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Higher Education in Europe beyond 2010

Higher education institutions are being subjected to a variety of pressures that seek, primarily, to enhance higher education’s contribution to the successful creation of so-called ‘knowledge societies’, together with, and receiving only slightly less emphasis, the achievement of greater equity and social justice.

The report Higher Education Looking Forward: An Agenda for Future Research has examined the relevant higher education research literature in terms of its underlying conceptual approaches and empirical findings across a number of selected sub-themes (see below) in order to derive a future research agenda that will address scientific questions of long term strategic concern to the future of higher education.

The Themes
The five themes that have been addressed are:

• Higher education and the needs of the knowledge society

Key questions within this theme will be the adequacy of human capital theory in explaining
changing relationships between higher education and work, the balance between initial formation and continuing professional development in knowledge-based economies, and the division of labour between higher education institutions and employers in meeting education and training needs.

• Higher education and the achievement of equity and social justice

Key questions here concern the relationship between higher education’s roles in social reproduction and its roles in extending opportunities for social mobility and the achievement of greater social justice.

• Higher education and its communities: interconnections and interdependencies

Key questions will concern whether new function can be performed without detriment to the old and what are the change mechanisms within higher education institutions and systems needed to bring about effective realignments between higher education and its various communities

• Steering and governance of higher education

Key questions for this theme are to do with the implications of different forms of decision-making, accountability and funding for higher education’s ability to perform existing and new functions.

• Differentiation and diversity of institutional forms and professional roles

The questions raised within theme five relate to the preceding themes and to whether further differentiation within national systems will be accompanied by greater convergence between systems if higher education is to respond effectively to changing social and economic climates in European countries

Download the whole report for or see the Project Summary a quick overview .

University news from the West

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IHEs Spend Lots Of Money On The Wrong Things
If colleges were spending most of their money on initiatives that improve the quality of education for students, you might regard price hikes running at two to four times the rate of inflation as a necessary evil. But spending on palatial dorms, state-of-the-art fitness centers and a panoply of gourmet dining options? Maybe not. Colleges could help ease the pressure by adopting cost-containment practices that are standard in private business. But most schools are nonprofits. And without the pressure to produce earnings, they have little incentive to slash expenses or improve productivity. Says Ron Ehrenberg, an economics professor at Cornell University and author of "Tuition Rising": "For nonprofits the goal is to raise all the money you can, then spend it."

Campuses Going Green But Less So In The Curriculum steven bell
The National Wildlife Federation (NWF) on Aug. 21 released its own ratings of American colleges and universities — based not on selectivity, but on greenness. The results are a bit surprising. For all the attention that environmental causes have garnered over the past several years, the NWF found that sustainability-related education offered on campuses stayed steady between 2001 and 2008 — and might even have declined. While U.S. schools have done well in greening their campuses — rare is the day that passes without a college announcing a new green building or program for energy efficiency — colleges are lacking when it comes to sustainable education.


India Plans New Accreditation Body for Colleges of Business and Engineering
India plans to create a separate accreditation body for engineering and business colleges in response to complaints that the current situation, in which the same panel serves as regulator and accreditor, is open to corruption and fails to ensure academic quality, the higher-education secretary told an industry lobbying group last week, according to the business newspaper Mint.

Federal Spending on Academic Research Continued Downward Trend in 2007
Washington — Total spending on academic scientific research grew slightly in 2007 even as the the subtotal financed by the federal government fell, after inflation was factored in, according to a new report. Colleges and other providers made up the difference from their own pockets — but they weren’t happy about it. The federal government is the largest source of funds for academic research, and the 2007 fiscal year represented the second straight year of decline after inflation, according to the report, which was issued by the National Science Foundation. The federal total was $30.44-billion, a net drop of 1.6 percent compared with 2006. Such a two-year decline had never before occurred since the NSF began tracking those figures, in 1972.


Cleaning up the act By Tariq Tahir
Academic fraud in Britain is endemic, but universities continue to argue the case for self-regulation. America and Denmark have tougher regimes in place, so should we follow their lead?

Oiling the learning machine By John Gill
The huge expansion of higher education in the Gulf offers major opportunities for UK academe. But there are also challenges


Next Steps for E-Texts With slew of new announcements and partnerships, some publishers, colleges and even bookstores seem poised to offer e-textbooks as a serious alternative for students. more

'Collision Course' for Graduate Education At political science meeting, experts on Ph.D. education consider how to give grad students more breadth and better teaching skills -- while also getting them to finish dissertations on time.


The real Shanghai Jiao Tong winners
How many Americans does it take to produce a university? No, it's not an academic joke, it's a population-based analysis of the recently published 2008 Academic Ranking of World Universities by China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University. The study shows that while the US might have the most top 500 universities in the world, it is not the most efficient producer of such universities on a population basis. That title goes to Sweden and the analysis also demonstrates that Scandinavia in general is a veritable powerhouse of academic excellence given its population base

DENMARK: Academics sign up to protest
Danish academics are collecting signatures to convince Science Minister Helge Sander that opposition to the current education law is, in their words, "no sectarian craving from a dissatisfied minority...but has a broad basis of support among Danish students and researchers". .

