Higher education for public value: taking the debate beyond New Public Management

Many higher education (HE) system reforms in the past decades have been built on the paradigm of New Public Management (NPM). However, these reforms have not allowed HE to fully take its value for society into account. In recent years a growing call can be heard to orient the HE sector towards more collaboration, a focus on a larger set of socio-economic objectives instead of on performance alone, less pressure, more trust and legitimacy. In this article, it is stated that NPM has not sufficiently enabled the creation of public value (PV) by the HE sector. This article provides (1) insight into the flaws of NPM, (2) an understanding of PV for HE and (3) a new model to study HE reforms built on the concept of PV.     

New public management as a global education policy: its adoption and re-contextualization in a Southern European setting

In the education sector, new public management (NPM) has crystallized in policies such as school autonomy, professionalization of school principals, standardized evaluation and teachers’ accountability, and it has been widely disseminated by international organizations, such as the OECD, which enjoy a great prestige when it comes to frame education reforms in European countries.

This article analyses the way NPM has been constructed as a global education policy, and its adoption and re-contextualization into the Spanish education context. This article shows that the reasons for adopting NPM are not so different from those prevailing in other countries where these policies have been implemented before. Counter-intuitively, although NPM is a reform programme traditionally initiated by conservative governments, in the Spanish education field, as also happened in other Central and Northern European countries, it has been adopted and regulated with social democratic governments. In all these countries, social democrats have tended to embrace NPM as an attempt to address the legitimacy crisis of the welfare state and of public services in particular.

Nonetheless, in Spain, the NPM reforms have been re-contextualized and regulated in very uneven and paradoxical ways. For a combination of political, institutional and economic reasons, the final form adopted by the NPM approach is far from the model advocated by the international community and is deeply contradictory.

Our arguments are based on intensive fieldwork that include, on the one hand, interviews with key education policy-makers and stakeholders and, on the other, document analysis of policy briefings, press releases and legal documents.     

Modernising education: New Public Management reform in the Norwegian education system

Since the end of the 1980s, the Norwegian education system has gone through major reform, influenced largely by new managerialist ideas. Strategies to renew the public sector were promoted as the new public management (NPM). This paper investigates the way ideas connected to NPM reforms have been introduced and interpreted in the Norwegian education sector. Based on our studies of selected policy documents from the last two decades, we have identified three areas of discursive struggle. The first one is linked to ideologies and the national history of schooling, the second to contested issues of teacher professionalism and the third is associated with strategies for modernising and improving education. A main argument is that NPM reforms changed direction and sped up when Norway was listed among the ‘lower-performing’ countries according to Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and other international tests. Leadership and accountability became the dominant themes in Norwegian education.     

The Winds of Change in Russian Higher Education: is the East moving West?

In the last 30 years, major changes have taken place in the public sector worldwide under the rubric of New Public Management [NPM]. The education sector is perhaps one of the key areas drawing an intense interest and discussion in the wake of NPM. The Russian State seems to be no longer an exception to this global trend. In line with this, the Russian education sector was declared as a large-scale top priority national project in the late summer of 2005, which was aimed to help raise the living standards of each Russian citizen. This empirical paper seeks to reveal the major institutional and legal changes taking place in Russian higher education over time. This insight is vital as it points to the contexts in which Russian public universities operate. To make the acquaintance of a system of Russian higher education, this research sketches its evolution. It commences from the Soviet era to the present time, highlighting the most significant government initiatives.     

What Do Educational Mismatches Tell Us About Skill Mismatches? A Cross‐country Analysis

The relationship between higher education and employment is commonly interpreted in terms of the extent to which the higher education sector is providing graduates with the knowledge and skills to match employment needs. It is assumed that a mismatch between working in a job and level or field of education limits the use of skills, with adverse effects on both productivity and earnings. This article examines this assumption on the basis of five countries from the European graduate survey (CHEERS data). Although the analysis shows that educational and skill mismatches are indeed related, mismatches by no means imply mismatches between available and required knowledge and skills. The results indicate that traditional approaches of mismatches have to be adapted to more flexible forms of relationships between higher education and work.     

