European Higher Education Systems Research Articles

Undergraduate Research-Methods Training in Political Science: A Comparative Perspective

Unlike other disciplines in the social sciences, there has been relatively little attention paid to the structure of the undergraduate political science curriculum. This article reports the results of a representative survey of 200 political science programs in the United States, examining requirements for quantitative methods, research methods, and research projects. The article then compares the results for the United States with a survey of all political science programs in Australia, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The results suggest (1) that the state of undergraduate methods instruction is much weaker in the United States than indicated in previous research, (2) this pattern is repeated in other countries that emphasize broad and flexible liberal arts degrees, and finally (3) this pattern of weak methods requirements is not found in more centralized, European higher education system that emphasize depth over breadth. These countries demonstrate a consistent commitment to undergraduate training in research methods that is followed up with requirements for students to practice hands-on research. The model of weak methods requirements in the discipline is not the norm internationally, but differs depending upon the type of higher education system.

Universities’ Access to Research Funds: Do institutional features and strategies matter?

Competitively allocated research funds, from both public and private sources, constitute an increasing share of university revenues. The article investigates empirically, using data on the Italian university system, whether structural and strategic features of universities—such as size, age and especially the importance that they assign to their teaching and research missions—affect their success in securing research funds. The analysis shows that universities that strategically prioritize their research mission also obtain higher funds per researcher, from different sources. These results are compared with those obtained by similar studies of other European higher education systems, and some general implications of the introduction of competitive funding mechanisms for university behaviour are derived.

What has to be learnt for sustainability? A comparison of bachelor engineering education competences at three European universities

In a period of harmonisation of the higher education system in Europe, a question is if also learning about sustainability at the universities is converging and what advantages this may have. This paper is an effort to present and advance the work on describing desired sustainability competences for engineering Bachelor graduates in three technical universities (Chalmers in Sweden, DUT in The Netherlands and UPC-Barcelona in Spain) using the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) descriptors. The paper also sheds light on whether there is conformity or not in desired sustainability competences (or in how sustainable development (SD) competences are handled) at the three universities. For universities outside the EHEA, this paper gives hints on the type of sustainability competences that will be required from their first-cycle graduates should they want to continue with second-cycle studies within the EHEA. The results show that the three universities follow a similar pattern in the classification of the competences (Knowledge and understanding, Skills and abilities, and Attitudes) and that there are minor divergences with respect to the list of competences and the levels of learning that Bachelor students should have when graduating. Definition of competences is an area that needs development, and this paper is part of a learning process for the three universities. This study shows that there is improvement potential for all three universities when it comes to being explicit and exact in the description of the desired SD learning.

Transatlantic recognition issues: seeking new directions in the twenty‐first century

Both the US and European higher education systems have long histories of transatlantic cooperation1, a tradition that it is important to preserve and enhance even in the context of increased competition and important systemic reforms in both North America and Europe. The Bologna Process has led to several systemic reforms in European higher education, including new degree structures, credit systems, intra‐European mobility opportunities and transparency that are important in creating a more dynamic, flexible and socio‐economically orientated brand of higher education. Institutional autonomy and a broader and more flexible content for degrees are also being discussed, both driven by economic realities and the need to improve both social access and outcomes. In the United States, the issues of accountability to societal stakeholders (citizens, employers and government) and outcomes‐orientated quality assurance are realigning the historic relationship of the self‐governing university corporations to society and the state. Accreditation, which is a century‐old process, is now actively addressing outcomes as an integral concept in quality assurance. And both state and federal governments, as well as non‐governmental organisations, are more active in combating degree mills and fraud than in the recent past. Both Europe and the United States are doing what is necessary to improve their higher education ‘brands’. More academic flexibility and institutional independence are important if Europe is to overcome the rigidities that hamper its competitiveness, just as more accountability and improved quality control are important to the continued attractiveness of US higher education in an increasingly regulated and interdependent world. These steps do not mean that European and US higher education are becoming alike, but they should lead to greater possibilities for cooperation and better mutual understanding of our respective systems.

