Equity in Spanish higher education

The most outstanding event in the recent evolution of higher education in developed countries has been the continuously increasing proportion of students entering higher education and, therefore, its extension to more and more inclusive groups. It seems reasonable to assume that the expansion of higher education must have facilitated access of less privileged social classes, but it is important to analyze to what extent this significant increase in higher education participation has reached all social, economic, and cultural groups. This analysis could be useful in designing a policy to help those students who have more difficulty accessing higher education. The goal in this paper is to analyze this subject thoroughly focusing especially on the level of participation of young adults in Spanish higher education controlling for economic level, parental education and occupation, and other environmental characteristics. We present a logistic model which jointly values the influence of different family and social characteristics of the individual on his/her decision to enroll in higher education. The main conclusions of the study are these: (a) There has been improvement in the equity of access to higher education. In spite of this overall improvement, about 30 per cent of the less privileged population is still underrepresented in higher education, (b) Family educational level is the most important factor in the decision to enter higher education. The weight of these educational characteristics exceeds by far the influence of family income level.     

Market trends in Spanish higher education

Higher education in Spain broke away from its close dependency on the State in the last decade. In this paper we analyze the steps undertaken by the Spanish higher education system which has allowed market influences to grow in recent years. We analyze the historical framework and legal changes which have facilitated market trends in higher education. We consider the influence of these market trends on the financial and organizational structure of universities. We conclude that, though the steps are still hesitant, market-like elements are increasingly affecting every aspect of higher education life.     

高等教育强国建设与我国高等教育改革的政策走向

新中国成立以来,特别是改革开放以来,我国高等教育事业取得了巨大的历史性成就,成为名副其实的高等教育大国,为高等教育强国建设奠定了坚实的基础,但是与世界高等教育强国相比仍然有较大的差距。《国家中长期教育改革和发展规划纲要(2010-2020年)》明确提出了建设"高等教育强国"的战略目标,实现从高等教育大国向高等教育强国的转变,将是未来很长一个时期内我国高等教育改革与发展政策的基本走向。     

Accountability in higher education: The danger of unintended consequences

Higher education in Britain, which until recently had been allowed to conduct its affairs with minimal governmental direction, is now being subjected to increasing pressures resulting from governmental policy decisions, especially regarding public accountability. Such decisions have the effect of substantially changing social systems and frequently lead to unintended consequences, and a number of examples from higher education are given which illustrate this statement. These are analysed by means of a simple model of change. This model is then used to suggest a form of accountability based on a sharing of both power and responsibility between government and universities, which may be expected to reduce the probability of unintended consequences.An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Ninth Forum of the European Association for Institutional Research, University of Twente, Enschede, August 1987.     

Governmental policies and organisational change in higher education

In this article a theoretical framework designed for a comparative research project on organisational change in higher education is presented. In the project the main focus is on how organisational change in universities and colleges is affected by governmental policies and programmes. The framework is based upon two major theoretical perspectives, resource dependency and neo-institutionalism. It is argued that for examining changes in universities and colleges both the relationship between these organisations and the government, as well as their internal dynamics are of importance. In addition to integrating the two main theoretical perspectives in the project also attempts to do justice to the complexities of the concept of (governmental) steering by attempting to incorporate general models on the role of the state. The article suggests that these models offer a meaningful insight into how and why governmental steering approaches have been changed over time.     

Equality of opportunities in Spanish higher education

In the past few decades, there has been a sharp increase in the number of students attending higher education institutions in Spain. Many commentators believe that this expansion is associated with greater equality of opportunities as more university places offer greater potential for the advancement of students from poorer backgrounds. Unfortunately, this argument is not always true. In fact, there is empirical evidence that the expansion in higher education system disproportionately benefits children from relatively rich and well educated families. In that context, the purpose of this paper is to analyse the possible effects of socioeconomic background on the decision to complete a degree before leaving the educational system in Spain. Taking the data from the Spanish module data on school to work transitions, I estimate several logit models in order to detect the influence of personal and regional characteristics on the educational decisions. The results show that, in spite of the disappearance of universities for only the elite, socioeconomic variables heavily influence the demand for university education, so the equality of opportunities in this educational level has not been completely achieved.