新公共管理理论对我国政府改革的启示

20世纪70年代末以来,西方各国相继掀起了政府改革的浪潮。这场改革使支配了20世纪大部分时间的以官僚制为基础的传统行政管理模式转变为以市场为基础的新公共管理模式。本文分析了新公共管理理论的背景、内容及对我国政府改革的启示,以及需要注意的问题,以期有助于我国在吸收和借鉴此管理理论时有更理性的把握。     

Why has for-profit colleges’ share of higher education expanded so rapidly? Estimating the responsiveness to labor market changes

Over the last two decades, for-profit colleges (FPCs) have substantially increased their share of the higher education market. One potential explanation is that FPC sector may be more responsive to labor market changes than public competitors. Using panel datasets of Associate's degree students, we examine the effects of changes in labor market conditions across various employment fields on enrollment and degree completion in related majors. The results indicate that enrollment and degree completion in the FPC sector is positively related to employment growth and wages in related occupations, while public institutions remain largely unresponsive. Heterogeneity analysis reveals that these relationships are similar across groups of students by gender and ethnicity. Furthermore, the results also indicate that students in public institutions are non-responsive to changes in labor markets associated with requiring an Associate's or Bachelor's degree.     

澳大利亚公立职教师资体系的构建特色

通过研究澳大利亚职教领域占主导地位、属公立性质的TAFE教育体系与构建特色,完整并正确地解释TAFE的实际状况,阐述澳大利亚公立职教师资良好的就业前景、灵活和弹性的用人制度与薪酬待遇、不同性质的教学工作、务实的资历要求和多元化的师资培训方法等。     

Education and the cult of relevance

Abstract

Recent policy developments within the public service sector have led to widespread de‐professionalisation and a general loss of motivation and morale within education, health and social work. This state of affairs has been brought about by the imposition of a social market on public sector professions and through the introduction of competence‐based education and training (CBET) strategies into professional studies. These developments are criticised for their failure to capture the essential epistemological and moral dimensions of the work of professionals, and programmes for professional regeneration are recommended through the renewed emphasis on the workplace as the site of professional learning. Work‐based learning may enable professionals to re‐affirm the importance of experiential learning and reinforce the centrality of the ethical bases of professional practice.     

中国的新公共管理与高校教师聘任制

中国新公共管理取向的社会治理范式变革是高校教师聘任制的社会背景。教师聘任制是高校应对经费短缺、教育资源竞争的压力和提高教师产出而做出的制度选择。它一方面迎合了高校在市场竞争中求生存的需要,另一方面加剧了高校教师的"临时工化"、高校的企业化。这就需要对新公共管理与高等教育理念、聘任制与高校教师的职业特点之间的契合性进行反思。面对市场化的社会现实,中国高等教育应当反思式而不是镜式反映现实,应当超越性而不是跟踪性地适应现实,应当以符合高等教育自身逻辑的方式而不是以异化的方式应对外部冲击。     

Private higher education: challenges for Australia and beyond

Among the chief characteristics of the post‐industrial society are ambiguity and paradox. In Australian higher education, as in other sectors of Australian Society, these have found expression in individualism, private initiative and entrepreneuship.

The ‘privatization’ of higher education now includes the imposition on enrolment charges, the re‐introduction of ‘full cost’ fees, especially for private overseas students, moves towards the deregulation of salaries and conditions of employment of academic staff and the establishment of new ‘self‐contained’ and ‘hybrid’ private higher education institutions.

In response to these developments, debate has tended to centre upon a number of mythologies which inter alia assert that private higher education is new to Australia, that it is foreign to the Western academic tradition and that such education avoids the employment of public funds. Moreover, it is claimed that while private higher education is ipso facto elitist, it will, through competition, result in a more effective and efficient public sector.

The above mythologies are examined in the light of past, present and proposed developments in Australian higher education, with particular note being taken of the establishment of the Bond University in Queensland.     

Vocational education,on-the-job training,and labour market integration of young workers in urban West Africa

Young people in Africa encounter many difficulties in entering the labour market and in searching for decent and productive jobs. Research on the links between formal education and vocational training and their economic returns are especially crucial in understanding the inadequate demand for their labour. This article presents evidence based on the 1-2-3 Surveys conducted in seven West African countries; the surveys provide a consistent and comparable picture of the urban youth employment situation in these countries. The analysis also indicates that vocational education could be helpful in integrating the formal sector and that it often offers better earnings and better firm performance than general education, especially at higher levels of schooling. Overall, young workers with no formal vocational education and training face poorer working conditions, while those who have had a traditional apprenticeship in a small firm occupy an intermediate position. Finally, on-the-job training plays a crucial role in the informal sector of the West African cities.     

