A Tale of Two Industries: Mass Media and Higher Education

As higher education becomes an industry, it commercializes. This process is giving rise to certain anxieties. True, commercialization is bringing certain evils; at the same time, it is generating impulses towards the development of higher education as an essential factor of social progress and economic growth. The commercialization of higher education leads to governance; governance leads to the flow of money; and governance plus money lead to quality. The twin industries of the mass media and higher education are together contributing to mutual benefits and to the benefits of civilization. It is time to rethink their missions in contemporary society and to revise the idea that the right to education is of less importance than the freedom of opinion. In fact, these rights are of equal significance and are interdependent.     

Ranking and League Tables of Higher Education Institutions

Pointing out that globalization is a continuous process of adaptation and standardization affecting all aspects of social life in all societies, the author argues that higher education is essential for the facilitation of globalization. In the Eastern and Central European transition countries, higher education has been a main engine of transition, but it too must adapt to change, particularly to the rigors of a market economy that, among other things, requires that it be available to all and that it be financed from various sources, including tuition fees payable by all students. Also, governments must promote excellence to the extent of offering special funding to recognized centers of excellence. Higher education must be the engine that stimulates change and development throughout society.     

Ethical Aspects of the Profession of Engineer and of Education Towards It

Global problems of development of modern civilization and the perspective of the post-modern future increase the role of ethical factors as regulators of actions in modern technology. This challenges the philosophy of technology from the 1960s, which was connected with the so called ‘normative turn’. The traditional philosophy of technology (e.g. A Gehlen's, O. Spengler's and others) interprets the role of technology differently from modern philosophy of technology. ‘The normative turn’ concentrates mainly on social conditions of technological development with the view that technology is not neutral and technological devices are not ‘innocent’. It is also connected with the new role of responsibility in engineering, namely with a subject, object and instance of responsibility in this area. The new requirements are important for education in engineering. The aim of education is the formation of a technological culture which is connected with the transmission of knowledge and the forming of skills and attitudes. The formation of a technological culture means aspiration to the unity of those three elements. The modern challenges mean the new requirements in these three areas; their unity will be expressed in responsible decisions and actions of engineers. The process of education should give foundations for proper and effective practice of the ethics of engineering.