Transformation Of Higher Education System Research Articles

Transformation of the higher education system: Current and emerging global trends

In the context of unfolding global processes of the post-industrialization, informatization and the growth of knowledge components of economic development, the higher education system as an element of the economic and cultural compound of the countries and states acts as a moderating medium between all socio-economic subsystems of modern society. With the impact of global processes, the national higher education system assesses and neutralizes global risks, where it is possible, and creates sustainable trends of their effective adaptation. Regardless of the devotion level of the regional educational system and regardless of the priorities of the state educational system, it is impossible to exclude diffusion of the trends, tendencies and the global technologies. That is why, for the higher education systems of countries, the transformation of higher education systems in these conditions involves the adoption of a special model of such transformation – converged, which allows to identify the most dynamic, effective and relevant processes of change and to detect on this basis the main objectives of transformation and mechanisms for its implementation. With the expansion of information and technological processes in the society and in the aspect of the increasing restrictions of social mobility, the higher education takes on new meanings and new significance. In a globalized environment, the transformation of the autonomous higher education systems implicates the adoption of the specific model of transformation – the converged one. From these perspectives, the appreciation of the impact of global trends and tendencies to the transformation of stable patterns and links between the higher education economy seems to be a promising subject of research.

Digital Transformation of Higher Education System

Abstract Digital transformation of higher education undergoes cultural, mental, and technological change as an overall process. The present paper represents a correlation of the current literature that brings to light the key pillars aspects of the digital transformation of higher education. The objective of this research study was to outline a model of digital transformation strategy applicable to the Romanian academic environment. The original contribution of this study lies in establishing the key pillars elements and necessary stages for the implementation of digital transformation strategy for higher education which should be focused on students and effects.

25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries: Reform and Continuity edited by Jeroen Huisman, Anna Smolentseva, and Isak Froumin. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 510 pp. $31.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-3-319-52980-6.

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook Reviews25 Years of Transformations of Higher Education Systems in Post-Soviet Countries: Reform and Continuity edited by Jeroen Huisman, Anna Smolentseva, and Isak Froumin. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018. 510 pp. $31.00 (cloth). ISBN 978-3-319-52980-6.Saule AnafinovaSaule AnafinovaFaculty of Education and Psychology, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 65, Number 3August 2021 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/715016 Views: 143Total views on this site HistoryReceived April 21, 2021 For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

The Development of Higher Education System in Turkmenistan: Current Social, Economic, and Political Changes

The article analyzes the transformation of higher education system in Turkmenistan. The aim of the research is to evaluate the prospects of Russian higher education export to Turkmenistan taking into account the peculiarities of Turkmen higher education system and the main trends affecting it. The role of the state and the influence of global trends on Turkmen higher education system in 1991 - 2020 are estimated based on the coordination model and the concept of higher education internationalization. Since Turkmenistan as well as many other countries aims at increasing its universities’ popularity in the world, the article also considers the degree of internal and external higher education internationalization. Taking into consideration the peculiarities of the national economy of Turkmenistan, the political system, and the power balance in Central Asia, the author seeks to forecast the development of Turkmen higher education system. The article concludes that there is a significant potential for increasing the export of Russian higher education services to Turkmenistan. However, Russian universities need to explore the peculiarities of the country and elaborate suitable methods of work with Turkmen school-leavers.

The Higher Education Paradigm Shift

The mass participation of higher education (HE) has been growing at an unprecedented speed since the late 20th century, and now more than one-third of people aged 25 to 65 years old have attained at least one post-secondary degree (OECD, 2019). Leading by the increasing access and diversity of participation, the ongoing transformation of higher education systems (HES) shows the dynamism of HE. It is not only majorly powered by the economic efficiency of HEIs but also the students’ goals of socioeconomic improvement. Many institutions, however, take a sidestep when it comes to equal access. Quality of HE begins to raise issues when the number of students becomes overwhelming. Societal and financial factors continue to pervade the institutions as HE access broadens. To comprehend the difficulties of these institutions is to propose a better way to change the current HES. This paper is based on a number of analyses, reports and surveys to explore the process of transforming from elite education to online education with historical timelines. The paper addressed the influence of diversified accessibility on HE is further discussed, revealing many issues that hinder the current progress of transformation. Scrutinizing the economic analogy for HE also uncovers problems in the current HES. Then, the paper proposes several advantages for OHE and how it will shift the current HES.

