EMPLOYMENT SITUATION AND PERSPECTIVES OF HIGHER EDUCATION GRADUATES IN BELGIUM

We present below the main results of the study “Insertion dans la vie professionnelle et emploi des diplômes universitaires” carried out under the direction of Dr. José van de Vijvere by the “Service de Programmation de la Politique scientifique” in Brussels.     

ENROLMENT AND EMPLOYMENT PERSPECTIVES: THE SITUATION IN AUSTRALIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

As an exception to the usual regional character of the Bulletin we present an account of student enrolment and employment prospects for higher education graduates in Australia.     

RECENT TRENDS AND CURRENT PROBLEMS IN USA HIGHER EDUCATION

In the following article, Professor John D. Millett, Vice‐President of the USA Academy of Educational Development, points out major trends and problems of higher education in the United States, especially in the context of structural economic changes. Many issues discussed in this article will also effect American higher education in the 1980s.

The article is based on a paper Professor Millett presented at the International Seminar on Efficiency of Higher Education (Nieborow, 25‐28 September 1979), (Editor's Note: In No.1, January‐March 1980 of “Higher Education in Europe” other papers delivered at this meeting were presented, as well as the summary of the seminar's discussions.)     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN ITALY ‐‐ PRESENT SITUATION AND PROBLEMS

The present tension in Italy's universities is attributable mainly to the following factors:

• the higher education system was changed during the 1960s to cater for the masses rather than just the élite, without there being any corresponding expansion of academic facilities, teaching staff and social services;

• changes in educational policies led to strains in the student‐professor relationship, and ‐ a sharp rise in youth unemployment has lowered student expectations and bred resentment among higher education graduates.

Below we present information analysing this situation, with special regard to the position of students, and including proposals for changes which would improve the condition of higher education in Italy.     

HIGHER EDUCATION AND CONFLICT OF INTEREST: CANADIAN PERSPECTIVES

Canadian university teachers have long recognized the importance of establishing procedures for dealing with conflict of interest. More recently, they have recognized the importance of dealing with cases of academic fraud; however, compared to occurrences in universities in the United States, there seem to be few examples in Canada. Canadian academics have taken the lead in this area, securing procedures for dealing fairly with conflict of interest in the context of the needs of academic freedom through collective bargaining by faculty associations and unions under the leadership of their national organization, the Canadian Association of University Teachers (CAUT).     

MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION: MYTHS AND PROBLEMS

The budgetary decentralization of higher education in the United Kingdom calls for individual institutions and units within them to take increasing responsibility for raising their own funds. The author, who argues that higher education institutions must derive an increasing proportion of their budgets from the marketing of their products goes on to explain how this can be done. To begin with, the nature of marketing and of market research must be well understood, and the legitimacy of the marketing process itself must be accepted by all the members of the university community. It is then necessary to do a marketing audit so as to establish what a given institution has to sell and what its outside environment wishes to buy. Flexibility on the part of the seller with regard to type, level, duration, and scheduling of courses is very important. It is also necessary to be able to persuade the potential buyer that he wants to have what the seller has to offer. At this point, however, the author cautions the reader as to the dangers of some seven market myths as applied to higher education and the dangers of oversell. He concludes that with prudence higher education can be marketed to the satisfaction of all concerned with results which avoid the “unhappy paradox” that the marketing of higher education is both essential and disastrous.     

PROBLEMS AND PRIORITIES OF RUSSIAN HIGHER EDUCATION

A wide‐ranging discussion of the problems facing Russian higher education in the period of transition is introduced. Although enrollment and employment levels in higher education continue to be high and have not suffered the sorts of cuts as in the other sectors of the Russian economy, much must be done to increase the efficiency of the system. For the author, the key to increased modernization and efficiency is increased reliance on the information technologies in all areas of teaching, learning, and research. She cites the case of World University in California that is completely an on line operation even while arguing that certain elements of traditional higher education should be retained in the Russian Federation. She is persuaded that both humanistic and scientific subjects and programmes can benefit from informatization. The result will be a world‐class higher education system for Russia.     

SOME PROBLEMS OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN GERMANY

The underlying premise of this article is that the best way to become acquainted with higher education in Germany is to discuss its problems. Such problems as expanding enrollments, the role of research and teaching, the link between higher education and future employment, the question of the supposed equality of German universities, the link between regional development and higher education, and the question of the duration of studies are briefly discussed in light of the tension between the universities and the Fachhochschulen. The hint is made that the Fachhochschulen are more successful pedagogically than are the universities.     

PROBLEMS OF EQUIVALENCE OF STUDIES AND DIPLOMAS IN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS

This article Surveys the problems and the traps of equivalences in higher education and proposes solutions to the former and ways of avoiding the latter. To begin with, one must be clear as to basic concepts and be able to distinguish between recognition and equivalence, the second being synonymous with the first, if formal equivalence is what is meant. But the principal task is one of defining and granting so‐called real equivalence, that is, equivalence based on the comparison of educational programmes, contents, length of study, the methods and the results of evaluations, and appropriate assessments of the academic value of practical work. It is also necessary to be clear at the outset as to the purposes of a given equivalence: to permit further study in another country or to aid in securing employment in a given occupation in another country. A major problem relates to varying conceptions of what is specifically university education in relation to higher education as a whole; the weight to be granted to post‐secondary, non‐university training; the whole question of length of studies; and ambiguities relative to terminology. Although it will never be possible to formulate ideal solutions to all problems, the key to obtaining the best possible solution is to be found in the improvement of the availability of standardized information by the exploitation of such sources as Unesco statistics, student books, analyses of bilateral conventions for applicable analogies, and, eventually, the sort of diploma supplement which Carin Berg and Ulrich Teichler are recommending.     

HIGHER EDUCATION IN RELATION TO PROBLEMS OF ENVIRONMENT

The first Intergovernmental Conference on Environmental Education convened by Unesco was held in Tbilisi (the Georgian SSRT USSR) from 14 to 26 October 1977. The Conference was organized by. Unesco in . co‐operation with the United Nations Environment “Programme (UNEP).

The Conference had the following main points on its agenda: major environmental problems in contemporary society; role of education in facing the challenges of environmental problems; current efforts at the national and international levels for the development of environmental education; strategies for the development of environmental education at the national level; regional and international co‐operation for the development of environmental education: needs and modalities.

The following information is based on those parts of the Final Report of this Conference which are of special importance in the planning, formulation and organization of environmental education in higher education institutions in the European region.     

PROBLEMS OF EXPANSION AND CHANGES IN HIGHER EDUCATION: AN ENGLISH VIEW

The rôle and functions of higher education institutions in the situation of, expanded demand for higher education and an explosive increase in knowledge, particularly in science and technology, is an issue of great societal interest. We give below extracts from a report analysing these problems in the context and experience of higher education in the United Kingdom. The report was prepared for the Council of Europe's Council for Cultural Cooperation Educational Research Symposium by Lord James of Rusholme. The Symposium was held in Granada from 4 to 7 October 1977.