scholarly journals Inverted U-shape of Estonian Higher Education: Post-Socialist Liberalism and Postpostsocialist Consolidation

Author(s):  
Ellu Saar ◽  
Triin Roosalu

AbstractThis chapter provides a description of the basic features of the higher education system in Estonia in the historical perspective, paying special attention to the period during the Soviet time right before the USSR collapse and exploring the developments during the following period up to 2015. It is understood that both the social and political system during the period of socialism, as well as changes in the society during the postsocialist period right after the country became independent, have an impact on the current period. On the other hand, changes in the Estonian higher education system are greatly impacted by external factors, especially processes of Europeanisation and internationalisation of higher education. Tendencies towards standardisation of higher education provision, on the one hand, as well as maintaining differentiation between higher education institutions will be highlighted.The analysis distinguishes four periods of the postsocialist higher education system in Estonia, characterised by different traits. 1988–1992 can be considered a period of chaotic, individually and institutionally driven changes; 1993–1998 saw the major expansion of the higher education system in combination with the development of legal frameworks and quality assurance mechanisms; 1999–2005 indicated the wave of reforms, including following the principles of the Bologna process; from 2006 onwards, new measures are put in place to strengthen the (international) competitiveness and sustainability of the shrinking higher education sector. The main strand of differentiation between the higher education institutions largely follows their formal statuses that stem from the soviet period: the applied higher education institutions on the one hand and the academic universities providing bachelor, master’s and doctoral level education on the other. The further differentiation can be made based on the research intensity of the universities as well as based on their legal status, with some being declared national universities by their dedicated laws.

Author(s):  
Daria Platonova ◽  
Dmitry Semyonov

AbstractIn this chapter we explore the higher education institutional landscape taking the case of the largest post-Soviet higher education system: Russia. In the Post-Soviet period, Russian higher education has tremendously expanded. The dramatic growth of the number of students and institutions has been facilitated by the introduction of tuition fees in public and a new private sector. The shifts in social and economic demand for professional fields affected the disciplinary and organisational structure of higher educational institutions.The external forces (economic, political, social conditions) and higher education policy have been changing during the last decades. In the first part of the transitional period, the state provided limited regulation of the higher education system. In the 2000s, it has returned to its role of the main agent of change of the higher education system design. The diversity of institutional types that evolved in Russian higher education illustrate the consequences of massification and marketisation, such as new “broad access” segments and institutional programme drift. Also, the governmental role in shaping institutional diversity can be seen through attempts to increase vertical diversity (excellence initiatives), on the one hand, and to restrain it by closing down bottom-tier institutions, on the other.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 456-480
Author(s):  
R.B. Galeeva

Subject .This article discusses the need to bring into line with the future activities of specialists the content of their preparation, the formation of a system model of higher education, which takes into account today's and prospective requirements of the labor market. Objectives. The article aims to research the labor market in four regions of the Volga Federal District of the Russian Federation: the Republic of Tatarstan, Mari El Republic, Chuvash Republic, and the Ulyanovsk oblast, as well as discuss problems and prospects of interaction of universities with enterprises and organizations of these regions. Methods. For the study, I used the methods of logical and statistical analyses, and in-depth expert survey. Results. The article analyzes the state of regional labor markets, presents the results of the expert survey of labor market representatives and heads of the regional education system, and it defines possible ways of harmonizing the interaction of universities with the labor market. Conclusions. The article notes that although the number of employed with higher education is growing, at the same time there is a shortage of highly qualified personnel in certain professions, on the one hand, and unskilled workers, on the other. Also, the article says that the universities do not prepare the necessary for the regions specialists in a number of professions or they provide a set of competencies different from the requirements of the labor market, so it is necessary to form and develop effective directions of cooperation between educational institutions and employers.