Accountability, access, and affordability as key challenges in the reform of Croatian higher education

Higher education in Croatia has experienced many significant changes since the introduction of the Bologna process nearly a decade ago. With efforts to harmonize higher education into the European Area of Higher Education have come many challenges related to access, affordability, and accountability. The Bologna Declaration outlines a basic framework for transforming higher education in Europe and has two main goals: to achieve grater compatibility and comparability of the systems of higher education to promote grater employability of higher education graduates in the European labor market, and achievement of international competitiveness and worldwide attractiveness of the European higher education system. Although a number of students enroll in tertiary education (somewhat similar to U.S. technical college), a smaller proportion entered higher education (somewhat similar to U.S. four-year baccalaureate college), but the number continues to increase each year. Historically, government funds supported all or nearly all of the higher education student’ s tuition ; however, as more students choose to enroll, tuitions are rising and generally students are being required to fund a portion of their costs. Although accountability in Croatian higher education is not currently addressed directly, it is being addressed indirectly through related concepts such as competence-based curriculum, social responsibility, and quality assurance. In addition, efforts such as the Tuning Project are especially important for accountability. Indeed there are challenges, but also bright future ahead for higher education in Croatia.

Postgraduate studies and supervision in Germany – how much structure is enough?

In many European higher education systems, doctoral education is considered a rather unsystematic educational path. The candidate does not participate in course programmes nor is the Ph.D. candidate selected or evaluated according to any common standards. Since the 1990s, this unstructured approach to doctoral education has come under increasing scrutiny from politicians, scientists and has been the subject of public debate. Central issues include the employability of doctoral students and the lack of quality assurance and proper supervision. A considerable number of European higher education systems, including the German, are therefore shifting their doctoral education to a more structured approach. However, there is little consensus on just how much structure is necessary. The purpose of this essay is to discuss the tensions in the reform debate on doctoral education in Germany and to provide suggestions for how to cope with the conflicting pressures and demands.

Where Are We Going and Who Will We Teach?: Conjectures about Comparative Literature and the Humanities

This paper offers a dark and light macro and micro vision of graduate education in the Humanities in the United States with some anecdotal evidence specific to Literature. I'll intersperse my comments with some data and conclude with a few comments about the future of Literature. As Haun Saussy has so eloquently argued, Comparative Literature has won its battles. It has never been better received in the American (3). But where is the American university going? As an amateur in the field of higher education studies, let me propose a few answers. First, Literature in the U.S. seems to be thriving. The membership of the ACLA has doubled from approximately 600 to 1200 in the past two years. There are about 175 Literature programs and departments in the U.S. according to the September 2006 PMLA. Not all of these, however, are in the Carnegie Foundation's 96 Very High Research Universities, nor in the 103 High Research Universities and 84 Basic Doctoral Research Universities (see Carnegiefoundation. org or The Chronicle of Higher Education Almanac Issue 2006-07). Indeed, the National Research Council survey that is currently underway has just announced that there are forty-seven Literature programs in their doctoral survey. This compares reasonably to other doctoral programs in the Humanities: for instance, forty-three in French and Francophone, thirty-three in Germanic languages, sixty-two in Spanish and Portuguese, and one hundred twenty-five in English departments (Council of Graduate Schools Communicator). Given these numbers, Literature is doing quite well. However, the Humanities in general are struggling, partially because we in the profession are not doing as effective a job as we could in teaching our students when they are seeking academic employment to look beyond a narrow selection of Very High Research Universities, nor are we publicizing the value of the education we offer. This conclusion leads me into a somewhat darker discussion. At the Council of Graduate Schools meeting in Washington, D.C. in December 2006, the Comptroller General of the United States, David M. Walker, in a paper titled America's Fiscal Future: Implications for Higher Education and Global Competitiveness, gave a complex and almost terrifying picture of the American economy over the next forty years. In brief, if some major changes are not made in federal expenditures and tax codes in the U.S. in the next few years, America will go bankrupt. Let me note that the Comptroller General wrote and gave this speech before Al Gore's film and the United Nations report on global warming. But apart from floods and droughts, the effect a national bankruptcy would have on higher education is obvious. If the head of the gao does manage to persuade Congress to balance the budget and not pay a projected 40 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (gDP) in interest on loans (as we will be doing by 2040 if we continue current policies), we still are not out of difficulty. Part of the challenge America faces is that international competition in higher education is becoming much more intense, as I'll mention in a bit more detail in a few minutes. On the lighter side of the future of education, we also heard another paper at the Council of Graduate Schools conference outlining the 150-year history of higher education and the last sixty years of world-wide mass education. The transition that an ever increasingly educated world population is making and will continue to make is almost miraculous, as many of you know who have seen the abrupt changes in educational systems in places like China and India. Add to this that countries like Australia are developing very fine higher educational systems, and that they are competing intensely for international students, students who formerly would have come to the United States. I could spend additional time here talking about the changes in the European education system as a result of the Bologna Treaty, a treaty that basically outlines a plan to harmonize the higher education system in Europe so that students can transfer with ease back and forth between different European countries and universities. …

