The socially responsible European university: a challenging project

Purpose This paper aims to propose a thesis about the historical evolution of the relationship of the European University in relation to the idea of social responsibility. Design/methodology/approach This paper is philosophical, conceptual and theoretical and in proffering a bold thesis, has an argumentative character appropriate to that style. Findings Three stages can be identified over the past 200 years in the relationship between the university and the matter of social responsibility, being successively tacit, weak and now hybrid. In the present stage, new spaces are opening for the university to transcend social responsibility, moving to a worldly and earthly responsibility. However, this new stage is having to contend against the university in an age of cognitive capitalism. As such, a large but hitherto unnoticed culture war is present, the outcome of which is unclear. Research limitations/implications The scholarship informing this paper is wide-ranging and multi-disciplinary (history, social theory, philosophy, critical higher education studies, literature on the idea of the university, comparative higher education, ethics and sociology of knowledge), as it has to be in sustaining the large thesis being contended for, and it has broad hinterlands, which can only lightly be intimated. Practical implications The key implication is that the idea of social responsibility is currently being construed too narrowly and that, therefore, universities – in developing their corporate strategies and missions – should be more ambitious and set their responsibility goals against horizons that go well beyond the social realm. Originality/value The thesis developed here is original in offering a three-stage theory of a 200-year evolution of the socially responsible European university. A new stage of an Earthly responsibility is glimpsed but it is having to contend with a continuing performative university, so leading to a hidden culture war and such that the future of university social responsibility is in doubt.

An Analysis of the Use of English Language for Career Development in African Higher Education

Although the internationalization of higher education through the standardization of English language is considered progressive, unfortunately, for Lusophone universities it remains a deterrent for scholars’ career progression. The evidence of lived experiences in Mozambican universities suggests that the relationship between English language competence and professional status remains inconclusive. The study explores the impact of English language for career development in two Portuguese language-speaking universities, namely Eduardo Mondlane and Catholic universities in Mozambique. Case study design, purposive sampling, semi-structured interviews with scholars, documents reviews and content analysis approach will be employed. Career construction theory and practice (Savickas, 2013), is considered ideal based on its fundamental premise of individual and social constructivism of knowledge through which individuals construct themselves. The study contributes to a comparative higher education career research by guiding the formulation of language policy for career development in Lusophone countries.

Comparative higher education research in times of globalisation of higher education: Theoretical and methodological insights

In times of globalisation of higher education, alternative theoretical and methodological approaches were introduced in the field of comparative higher education research. To stimulate the debate on this issue, this paper firstly addresses them theoretically by combining the concept of institutional isomorphism and the ‘glonacal’ analytical heuristic. On this basis, it discusses arguments in favour of convergence and diversity from the perspective of the internationalisation of higher education and also points to the limits of institutional isomorphism resulting from ‘glonacal’ influences of agencies and agency on the development of (internationalisation of) higher education. Secondly, the paper also draws attention to the influence of globalisation on the selection of methodology in comparative higher education research by exposing the limits of methodological nationalism. Along these lines, it portrays the reversed pyramid model of different horizontal and vertical levels of comparisons with which it establishes the (missing) link between the selected theoretical and methodological framework of comparative (higher education) research. In conclusion, it acknowledges the need to integrate the contextual element into the comparative framework which allows thorough analysis of complex relationships between globalisation and higher education both theoretically and methodologically.

Global University Rankings in European Higher Education Policy and Practice

This chapter explores the impact of global university rankings on the development and implementation of institutional and national policies and practices in the two countries forming the European Higher Education Area. More precisely, it focuses on Slovenia and the Netherlands which are rarely in the focus of comparative higher education research. Initially, it discusses the landscape of eight selected global rankings in terms of key indicators they use and criticisms to which they are subjected. Afterwards, it investigates global (and national) rankings in the framework of institutional and national policies, strategies, and practices of each country case. In the continuation, it places the obtained results into the comparative perspective and concludes by highlighting that university rankings frequently support vertical diversity within and between (Slovenian and Dutch) higher education systems and, as such, disregard the complexity of particular disciplinary, institutional and national contexts.

Jullien’s 1817 Esquisse: Toward a “Science” of Comparative Higher Education?

This article links comparative and international higher education research to ideas put forward in the 1817 pamphlet by Marc-Antoine Jullien, Esquisse, that is widely recognized as a foundational work for the field of comparative education, including providing its name. The paper describes how Jullien’s ideas in Esquisse are reflected in the contemporary work of the International Bureau of Education (IBE) and the UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS), including examples of comparative higher education tables analogous to those first described in Esquisse. The positivist approach advocated by Jullien is linked to contemporary research such as international rankings of higher education institutions (league tables) and surveys of the professoriate. It concludes with implications for future directions of comparative education research that are more “scientific” because they embed the increasingly sophisticated capacity for measurement and data collection within systematic conceptual frameworks as well as ever more rigorous quantitative and qualitative methodological techniques.