2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (4) ◽  
pp. 23-30
Author(s):  
Jyldyzbek Jakshylykov ◽  

The Kyrgyz higher education institutions are failing to meet the newly emerging challenges. Despite the efforts and jobs done, the effective results are not being achieved in the education and research sphere as desired. In this article, we give the examples of “Lean principles” implementations around the world as one of the solutions to the above mentioned challenge. In the last part of the article, we discuss a status quo of these principles in Kyrgyz higher education system.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jerald Ozee Fernandes ◽  
Balgopal Singh

PurposeThe higher education system has been entrusted globally to provide quality education, especially to the youth, and equip them with required skills and capabilities. The visionaries and policymakers of the countries around the world have been working relentlessly to improve the standard of the higher education system by establishing national and global accreditation and ranking bodies and expecting measuring performance through setting up accreditation and ranking parameters. This paper focuses on the review of Indian university accreditation and ranking system and determining its efficacy in improving academic quality for achieving good position in global quality accreditation and ranking.Design/methodology/approachThe study employed exploratory research approach to know about the accreditation and ranking issues of Indian higher education institutions to overcome the challenges for being globally competitive. The accreditation and ranking parameters and score of leading Indian universities was collected from secondary data sources. Similarly, the global ranking parameters and scores of these Indian universities with top global universities was explored. The performance gaps of Indian university in global academic quality parameter is assessed by comparing it with scores of global top universities. Further, each domestic and global accreditation and ranking parameters have been taken up for discussion.FindingsThe study identified teaching and learning, research and industry collaboration as common parameter in the accreditation and ranking by Indian and global accreditation and ranking body. Furthermore, the study revealed that Indian accreditation and ranking body assess leniently on parameters and award high scores as compared to rigorous global accreditation and ranking practice. The study revealed that “research” and “citations” are important parameters for securing prestigious position in global ranking, this is the reason Indian universities are trailing. The study exposed that Indian academic fraternity lack prominence in research, publication and citations as per need of global accreditation and ranking standards.Research limitations/implicationsThe limitation of this study is that it focused only on few Indian and global accreditation and ranking bodies. The future implication of this study will be the use of methodology designed in this study for comparing accreditation and ranking bodies’ parameters of different continents and countries in different economic development stages i.e. emerging and developed economies to know the disparity and shortcomings in their higher education system.Practical implicationsThe article is a review and comparison of national and global accreditation and ranking parameters. The article explored the important criteria and key indicators of accreditation and ranking that would provide an important and meaningful insight to academic institutions of the emerging economies of the world to develop its competitiveness. The study contributed to the literature on identifying benchmark for improving academic and higher education institution quality. This study would be further helpful in fostering new ideas toward setting up of contemporary globally viable and acceptable academic quality standard.Originality/valueThis is possibly the first study conducted with novel methodology of comparing the Indian and global accreditation and ranking parameters to identify the academic quality performance gap and suggesting ways to attain academic benchmark through continuous improvement activity and process for global competitiveness.


Author(s):  
Philip Altbach

India may finally open its doors to foreign higher education institutions and investment. India's higher education faces severe problems of capacity and quality. This lack of capacity will affect India's new open-door policy. It will be unable to adequately regulate and evaluate foreign institutions. Though the system needs systemic reform, it is impossible for foreigners to solve or even to make a visible dent in India's higher education system.


THE BULLETIN ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (390) ◽  
pp. 50-57
Author(s):  
Iryna Kalenyuk ◽  
Olena Grishnova ◽  
Liudmyla Tsymbal ◽  
Deniss Djakons