O processo de Bolonha, a avaliação da educação superior e algumas considerações sobre a Universidade Nova

O presente artigo analisa o que se convencionou chamar de Processo de Bolonha, isto é, a produção de uma "política pública de um meta-Estado para um meta-campo universitário", constituindo-se em uma política educacional supranacional, comum aos estados-membros da União Européia, com vista à construção de um "espaço europeu de educação superior". O processo político e de reformas institucionais, realizado por cada governo nacional, conduzirá ao estabelecimento efetivo do novo sistema europeu de educação superior até 2010, incluindo atualmente 45 países - todos os da UE e outros 18 países europeus não pertencentes a ela. Nesse sentido, por se tratar de um vastíssimo número de "subsistemas nacionais" e de instituições educativas, atribui-se um grande protagonismo às questões relativas à "garantia de qualidade". Analisam-se, igualmente, as recentes transformações na educação superior no Brasil, em que o projeto da chamada "Universidade Nova" e o Programa de Apoio a Planos de Reestruturação e Expansão das Universidades Federais (REUNI) constituem-se nas manifestações mais claras do reordenamento desse nível de ensino (seguindo os parâmetros de Bolonha), que já experimentara grandes transformações nos governos de Fernando Henrique Cardoso (1995-2002) e teve prosseguimento nos governos de Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (2003-2006; 2007), embora com distintos matizes.

The Bologna Process: Implementation and Developments in Portugal

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to discuss the implementation and developments of the Bologna Process in the Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) as a new paradigm of the European system of higher education, in general, and of the Portuguese system, in particular.Design/methodology/approachThe paper uses firstly, higher education system statistics; secondly, Government and European Union documents; and thirdly, academic papers that conceptual frame the issues under discussion.FindingsPortuguese HEIs are engaged in the Bologna process, but it shows some contradictions within the higher education system. One of these contradictions is the restructuring of the degrees and cycles had led to the apparently destruction of the binary system (universities and polytechnics) which existed in for more than 30 years. Another contradiction is carry out common European priorities and, at the same time, maintaining the national culture, language, education systems and HEIs autonomy. Although, the system promotes the cooperation between HEIs and increases the research, the innovation and the sustainable development, at a national level, as well as, an international level.Practical implicationsHEIs need to promote the strategic function of higher education and it demands a constant adaptation of the conceptual field, especially, in the social, economic and technological perspectives. These perspectives will assurance the enhancement and the preservation of quality of teaching/learning. These will improve the education for sustainable development that it develops higher growth and better educational performance.Originality/valueProvides empirical evidence about the social dimension of the higher education system and analyse the Bologna Process in the HEIs.

Johanna Witte: Change of degrees and degrees of change. Comparing adaptations of european higher education systems in the context of the bologna process

Johanna Witte: Change of degrees and degrees of change. Comparing adaptations of european higher education systems in the context of the bologna process

Training entrepreneurship at a French grande école

Purpose – In response to an identified information need about entrepreneurial teaching methods employed in the European higher education system, aims to investigate whether this type of experimentation could make a difference – an activity traditionally considered individualistic within a collectivist society – and, second, to evaluate the project in terms of its appropriateness.Design/methodology/approach – Examines an innovative case of entrepreneurship teaching at a French grande ecole, the ESC Rouen. In line with the purpose of this investigation a number of interviews were conducted with the project manager, the students' opinion was sought and a questionnaire survey was carried out among the participants. In addition, the author herself has been actively involved as a teacher and tutor for entrepreneurial projects.Findings – Finds that an entrepreneurial project such as the one presented here can indeed make a difference in creating a societal acceptance for entrepreneurial activity. Engages a large...