促进高等教育公平的政策考量

高等教育公平是构建和谐社会的重要基石。由于制度设计的缺陷、教育经费投入不足等原因,我国的高等教育在入学机会、教育过程和教育结果等方面都存在着教育不公平的现象。应通过强化教育公平理念、稳定教育经费来源、合理配置教育资源、改革收费制度和完善招生录取制度等方面促进教育公平的实现。     

Mediatizing higher education policies: discourses about quality education in the media

This article presents a critical–political discourse analysis of the media debate over quality assurance in higher education, which occurred in Chile after the 2011 student movement. Students criticized the privatization of higher education and the multiple flaws of this sector, which included corruption scandals during the process of quality assurance certification. After the end of the movement, the government announced a new quality assurance system, triggering public discussion over this issue in the media. The most influential newspapers and educational authorities participated actively in this debate. Through editorials and columns, these education agents constructed quality assurance discursively as a domain for experts, who have to design and administer quality standards for all educational institutions and actions. These procedures regulate and discipline educational practices, but professors and students are excluded from this debate. Thus, this quality assurance discussion reproduces the traditional neoliberal power relations in education and does not problematize the role of education in society.     

Nordic language policies for higher education and their multi-layered motivations

Language policies have been drafted in Nordic higher education with the obvious, but unproblematised and unchallenged motivation caused by internationalisation. In this article, we analyse the various motivations for drafting language policies in Nordic higher education and the ideological implications of those motivations. We do this by approaching the question from multiple (macro, meso and micro) viewpoints, in order to make visible some of the undercurrents in higher education language policy. We are particularly interested in the explicit motivations for language policy change, and the explicit and implicit actors and action represented in our data. We will first discuss the background for internationalisation in Nordic higher education and then move on to our analysis of policy documents, survey data on the motivations for language policy drafting in Nordic higher education institutions. Our results indicate that internationalisation turns into a national question in the motivations. It also appears that the institutions are reactive (rather than active) in responding to perceived needs to draft a language policy.     

South Korean higher education internationalization policies: perceptions and experiences

Our study investigates how Korean universities are designing and implementing internationalization policies to meet the demands of globalization. Relying upon globalization theory we reveal how power is embedded within these internationalization efforts. Indeed, we accept the notion that the United States is the world??s superpower and therefore Korea was compelled to ??Westernize?? in order to become active participants in the highly competitive globalized twenty-first century. Through the perspectives of Koreans and foreigners (e.g., professors, students, government officials, and university administrators), our paper aims to discover and understand Korean values and traditions in comparison and detached from Western theory of globalization and internationalization policies in higher education.     

Adequate Policies and Unintended Effects in Spanish Higher Education

Recent developments in Spanish higher education have been very positive.Universities have become autonomous and are more in tune to regionalneeds, their internal structure has become flexible, the whole systemhas become open and accessible, funds have been poured into the system as never before and market forces have started to play a relevant role.Nevertheless, some perverse effects have begun to emerge. We will focus on some of these negative aspects that deserve deeper consideration: the inadequate adaptation to a mass higher education system, and the negativeconsequences of the collegial model for governing universities and ofregionalization.     

西班牙高等教育的主要特征及其对我国的启示

西班牙是世界高等教育发达国家 ,其成功的经验值得我国借鉴 ,特别是对我国高等教育体制、入学考试制度、收费制度改革有较多借鉴作用。     

Learning and teaching policies in higher education: mediations and contradictions of practice

Abstract This article utilises Rokeach's categorisation of values (i.e. moral, competency, personal and social) to analyse how values influence the choice of research method. It discusses how the ontological and epistemological position adopted by the researcher is influenced by their competency and personal values. The next section is concerned with the social values (or politics) of educational research, where the debate has polarised between those advocating a value‐neutral approach and those who argue that researchers should instead accept the partisan nature of research. Finally, the issue of research ethics is considered. Moral values are found to play an important role, but other values also influence the ethical decisions that are taken. The article concludes by highlighting how the complex interaction of the researcher's moral, competency, personal and social values has an important influence on the research process. The article contends that research methods cannot be value‐free in their application, but researchers should adopt a reflexive approach and attempt to be honest and open about how values influence their research.     

Class size and teacher effects in higher education

Using student evaluations of their instructor as an outcome measure, we estimate and compare class size and teacher effects for higher education, with an emphasis on determining whether a comprehensive class size reduction policy that draws on the hiring of new teachers is likely to improve educational outcomes. We find that first time teachers perform significantly worse than their peers, and we find substantial class size effects. Hence higher education institutions face a tradeoff if they wish to increase admission. This tradeoff implies that as class size increases, at first the negative class size effect is smaller than that of introducing a first time teacher. However, beyond a certain level, the class size effect dominates and it is better to create a new class with a first time teacher.¹