Impact of Digitalization on the Transformation of the Higher Education System

Purpose of the study. The rapidly developing processes of the formation of the digital economy affect various spheres of human life in modern society, inevitably changing the educational environment. The aim of the work is to analyze the main development trends and emerging transformation processes in the field of higher education under the influence of growing digitalization and digital transformation of various aspects of human life.Materials and methods. In the course of the work, a dynamic, structural analysis of analytical and statistical information about the processes taking place in this area was used, as well as methods of theoretical research: analysis and generalization.Results. The pace of development of the digital economy in the modern world is very rapid, due to which the life of a number of professions is shortened, and changes affecting the content of labor contribute to the emergence of new ones. Based on this, it is necessary to understand the main directions of development in higher education, since personnel training is one of the most important components of the digitalization of the economy. The paper formulates the main directions for the development of education using digital technologies for the training of qualified specialists who meet the requirements of the digital economy and outlines a number of problems that the educational system will face in the process of transformation.Conclusion. The spread of digital and information technologies contributes to significant transformations in various fields of human activity and the sphere of higher education is no exception. The format of the digital economy is quite mobile, which leads to the fact that some specialties will emerge, others will lose their importance and disappear more or less rapidly, and also under the influence of constant and fairly rapid changes, the requirements for training will change. Considering the high mobility and variability of the current situation both in the economy and in the field of higher education, there is a need for constant adjustment of educational programs taking into account the ongoing changes. The rapid development of new knowledge and technologies, and many other reasons, contribute to significant transformations of higher education systems around the world. At the same time, considering the speed of changes, it is quite difficult at the present time to assess the entire range of challenges and problems that face the sphere of higher education. Separate sections of the work have been published earlier in a number of articles by the author devoted to this problem.

AREAS OF THE MODERNIZATION OF THE LITHUANIAN HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM: A CASE FOR UKRAINE

The article presents the experience of the Republic of Lithuania in moderni - zing higher education. The method of document analysis was used, in particular, data from the European statistics, national statistics departments, and the State statistics service of Ukraine. T he application of the method of generalization and comparison made it possible to compare the transformations of higher education systems in Lithuania and Ukraine. A number of problems typical for both countries that led to the introduction of a set of measures to improve the quality of educational services were found . They are the following : insufficient compliance with the requirements of employers, bureaucratization, mainly theoretical training, low competitiveness of graduates of higher education institutions in the labor market , slow introduction of modern information and communication technologies , outflow of young people to study in other countries of the European Union , and insufficient funding. T he correlation between the introduction of effective mechanisms for monito - ring higher education and the growth of the quality of educational services is demonstrated u sing the example of the Republic of Lithuania. It was found that the combination of two levels of monitoring – internal self–assessment and external expert quality assessment – gives the best result. The article analyzes the dynamics of total expenses for training of one student in the context of funding sources, which indicates the predominance of state funding in the higher education sector in Lithuania. The criteria used to determine the amount of funding for Lithuanian higher education institutions are given, in particu - lar: the effectiveness of their research activities, the number of students, and the success of implementing the University's strategic development plans. The directions of funding sources diversification for universities are defined, namely: promotion of cooperation between business entities and the scientific sphere in the areas of commercialization of research results and protection of intellectual property rights; attraction of funds from foreign sources; activation of cooperation between higher education institutions and business entities; creation of special centers for the commercialization of scientific research at universities. The key principles for implementing these measures are consistency, complexity, sequence and coherence of the elements of the four-link spiral Quadruple Helix (education – government – business – the public).

Principal Directions of Digital Transformation of Higher Education System in Sustainable Education

From the perspective of a systematic integrated approach, the article formulates the main directions of digital transformation of higher education system in sustainable education in all its components, taking into account the requirements of the modern digital economy as the leading trend in the country’s innovative development model. The authors consider essential content of the digital economy as a vector of innovative trends focused on the training of specialists of a qualitatively different level, and present the results of the formation of the digital economy in the Personnel and Education direction in 2025. One of the essential components of the modern educational process is the electronic information and educational environment, which is considered as a system that includes innovative technology platforms as an indispensable element for the generation and processing of knowledge. The article explores the prospects for improving the Russian scientific and educational system based on innovative methods of education using neural network technologies, the need for a transition to online education with integrated systems of natural and artificial intelligence. The paper identifies obstacles that significantly hamper the sustainable development of online education, one of which is the lack of teachers of the new formation who can work in the digital environment. It also presents an analysis of the results of a comprehensive study to assess the readiness of higher education to the parameters of the digital economy, showing that most universities are at the initial stage of the informatization and automation processes, which proves the relevance of the materials presented.

