Internationalization Policies and Strategies From the Comparative Standpoint of Student Mobility in Slovenian and Turkish Higher Education

This chapter explores the development and implementation of internationalization policies, strategies, and practices from the standpoint of student mobility. It considers Slovenia and Turkey as the two countries forming the European Higher Education Area which have not received much attention from comparative researchers dealing with higher education. To this end, it initially investigates each country case individually by analyzing student mobility in national and institutional internationalization policies and strategies and its implementation in practice. On this basis, it provides the necessary background for the continuing debate, in which it evaluates the main similarities and differences in the field from the comparative perspective of both countries examined. Methodologically, the chapter is based on a thorough analysis of multiple documentary sources and most recent secondary data obtained from national and international statistical databases.

Implementation of Student-Centred Education Principles in a Master’s Study Programme: An Exploration of the Experience of Academic Staff

The paradigm shift in higher education pedagogy and policy has been a subject of discussion for 30 years, during which time the emphasis has been placed on the transition to student-centred education. The implementation of this approach requires the democratisation of the study process and a shift towards performance-based outcomes, thus promoting students’ research capacities, well-being, personal growth, and quality of life. The most important document on the subject, which was developed in collaboration with the leading organisations of the Bologna Process, is the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area. This describes the common understanding of student-centred learning, teaching, and assessment. The standards and guidelines are also incorporated into the Latvian higher education quality assurance regulations. The authors of the present study are involved in the development and approbation of a new master’s study program, in which special attention is paid to the implementation of the principles of student-centred education. The central aim of the present study was to study the experience of lecturers in the implementation of the principles of student-centred education in the programme. The relevant literature and documents were surveyed and data from questionnaires (distributed to programme participants) were analysed. Using the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area and the Science, Technology Development and Innovation Guidelines 2021−2027 approved by the Latvian Ministry of Education and Science, the present study sets out 10 basic principles of student-centred education. A survey was created for lecturers who are implementing the newly created master’s programme over one semester. Seventeen lecturers participated. The analysis of the questionnaire results indicated that promoting mutual respect in student−academic staff relations and students’ active engagement in the study process were considered to be the most important principles. The results also revealed that lecturers applied every student−centred principle, but it is necessary to promote a common understanding by developing a mechanism for evaluating them and to improve the competence of teachers in implementing them.

ARTISAN MOBILITY IN PREINDUSTRIAL EUROPE AND MOBILITY WITHIN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

This research work performs a comparative study between the artisan mobility in the preindustrial Europe and the mobility within the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), emphasizing key aspects of the EHEA associated with mobility such as employability, technological transfer, social cohesion and receptiveness to new ideas. It can be concluded that, indeed, artisan mobility in preindustrial Europe was as a precedent for mobility within the EHEA, in the context of engineering education, from the detailed study of (a) movements of skilled artisan institutionally organized by states and political authorities, (b) tramping system, whose institutional backbone shows a clear parallelism with the organizational framework that supports the mobility within the EHEA, and that also contributed to overcome problems of information asymmetry in the labour market between local employers and itinerant workers, and consequently to solve problems of journeyman unemployment, (c) journeyman mobility as a teaching program integrated into the craft guild framework, which could restrain the information asymmetry in the commodity market by giving traceability and additional validation to the artisan instruction, and (d) minority migrations, which acted as a spur for the mobility within the EHEA because they allowed Europe to be aware of the importance of tolerance and receptiveness to new ideas. Keywords: Technology transfer; Employability; Labour mobility; EHEA; Preindustrial Europe

Developing Student Work Experience Programmes Within the European Higher Education Area Framework: The Role of Social Partners

The aim of establishing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) marked the development of the Bologna process since its beginning, while it exercised a decisive influence on the content of the higher education policy initiatives undertaken over the years. One of the most important goals of the relevant policy making was to bridge the university-to-labour market gap and to improve the employability of graduates. Such aims require a consistent and multidimensional cooperation between higher education institutions and the social partners, mainly employers, from which significant benefits may derive for all parties involved. As a result, many types of work based learning have been promoted in higher education with the most prominent of them being the student work experience programmes organised by universities in collaboration with enterprises. The paper analyses the guidelines provided by the EHEA framework with regard to the cooperation between universities and the social partners. Also, it discusses the role that has been attributed to (or claimed by) the social partners regarding work experience programmes. The EHEA institutional framework includes provisions for the participation of social partners in the organisation of work placements, which contribute to students’ skills development and easier transition to employment.

THE APPRENTICESHIP IN CRAFT GUILDS IN PREINDUSTRIAL EUROPE: A MODEL FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION IN THE EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION AREA

This work aims to carry out a comparative study between the apprenticeship system in the craft guilds in preindustrial Europe and the educational methods used in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), with the aim of highlighting the role, within the field of engineering education in the EHEA, of the practice-driven approach (learning by doing), which yielded excellent results during centuries to craft guilds, since their institutionalized apprenticeship system was one of the reasons for their long-term survival. The transmission of technical skills and associated innovation were effectively supported by craft guilds but not as a main objective and even, sometimes, as a cause of undesired effects (formation of future competitors, revelation of secrets or shift of control over the production process from the owners of skills to the owners of capital. It has been demonstrated that both the organizational modalities or scenarios and the educational methods of the EHEA (except the binomial scenario-method formed by the theoretical class and the master lecture) used in engineering education, have a clear precedent in the preindustrial craft guilds, which emphasize the learning process instead of the teaching process and established, several centuries in advance and without intending to, a model for the EHEA. Keywords: Craft guilds; Apprenticeship; Learning by doing; Engineering education; EEES

The Development of Foundational and New Literacies with Digital Tools Across the European Higher Education Area

The 21st century EFL writing classroom continues to transform from one that focuses on the building blocks of being able to write, to one that is characterised by a view that writing is digitally-informed and led. This paper synthesises research that documents the perceived gains of using digital tools to, on the one hand, improve students’ foundational literacies in English writing, and on the other hand, to develop ‘new’ digitally oriented literacies that exist and arise from the use of these tools. The focus of the synthesis is on member countries that are included in the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) initiative. The paper presents a systematic review of studies in international and local journals from 2000 - 2020. The review provides an overview of the foci of the studies, the types of writing, tasks and technologies being used, the approaches taken to evaluate and provide feedback on students’ writing, and the influence digital literacies may have on fostering these foundational literacies. The paper concludes by considering gaps in the EHEA landscape and offers recommendations for further development.

Higher Education Timescapes: Temporal Understandings of Students and Learning

This article draws on data from six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain) to explore the higher education timescapes inhabited by students. Despite arguments that degree-level study has become increasingly similar across Europe – because of global pressures and also specific initiatives such as the Bologna Process and the creation of a European Higher Education Area – it shows how such timescapes differed in important ways, largely by nation. These differences are then explained in terms of: the distinctive traditions of higher education still evident across the continent; the particular mechanisms through which degrees are funded; and the nature of recent national-level policy activity. The analysis thus speaks to debates about Europeanisation, as well as how we theorise the relationship between time and place.