Context Effects on Children's Use of Language

The sweeping changes in Swedish society in the 1990s, with extensive decentralisation, privatisation and cutbacks in the public sector, implied quite new conditions for the realisation of the aim of pre-school and school as a meeting place for children from different backgrounds. This article discusses some of these changes and their implications, through a study of parent's choice of pre-school care facility in the city of Uppsala. The main data source is a survey study among 1584 mothers of children born in 1995. The results show that parents' use of the right to choose pre-school facility is economically, socially and culturally segregated; the patterns of choice are construed in relation to residential areas but are not a simple effect of housing segregation. The choice of pre-school facility in Uppsala is thus a practice that creates specific conditions--socially and culturally homogenous private pre-school facilities--that make it virtually impossible for them to achieve the goal of being meeting places.     

Finding Educational Insights in Psychoanalytic Theory with Marcuse and Adorno

This article seeks to clarify the potential that Herbert Marcuse's and Theodor W. Adorno's psychoanalytic accounts may have with respect to the philosophy of education today. Marcuse and Adorno both share the view that psychoanalytic theory enables a deeper understanding of the social and biological dynamics of consciousness. For both thinkers, psychoanalytic theory provides conceptual tools for thinking through contradictions between the needs of an individual and those of the governing entity. In fleshing this out, I first explore Marcuse's radical account of sublimation which seeks to demonstrate how the revision of instinctual energy makes it possible to establish a subjectivity which utilises the human potentiality to its fullest. I then turn to Adorno who emphasises the importance of understanding that exterior conditions transform our instinctual energies. After recapitulating Adorno's conception of natural, instinctual impulses and his use of psychoanalytic theory, I will explore the possibility of a critical rationality through a critique of rationality's current mode. From the perspective of Adorno's and Marcuse's theories, both rationality and sensuous desire play their respective roles in enabling critical rationality. In conclusion, the article reflects the different advantage points of Marcuse's and Adorno's accounts from the perspective of philosophy of education. Thus, education should provide individuals with the ability to recognise the subtle and invisible ways through which the calculating mode of rationality operates in late‐capitalist society. Regarding education, Adorno's conception of non‐identity could be developed in the direction of promoting ways of experiencing non‐conformity within such a society.     

Quality Higher Education at the University of Novi Sad

As Serbian universities inherited a reputation for very high quality from the days of socialism, they have been somewhat reluctant to reform themselves, particularly to adopt the 3+2 degree award system as per the Bologna Process recommendation. In fact, Serbian universities are more successful in the international arena at macro-level than at micro-level. Still, the author's university, the University of Novi Sad, is reforming itself along the lines of the Bologna recommendations.     

Chemical Engineering and Environmental Engineering Education in Hungary

Engineering education has more than 200 years of tradition in Hungary. Chemical engineers are trained at the Technical University of Budapest (TUB) and at the University of Veszprém. The curriculum of the TUB chemical engineering education is given. Undergraduate environmental engineering education is offered at the University of Miskolc, at the Janus Pannonius University in Pécs and at the University of Veszprém. Curricula of the latter two are given. The TUB has several environmental specialization opportunities for engineering students, but at present no separate undergraduate environmental engineering education is offered. Such a curriculum is now under preparation and will be introduced in 1998. Several technical colleges also offer environmental engineering education, where the duration of the training is 3 years. Postgraduate education is a very suitable form to add environmental knowledge to the existing engineering knowledge of graduate engineers. The TUB and the universities in Miskolc and Veszprém are all very active in this field.     

Student Perspectives on Higher Education as a Factor in the Founding of Knowledge Societies

The Chairperson of ESIB--the National Union of Students in Europe, a student union umbrella organization--briefly traces the origins of her organization and argues vigorously for strong government support for well-developed and diverse tertiary education systems. These must be broadly engaged both in their respective societies and internationally so as to prepare civil society for participation in so-called knowledge-based society.     

Institutional Practices and the Cultural Construction of Primary School Teaching in Botswana

This paper is based on a study which explores links between the interactional order of the Botswana primary classroom-frequently dominated by whole-class recitation routines-and the wider social order, which includes highly centralised control of the education system. Drawing on ethnographic observation, I argue that the institutional structures and practices of schools and training colleges are important-but covert-contributors to teachers' understanding of their professional roles. Firstly I describe the internal social structuring of two primary schools, the social hierarchy among those who work and learn there, and the cultural distance between the schools and their communities. Then I discuss the institutional practices of the primary teacher training colleges in Botswana, arguing that these do not challenge concepts of teaching already internalised by trainees. Such concepts include the authority of teachers, the use of English as a symbol of that authority, and the value placed on memorisation of knowledge for display.     

The Establishment of Quality Assurance Mechanisms at the University of Nis and Other Systemic Changes in Serbian Higher Education

The author, the Rector of the University of Nis in Serbia and Montenegro, describes the recent introduction of quality control mechanisms and other reform measures in his university. These reform measures are intended to help adapt the university to the Bologna Process. The carrying out of these reforms has been aided by a university-wide evaluation that was conducted in 2002 by a team of the European Association of Universities. A second impetus for reform has been the participation of the University of Nis in the activities of the Regional University Network on Governance and Management of Higher Education in South East Europe.     

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.     

Globalization and Opportunities for Development in Higher Education in South East Europe

The author remarks that globalization is here to stay and that it is much more than a matter of global markets. She points out some of its beneficial aspects in South East Europe. It will, for example, allow members of diasporas from former trouble spots to keep in contact with their home countries by Internet and to assist them. Such positive developments can already be identified in some countries of the region. UNESCO is encouraging such innovations in higher education so as to enable it to benefit from the opportunities offered by new global transforma tions.