US: New Stanford study of dual-career academic couples
Dual-career issues are growing in importance in higher education in America. More than 70% of faculty are in dual-career relationships, and more than a third are partnered with another academic, according to a study just published by Stanford University's Clayman Institute for Gender Research. The publication, Dual-Career Academic Couples: What universities need to know, is based on a survey of full-time tenured and tenure-track academics at 13 leading US universities, as well as interviews with administrators at 18 universities. The lead author is Londa Schiebinger, director of the Clayman Institute and Professor of the History of Science. The report is freely available.

INDIA: Poor pay discourages researchers
Increased job opportunities and fat pay packets for young graduates are turning out to be a bane for academic research in India.

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New issue of Peer Review out

Peer Review provides a quarterly briefing on emerging trends and key debates in undergraduate education. Each issue is focused on a specific topic, provides comprehensive analysis, and features campus perspectives.

The new Spring/Summer edition will cover Student Political Engagement and examine how the academy engages students in their learning today to help them grow as engaged citizens for tomorrow. It focuses on democratic civic engagement rather than service and in what some call civic agency. (This issue will be out soon on our Databases)



Some of the past topics covered are:

Academic Advising Winter 2008
This issue addresses the role of academic advising in undergraduate education with a special focus on general education goals and the documentation of the achievement of student learning outcomes.



Faculty Development: Finding Balance in Changing Roles Fall 2007
Faculty development will play a critical role in efforts to achieve essential learning outcomes for all students. This issue features the key challenges and pressures facing faculty members and institutions as they work to orient new faculty and build the skills of existing faculty.

Bringing Theory to Practice Summer 2007
The Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) project seeks to advance engaged student learning and determine how it might improve the quality of students' education, development, health, and commitment to civic engagement. This issue provides a brief project overview as well as several campus examples that offer specific forms of engaged learning and how they are contributing to students' health and well-being.



Assessing Student Learning Spring 2007
As campuses implement more complex assignments, community placements, internships, student research programs, and other engaged learning practices, the opportunity for students to demonstrate complex capacities will be increased. This issue addresses a variety of approaches to achieving and assessing the advanced learning outcomes derived from these practices. It includes a special focus on developing and assessing capstone courses.

Learning and Technology Fall 2006
This issue examines a range of current issues concerning the role and use of technology in student learning and also addresses how these technologies can advance liberal education learning outcomes. Topics addressed include using technology to advance humanistic ideals, teaching through blended learning environment, engaging faculty in a technological age, and learning through the deployment of innovative technologies in informal spaces.

Auditor General briefing to Parliament

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The Auditor General and his Deputy briefed the Parliamentary Monitoring Committee on Finance extensively on the 2007/08 Annual Report. Here is the presentation they made. Highlights include:

• The Office of the Auditor General (OAG) was engaging more positively and proactively with stakeholders.
• Interventions with the provincial MECs of Finance had shown good results.
• Engagement with local municipalities was also proving useful, showing improvements in motivation and commitment and planning.
• The OAG did, and would continue to, contract out work to private audit firms, many of them newly emerging black firms, and was in this way improving capacity, training and transformation in the profession.
• Its international participation was described, and it was reported that OAG would assume the Chair of the international body of Auditor Generals from October.
• The financial statements showed a deficit of R8.3 million instead of the anticipated surplus. This was largely as a result of more work being contracted out than anticipated. OAG did not earn a profit margin on such work, and although it recovered its fee output, it did not in fact recover the administrative costs. Full details of the income were tabled and explained.
• There had been high provision for debt – much owed by municipalities – and further cleaning up of the balance sheet had revealed several further small non-recurring amounts to be written off or corrected, totalling R3.9 million.
• A comparison of performance against budget was tabled, as well as a comparison of projected and actual targets. OAG had achieved an unqualified audit, and was working hard to maintain this and to ensure that governance remained strong in every business unit.
• Debt collection for national departments had improved, although it was still problematic at municipal level. Funding bottlenecks had been addressed.
• There would be ongoing challenges in capacity, because of the shortage of skills in the whole profession, but the OAG would both safeguard its own position and continue to involve private audit firms.

Audit Outcomes of Municipalities: Auditor-General & Accountant-General reports 2006-2007

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Here is a summary:
The Accountant-General and the Auditor-General briefed the Parliamentary Monitoring Group for Finance on the 2006/2007 audit outcomes of municipalities.

It was noted that of the nine provinces, only four provinces (Western Cape, Gauteng, Northern Cape and Mpumalanga) had submitted their financial reports on time. Limpopo (53%) recorded the lowest percentage of submissions.

The Accountant-General said that many municipalities did not have the internal capacity to adequately manage their financial reports, but did note that there had been a slight improvement by provinces in terms of adverse opinions and disclaimers.

He said that the interventions made in Western Cape and Gauteng had been important as delegated municipalities were no longer in existence, regular workshops were held, strong leadership and support was forthcoming from the provincial government and National Treasury, and in Gauteng retired experienced officials were deployed to municipalities to provide assistance.

The Auditor General had identified six best practices indicators, which he outlined. Many municipalities had problems with compliance as they did not have the relevant capacity to address their challenges. Lack of proper oversight and supervision was also identified as problematic. He urged municipalities to cease their suspicion of deployed officials, and said that political officials should enforce proper management of public funds entrusted to them.

They also mentioned the fact that the local municipalities were not seen as attractive job prospects and political infighting as constraints.