Organizing higher education in a knowledge society

The integration of higher education systems in the Western world has led both to development of overall strategies for the organization of higher education institutions by public authorities, as well as to strategies by higher education institutions aiming to position themselves within emerging higher education systems. This article first asks whether these developments represent converging or path dependent trends before it sketches a conceptual point of departure for the analysis of the relationship between institutions in higher education systems based on the effects of integration on academic hierarchies and functional specialization. Then I discuss how recent attempts at integrating higher education systems in Europe and the US may affect the relationship between institutions in the light of conceptions of education as a process by which students learn to learn or by which they learn specific occupational skills. Thirdly, the development is situated in a wider context where the relationship between different types of institutions are considered in relation to the spread of an extended and more utility oriented concept of knowledge. Finally, I consider briefly some possible future developments based on how modern capitalist and public managerialist knowledge regimes constitute conditions for higher education integration.

The Introduction of Two-Tiered Study Structures in the Context of the Bologna Process: A Theoretical Framework for an International Comparative Study of Change in Higher Education Systems

This article presents a theoretical framework for an encompassing international comparative study of a central aspect of the Bologna process; the introduction of two-tiered study structures (TTSS), often referred to as ‘Bachelor and Master’. The framework is tailored to understand and explain the patterns of TTSS that currently emerge in various national higher education (HE) systems in Europe. It considers both the different inherited institutional contexts and the interaction of organisational actors in HE policy, combining North's theory of institutional change and the actor-centred institutionalism of Mayntz and Scharpf to a framework for analysing change in HE systems. The framework allows to study the similarities and differences between the emerging patterns of TTSS and to investigate if the current changes of study structures contribute to the convergence of European HE systems. Besides developing the framework, proposals for its application and further refinement are put forward and its relationship with implementation analysis is discussed.

Austrian Universities Under Pressure From Bologna

Implementing the Bologna process makes high demands on all the Europeanhigher education systems. The challenges differ in each country. One can assumethat the reform effort to harmonise the study architecture is greatest for countrieswith the traditional one-tier system. Austria belongs to this group. Some of thetraditional features of Austrian higher education are indeed incompatible with theBologna process, which means that the reform pressure in Austria is quite high.Austria has rapidly adapted the legal framework for the implementation of theBologna Declaration. With the amendments of the University Studies Act in 1999

Convergence of Higher Education Systems in Europe: The English and French Example

Convergence of Higher Education Systems in Europe: The English and French Example