Gaps in the Decision-Making System at Makerere University, Uganda

ABSTRACTThe world over, drastic transformation of higher education systems is presenting universities with significant opportunities and challenges. Accordingly, universities need highly effective decision-making systems through which they can adopt the decisions they need to reap the opportunities whilst avoiding the challenges associated with transformation. At Makerere University (MU), Uganda, however, decision-making is ineffective, which is affecting the university’s ability to respond to the opportunities and challenges its transformed environment is presenting. Informed by the propositions of Systems Theory as they apply to organisational decision-making, therefore, decision-makers’ perceptions of the university’s decision-making process were surveyed to ascertain whether there is cooperation, hierarchy, order and feedback among the units involved in the process. It was found that although the process is hierarchical, it is marred by uncooperativeness, disorder and poor feedback mechanisms. To enhance decision success, therefore, MU is urged to review its decision-making process to ensure that the units involved therein operate synergistically.

Higher Education Development in India and China: South Asian, Sinic, and Pan-Asian alternatives

This study investigates the development of higher education in India and China over three time periods: that of colonial India and semi-colonial China, that of the Cold War during which India was “non-aligned” and “new China” embraced Communism, and the period after India’s neoliberal economic reforms and China’s “reform and opening-up”. Our study focuses on the second period when the rationales for post-independent higher education policies were intimately connected to sovereignty. A historical cross-comparative analysis is being employed to discern similarities and differences between India’s and China’s development of higher education systems. The purpose of our study is to contextualize the sociopolitical philosophies that guided the development and transformation of higher education systems in India and China with reference to their vision as non-Western civilizations. We utilize this historical analysis to discuss whether India and China will remain peripheral in the global system of knowledge production, or provide distinct South Asian, Sino, and/or Pan-Asian alternatives in the future.

The Transformation of Higher Education Systems in Six Post-Soviet Countries: Causes and Consequences of Organizational Change

The paper examines how and to what extent the Soviet higher education system transformed after the collapse of theussr. It offers a research-based analysis of the external and internal factors of transformation in six post-Soviet countries: three “Slavic” states (Belarus, Russia, Ukraine), and three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania). The paper characterizes a bounded number of types of organizations of higher education in each country. Using the set-theoretic multi-value qualitative comparative analysis (mvQCA), the authors identify several causal chains that led to the transformation of the Soviet comprehensive university into a ‘post-Soviet research university’ or ‘general education organization’. This paper compares the drivers of organizational diversity in Soviet and post-Soviet education, and traces country-specific features of the organizational transformation of universities in six post-Soviet countries.

SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL CONTEXT OF TRANSFORMATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION

The author provides her own vision of situation which significantly influences the process of transformation of higher education systems. Integration of numerous political factors determines the formation of university models which are the most effective in a certain historical period. The article details political factors determining the process of transformation of higher education systems in the modern world. Globalization, information development, prevalence of innovations in economics with high labour capacity and industry of knowledge determine the necessity to form cognitariat (a broad layer of the employed workers primarily of immaterial labour). The response from national higher education systems to these challenges is a new stage of transformation. The author comes to the conclusion that universities perform functions which prior were not their remit, the objects of management and specifics of teaching change. A university becomes the centre of net connections and relations, competitiveness and transparency of its activity being intensified.

Changes in University Governance in France and in Italy

The transformation of higher education systems under the pressure of new needs required by the “society of knowledge” in France and Italy has had a deep effect on the relationship between state and university, and therefore a direct impact on university governance. This article sums up the main results of a research carried out on university Presidents in France and Rettori in Italy, with the aim of understanding their views about the changing process in higher education systems and the related impact on their leading role. There emerges a picture of systems transiting from a traditional centralised Napoleonic structure to a new one where the growing autonomy requires a different kind of governance not previously experienced, and thus not easy to implement mostly because of the resistance coming from universities themselves. The majority of Presidents and Rectors seem aware of the changing process and the related problems even if they do not all agree upon feasible trends to follow. Such a disagreement ap...

Gender Equity Unmasked: Democracy, Gender, and Education in Central/Southeastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union

In the early 1990s, the countries of Central and Southeastern Europe (CEE and SEE) and the former Soviet Union (FSU) moved from authoritarianism to democracy, capitalism, and market economies, thus joining “democracy’s third-wave.” As in most cases of democratization, the transformation processes in the former socialist bloc have created opportunities to “rethink the bases of social consensus and revise the rules of the game,” signaling the possibility for new political culture and institutions. As such, periods of democratic transformation constitute “political openings” in the widest sense, generating extensive opportunities for sociopolitical activism and expanding the bases for political participation of previously marginalized actors. In particular, democratic transformation processes provide unique opportunities for women to address their secondary status, to insist on their inclusion in the democratization process, to engage in formal or informal politics, and to demand that their particular issues be incorporated in the political system. While acknowledging the ostensibly equal public status of women under socialist political and economic policies, this article makes a two-tiered argument regarding gender equity in the region. First, gender equity under the socialist regime was largely a myth, despite government’s public presentation of it. Second, gender equity may not necessarily be achieved through