The key role of the education system in the formation of a knowledge society is raising the issue of improving its financing. In the face of new challenges and aggravation of global competition, the mechanism for financing the higher education system is being transformed. The need to increase funding is manifested in expanding financial sources and improving the management of various financial flows. Increasing the effectiveness of public funding is becoming an important issue, which remains the main source of financial revenues for institutions of higher education in countries of the world. A promising practice in the world is the use of funding based on the results of activity, which is becoming more widespread in various areas of economic activity. The purpose of this article is to study the current world-wide practice of applying results-based financing of higher education and defining promising directions for its implementation in Ukraine. The essence and features of RBF - Result Based Financing (RBF) method, including in the system of higher education, are revealed. The existing approaches to financing higher education institutions in the world based on results are systematized, the main criteria for their definition are identified: on the basis of inputs, process, output, output. The world practice of using higher education institutions financing based on the results, positive and negative consequences of its implementation is highlighted and summarized. The necessity of using RBF funding in the system of native education is proved, the main directions and areas of its use are determined. The application of a two-tier model of financing higher education institutions in Ukraine is proposed, which combines the traditional cost-oriented approach and funding based on the results of the activity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p21
Author(s):  
Dr. Mirela Tase ◽  
Dr. Manjola Xhaferri

Education is considered as one of the main pillars of society. An educated society leads the development of a nation. Education is also one of the areas which is also strongly influenced by it and social change. The fact that the educational systems are in permanent change does not show instability. But rather on the other side, they serve to better adapt the society which is changing. Starting from the beginning the education system in Albania has experienced changes after the collapse of the communist system and the approach of society to these changes has been a sensitive issue. These changes were not very studied, since they were in a very unfavorable environments, in which our education system came from a widespread politicization, and they did not always have the right fruits which was often perceived by us as experiments. These changes have not passed without debate, not only by academics, but also by students and civil society. Methodology: The work is based on a comparative analysis over these three decades, relying also on INSTAT’s statistical data.Main results: In this paper, I will show the transformation of the higher education system and how today the Law on Higher Education after three years of implementation has encountered a number of problems where the state and universities are moving from one to the other and finally that those who suffer the consequences of this law are the Albanian young who are not finding themselves in the Albanian market.


Author(s):  
Vera Boneva

The article systematizes information about the current cultural heritage programs in the Bulgarian higher education area. The data shows that in eleven Bulgarian universities a diploma of cultural heritage can be obtained. 17 master's and 3 bachelor's programs prepare over 500 students a year. Two doctoral programs are also accredited. The rich variety of curricula is an objective result of the complex structure of cultural heritage in itself. However, it is also an indicator for the fragmentation of the higher education system in Bulgaria. The conclusion proposes approaches to overcoming the mentioned fragmentation, as the interdisciplinarity of the scientific field requires pooling of competencies and efforts for better results.


Author(s):  
Ирина Ивановна Широкорад ◽  
Олеся Михайловна Фадеева ◽  
Елена Геннадьевна Пафнутова

Система высшего образования развивается не в изоляции. Она находится в непосредственной зависимости от школьной системы и от рынка труда. С одной стороны, образовательные результаты, полученные в университете, зависят от уровня знаний и навыков, которые получили студенты на предыдущем этапе образования, с другой стороны, ожидаемое высокое качество жизни, которое является ключевой мотивацией для поступления в вуз для большинства населения, определяется состоянием и структурой рынка труда. Именно наличие спроса на продуктивную рабочую силу определяет результативность системы высшего образования. The higher education system does not develop in isolation. It is directly dependent on the school system and the labor market. On the one hand, the educational results obtained at the University depend on the level of knowledge and skills that students received at the previous stage of education, on the other hand, the expected high quality of life, which is a key motivation for entering the University for the majority of the population, is determined by the state and structure of the labor market. It is the demand for productive labor that determines the effectiveness of the higher education system.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sorin Gog

Abstract This paper focuses on the recent neo-liberal transformation in the Romanian education system and analyzes the genealogy of a new form of academic governance that has been implemented in higher education institutions in the past decade. It examines the role quality indicators and supplementary funding have played in the gradual embedding and naturalization of neo-liberal disciplinary reforms in universities and the specific quality enhancement policies that aimed at increasing the productivity of academic workers by stimulating the competition among them. The main argument of the paper is that in order to understand the extensive academic management based on scientometrics and recurrent evaluation of academics we need to look at the structural mechanisms that have shaped higher education institutions in accordance with market rules and at the generalization of competitiveness throughout the system in the context of budget cuts and decreasing resources allocated to education.


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