希腊的过度教育

上世纪60年代开始，希腊的高等教育规模得到了空前发展，使劳动力的平均受教育年限迅速提高，但由于国有企业私有化改革和私营企业对大学毕业生的吸纳能力有限，劳动力的教育收益率逐年下降，出现了明显的过度教育现象。本主要从过度教育与家庭社会经济背景的关系、过度教育与学科专业的关系和过度教育在国有和私营部门之间的差别等方面论述了希腊过度教育的特点。     

Educating and training out of poverty? Adult provision and the informal sector in fishing communities,South Africa

This paper looks at access to adult education and vocational education and training (VET) provision in fishing communities in the Western Cape, South Africa. Fishing communities are being disadvantaged due to geographical and socio-political marginalisation, and the predominance of informal sector employment in the context of worldwide marine resource depletion. Neither public nor private provision is adequately serving rural areas or the informal sector in this context. Using the sustainable livelihoods approach as a tool of analysis, this paper argues that a more cross-sectoral approach is needed to tackle equity and poverty concerns in adult education and training provision.     

教育全球化和国际化形势下俄罗斯对外教育新动向

全球化和国际化是当今世界高等教育改革与发展的潮流和趋势，它们引发教育体系的新变化，影响大学在社会中的地位和作用，也意味着全球性人才互动进入一个新阶段。在世界经济、科技发展趋向一体化形势下，俄罗斯的高等教育也迈上了国际化轨道。本文以世界范围内的人才流动为主要分析对象，揭示了俄罗斯在教育全球化和国际化形势下对外教育新动向。     

Corporatization of higher education through internationalization: the emergence of pathway colleges in Canada

Through increased international student tuition revenue, internationalization provides public Canadian higher education institutions opportunities to offset the effects of stagnant provincial operating grants or earmarked governmental allocations. Pathway colleges, institutions that are either operated by host institutions or as private corporations, offer international students alternative routes to bachelor’s degrees, pathways that are intended for students who do not meet the entrance criteria of Canada’s public sector universities. While beneficial for some students, our analysis shows that pathway colleges tilt the public university towards an academic model that eschews collegial governance structures, privileges a consumerist vision of education, and relies on contract and precarious academic labor.We presenta typology of pathway colleges, providing examples of this trend across Canada. Our study examines the potential increase of human vulnerability that these colleges both produce and rely upon for staff and student recruitment.

     

Does Higher Education Matter? Lessons from a Comparative Graduate Survey

Renewed public interest in the relationships between higher education and the world of work and a deficient data base contributed to the decision to undertake a major comparative study on graduate employment and work. In the framework of the CHEERS study, supported by the European Commission's TSER programme, some 40,000 graduates of the academic year 1994/95 from 11 European countries and Japan were surveyed about four years later. The study paid attention to the transition to employment, the employment situation during the first four years after graduation, the links between competences acquired and work tasks, as well as the professional impact of values and orientations. Altogether, the findings indicate major North-South differences of graduate employment in Europe, but less clear findings as far as work assignments and retrospective views of higher education are concerned. They show on average a more favourable employment and work situation than the public debates suggest, few signs of European convergence, for example with respect to preference for generalists or professionals, and a high weight of intrinsic values.     

From knowledge seeking to knowledge creation: The Japanese university's challenge

Underlying the steady expansion of Japanese education is a strong public faith that success in schooling leads to a secure adult career with permanent employment in an organization. The Japanese work contract emphasizing stability and security pervades all walks of life including universities and research laboratories. This strength of the Japanese system is also its major weakness. It induces a penchant towards conformity and uniformity that sometimes conflicts with the creativity and initiative required in the best scientific and technical work. Thus, a major concern in the present reform effort is to bring greater flexibility and instability to a system that is premised on limited choice and stability. Japan's university challenge is to identify the structural reforms required to reverse the traditional focus of the educational sector. The current concern to expand graduate education, break down the chair system, expand university-industry collaboration, and increase the number of foreign researchers in Japanese laboratories is all part of the thrust for a new more stimulating educational process. But even bolder reforms are required if Japan hopes to move the educational sector to a new knowledge creation paradigm.     

当代高校的强化学生创新创业思维的培养模式研究与探索

当代中国高等教育的跨越式发展和宏观经济形势的变化对中国传统的就业教育模式提出了严峻的挑战,人们对创业教育的关心达到了前所未有的程度,同时对人的创业素质的养成也提出了更高的要求.如何发挥创业教育应有的作用,更好地培养大学生的创业素质,成了我们当前急需解决的问题之一.讨论创业教育与创业素质之间的关系,分析当前我国创业教育的现状,阐述高校开展创业教育现实意义和理论意义,在明确开展创业教育原则的基础上,提出高校开展创业教育的对策.