Secondary, Undergraduate Physics in Crisis in UK

The refrain is familiar, but the volume is up: UK secondary schools desperately need physics teachers, and university physics departments should broaden their reach in undergraduate education. So says the Institute of Physics (IOP) in a report released last month on undergraduate physics in the UK, Physics—Building a Flourishing Future. The facts are grim: Many UK physics schoolteachers are not trained in physics; undergraduate students lack the math skills they need for physics; and more than 10 university physics departments have folded in the past decade.All that despite job options for physics graduates in, for example, financial analysis, engineering, environmental science, energy technology, and intellectual property law. Employers told the IOP that they seek physics graduates for their problemsolving skills and their “ability to argue on [their] feet,” but that they’d like to see better communicating skills and teamwork.Because of its findings, the IOP will look into developing teaching materials to help university physics departments catch students up in math, and it’s calling for departments to partner with schools to sow seeds of scientific curiosity in the young. Such activities go on already, of course, but the idea is to increase their impact. Says Derek Raine, an astrophysicist at the University of Leicester, “They’re the sort of things that happen once everyone sees everyone else is doing it. They’re given status by IOP promoting them.”The report also says the government should recognize market forces and pay physics teachers more. The government knows there is a crisis in secondary schools—some have even taken to recruiting teachers from abroad. “They’re hearing this for the nth time,” says IOP President Peter Williams. “We hope to get their attention that, in physics, it’s particularly acute.”The IOP vows to push for recognition of the MPhys—a combined bachelor’s/master’s degree that takes just four years to complete—within the emerging Bologna framework of mutually compatible higher-education systems in Europe (see Physics Today, May 2001, page 21).The number of physics majors has remained flat over the past 15 years, while total university enrollment has skyrocketed. Physics should cast a wider net by offering new interdisciplinary degrees that cross with chemistry, computer sciences, and other fields, the report says. Such degrees could feed the job pipeline, help stop more departments from closing, and attract students who like physics but are weak in math. “Within the context that up to half the population goes into higher education, we should look at physics as part of the general culture, not just as training for professional physicists,” says Raine. “We should also question why the gender balance and ethnic mix of physics students is unrepresentative.”By and large, physicists who have read the report say it holds no real surprises. They applaud the idea of creating new degrees, though they wonder where the additional cash and staff to do that will come from. And they are skeptical that the government will cough up enough funding to improve conditions for teachers so that the profession can compete with the more lucrative careers available to physicists. The IOP report calls for a study leading to specific recommendations by next year as to what sorts of new degrees to launch, who should pay for them, and where they should be offered. And, says Williams, the IOP will evaluate the costs involved in rejuvenating the teaching pool. “We can’t keep hemorrhaging as far as our secondary schools are concerned. Something must be done.” Science road show: The University of Edinburgh takes science demonstrations to schools around Scotland, aiming both to capture kids’ imaginations and to give university students a taste of teaching. Here, flame height corresponds to pressure in a standing sound wave.SCI-FUN, UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGHPPT|High resolution© 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Towards a European Higher Education Area

AbstractThe higher education system in Europe needs to be harmonised in order to enhance its international competitiveness. In the following article Terence N. Mitchell, professor of chemistry at Dortmund University, comments on the Bologna Declaration ‐ a political paper which affirms the creation of a European Higher Education Area. Does this declaration meet the necessary requirements and how does chemistry fit into the Bologna process?

Challenges for the European higher education, with special reference to forestry

The ongoing discussion about the future of the forestry education can be considered as a part of the present intensive discussion on the European Higher Education System. Both the Sorbonne and the Bologna declarations are calling for the harmonisation of the higher education systems in Europe. The reality, however, is that the existing structures show an extreme complexity and diversity of curricular and degree structures, due to major differences in several key factors. Forestry education in Europe reflects quite well the features of the Higher Education in Europe. Curricula strongly differ, forestry as a science has thoroughly evolved during the last decades, foresters are faced to new challenges and the labour market offers other opportunities. As a result, there is both the need for harmonisation and for increased mobility, meaning that there are several reasons for changing forestry curricula. Fundamental changes in the field of profession and didactic requirements are major reasons to revise the forestry curricula. The shift from developing mainly the professional qualifications of the students to a stronger emphasis on the formation of the personal qualifications are considered as the main general issue in the changes of the forestry curricula.

The Bologna Declaration: Enhancing the Transparency and Competitiveness of European Higher Education

In June 1999, the Ministers of Education of some thirty European countries signed the ''Bologna Declaration''. Its aim is to establish the European area of higher education and to promote the European system of higher education in the world. It proposes the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, the establishment of a system of credits, and the elimination of all remaining obstacles to free mobility. This article discusses the potential importance of this Declaration for both the comparability and the competitiveness of European higher education. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the various stakeholders in the process and the possible implications for quality assurance and accreditation systems.

The Bologna Declaration: Enhancing the Transparency and Competitiveness of European Higher Education

In June 1999, the Ministers of Education of some thirty European countries signed the ''Bologna Declaration''. Its aim is to establish the European area of higher education and to promote the European system of higher education in the world. It proposes the adoption of a system of easily readable and comparable degrees, the establishment of a system of credits, and the elimination of all remaining obstacles to free mobility. This article discusses the potential importance of this Declaration for both the comparability and the competitiveness of European higher education. Particular attention will be paid to the role of the various stakeholders in the process and the possible implications for quality assurance and accreditation systems.