服务体系的内外关系,提升公共服务体系的整体服务能力、服务质量。     

The policy environment of private higher education in China: a discussion based upon property ownership rights

The reemergence and growth of private higher education institutions (HEIs) represent one of the most significant developments in Chinese higher education over recent decades. Against a macroeconomic background of decentralization, this phenomenon is essentially fuelled by a broad spectrum of political and socioeconomic forces. This study sets out with the primary aim of discussing the current policy environment constraints faced by different types of private HEIs based upon a theoretical framework of property ownership rights. This is undertaken through a comparative analysis with HEIs in the United States, as well as case studies on three different types of private HEIs in China (accredited private universities, independent colleges and Sino-foreign colleges). Recommendations are offered on the key issues aimed at overcoming the difficulties encountered by such institutions; these include transfer rights, income rights, government subsidies, access to bank loans and tax-exempted social donations. The government in China has adopted an incremental approach to the regulation of the private higher education sector, thereby providing ad hoc solutions to problems encountered along the way; however, within a mutually understood framework of action, a system of clear property ownership rights is essential to the practical coordination of the activities of the economic actors.     

Towards a network governance of European lifelong learning: a structural analysis of Commission expert groups

ABSTRACT

The influence of the European Commission (EC) expert groups on policy coordination within the European Union has received a growing interest among researchers, who have assessed their role in policy-making processes, their participation patterns, their transparency, and their knowledge-generating process. This article interrogates the structural configuration of the networks, and the relationships between the actors, formed through the Commission expert groups on adult learning, and under the Education and Training 2020 work programme, respectively, by means of a Social Network Analysis. So attention is paid on the mutual-constitutivness of a social network and its members, or the potential power within a network, and of a network, to influence member states’ domestic adaptation of communitarian policies. Our analysis points at noticeable differences between the connectivity of each of the Commission expert groups, and the groups emerging from the two forms of network governance these produce in the adult learning, and education and training domains. A key result, however, is that two actors (i.e. Flemish Department for Education and Training, Ministry of Education and Culture of Finland) stand out as fully embedded in both forms of network governance, and represent highly connected ‘informal’ brokers across policy domains.     

The Discursive Construction of the National Grid for Learning

The National Grid for Learning (NGfL) not only represents the most ambitious educational computing initiative to date but also heralds one of the largest public/private education policy partnerships the UK has even seen. In reflecting the growing influence of market and technological forces the NGfL should, therefore, be treated as a significant education signpost for the new century. Before the initiative reaches full operation a major step in the 'construction' of the Learning Grid has been its formation within government and official discourse. This discursive construction is important inasmuch as it makes an 'ethereal' initiative a tangible concern, shaping expectations among both the education and business communities and consequently influencing the future effectiveness of the NGfL. From this basis, the present article examines how the National Grid for Learning is being discursively constructed by government and official actors at a macro level through policy and advisory documents, official statements and other rhetoric. In doing so the article highlights how the NGfL is being shaped within a restrictive technocratic and determinist discourse, thus conforming to traditional narratives of society and technology. The paper then aims to show how such construction negates crucial social and economic elements of the initiative and threatens, ultimately, to restrict the eventual educational effectiveness of the Grid.     

Boys: Getting it right: The ‘New’ disadvantaged or ‘disadvantage’ redefined?

Over recent years there has been widespread concern for masculinity and the education of boys in Australia. In the policy arena, this has involved a federal parliamentary inquiry into the education of boys (Boys: Getting it Right: Report on the inquiry into the education of boys, October 2002) and a federal government response to this inquiry (June 2003). This was followed by a review of the current education policy directed at gender, the Gender Equity Framework, and the development of strategies to increase the number of men going into teacher training. The way in whichGetting it Right and the federal government talk about boys and disadvantage is important. This paper argues that there is a particular understanding of disadvantage at work in this policy arena. It is an understanding of disadvantage extracted from a wider gendered power order.     

日本当前幼儿教育课程改革述评

在少子化、幼儿规范意识淡薄及世界幼儿教育普遍受到重视的背景下,日本政府于2008年展开了新一轮幼儿教育课程改革。此次课程改革强调幼儿教育的奠基作用,注重教育课程规定时间外所进行的教育活动,着力于"健康"和"人际关系"领域的改革,是一次较为保守的课程改革。     

政府购买职业教育服务的实践方式、困境及优化路径

政府购买职业教育服务是政府职业教育治理现代化的重要尝试,是政府职能转型促进职业教育改革发展的现实要求。中国政府购买职业教育服务实践方式主要有直接资助、间接补助、服务外包、项目申请制四种模式。在分析职业教育购买服务组织缺乏独立性、职业教育购买服务体系缺失完备性以及职业教育购买服务评估缺少全面性基础上,提出突出购买服务主体独立性,以契约合同性原则实现利益共赢;重视购买服务程序规范性,以市场竞争性原则实施全程管控;扩大购买服务评估全面性,以职业教育公平性原则开展全主体考核有针对性的优化路径,以提升职业教育现代化治理水平,为经济发展提供高质量的技术技能人才支撑。     

试论借鉴时代比较教育研究方法论的意义

在借鉴时代比较教育已经具有了初步的研究方法论,这是比较教育成为一门独立学科的标志之一。比较成熟的研究方法论能够促进比较教育学科的发展与进步;同时方法论的发展也对各国教育产生了深远的影响。本文阐述了借鉴时代比较教育研究方法论的意义,以期从中对我们当前的比较教育学科建设有所启示。     

Bologna 2010. The Moment of Truth?

Government policies are central factors shaping the environment of higher education institutions. European governments have included in their higher education political strategies the principal goal of implementing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The perceptions that key actors of higher education institutions (HEIs) have about political developments are important as they may influence the achievement of government policy. The Bologna Process is at the heart of policy coordination, the instrument selected at European and national levels to establish EHEA. This article seeks to discuss empirically the views of institutional actors about the Bologna Process, taking into consideration the achievement of EHEA. The discussion is based on the analysis of the EHEA implementation in seven HEIs located in four higher education systems — Germany, Italy, Norway and Portugal. This paper draws on the theoretic-methodological approach of the policy cycle to analyse the perceptions of HEIs' constituencies about Bologna.     

The Taiwanisation,Democratisation and Internationalisation of Higher Education in Taiwan

This article discusses how political transition affected higher education in Taiwan between 1987 and 1996. The patterns of political transition were reflected in changes in higher education, and were mediated by the state and newly emerged actors who strove for university autonomy, such as university academics and students. However, the interactions among these state and non-state actors have been complicated by such issues in broader context as party politics, national identity and relations with mainland China.     

现代学校制度初论

现代学校应建立起一套完整的现代学校教育制度体系,其内涵是能够适应市场经济和建设学习型社会的基本要求,以学校法人制度和新型的政、校关系为基础,依法治校,专家管理,民主参与,社会合作,促进学校可持续发展。为此,要加强理论研究和实践探索,分区域、分阶段地实验推行,使我国基础教育尽快走向现代、开放。     

Education recoded: policy mobilities in the international ‘learning to code’ agenda

Abstract

Education policy increasingly takes place across borders and sectors, involving a variety of both human and nonhuman actors. This comparative policy paper traces the ‘policy mobilities,’ ‘fast policy’ processes and distributed ‘policy assemblages’ that have led to the introduction of new computer programming practices into schools and curricula in England, Sweden and Australia. Across the three contexts, government advisors and ministers, venture capital firms, think tanks and philanthropic foundations, non-profit organizations and commercial companies alike have promoted computer programming in schools according to a variety of purposes, aspirations, and commitments. This paper maps and traces the evolution of the organizational networks in each country in order to provide a comparative analysis of computing in schools as an exemplar of accelerated, transnationalizing policy mobility. The analysis demonstrates how computing in schools policy has been assembled through considerable effort to create alignments between diverse actors, the production and circulation of material objects, significant cross-border movement of ideas, people and devices, and the creation of strategic partnerships between government centres and commercial vendors. Computing in schools exemplifies how modern education policy and governance is accomplished through sprawling assemblages of actors, events, materials, money and technologies that move across social, governmental and geographical boundaries.     

The dimensions of social dynamics in comparative studies on higher education

This article discusses social dynamics of higher education which is one of the most crucial but neglected perspectives in comparative studies of higher education. We pay attention to the importance of time, space and contexts—both geographical and socio-cultural ones—to reveal how they influence on different social dynamics in various systems of higher education. The article focuses on the national higher education system level. Theoretically we approach higher education systems from a relational perspective paying attention to dynamics created by changing relationships between different actors in cultural, geographical and historical contexts.     

A Blend of Romanism and Germanism: Experimental Science Instruction in Belgian State Secondary Education, 1880–1914

A case study of secondary experimental science instruction in Belgium demonstrates the importance of cross-national communication in the study of science education. Belgian secondary science education in the years 1880–1914 had a clear internationalist dimension. French and German influences turn out to have been essential, stimulated by the fact that Belgium, as a result of its geographical position, considered itself as the centre of scientific relations between France and Germany, and as actually strengthened by its linguistic and cultural dualism in this regard. This pursuit of internationalist nationalism also affected the configuration of chemistry and physics as experimental courses at Belgian Royal State Schools, although the years preceding WWI are usually characterized as a period of rising nationalism in science, with countries such as Germany and France as prominent actors. To what extent did France and Germany influence Belgian debates on science education, science teachers’ training, the use of textbooks, and the instalment of school laboratories and teaching collections?