Social equity in higher education: a wicked problem exacerbated by multiple discourses

Social equity in higher education has been a priority for universities and policy makers throughout Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) nations for more than a decade. Limited improvement is seen among students in under-represented groups which remains a concern and for this reason social equity in higher education is presented as a wicked problem. This article will outline the steady massification of higher education where elitist discourses were largely abandoned, while social equity discourses flourished. The discussion will include key documents that have wielded great influence on discourse including The Bradley Review, Performance-Based Funding (PBF) and the Job-Ready Graduates legislation. After illuminating the Australian political context, this article will define four social equity discourses currently distinguishable in higher education literature: meritocratic, economist, social justice and human potential. Interrogation of these discourses will reveal complexity and divergence that contributes to the wicked nature of improving social equity in higher education.

Institutional conditions of internationalisation of higher education: Mass higher school

Introduction. Currently, internationalisation is a priority for the development of higher education, as an institutional component of its academic functioning, both in terms of ensuring the quality of education, and in connection with the implementation of a multi-level integration agenda, in which a modern university is involved. In order to increase the effectiveness of the international dimension of higher education, it remains necessary to clarify a number of theoretical and fundamental questions, among them one of the most important is the problem of the institutional conditions of the academic environment that contribute to the emergence of internationalisation. Mass higher education can be found as fundamental condition and in that relation the clarification of the interrelations between massification and internationalisation of higher education can expand the theoretical understanding of current processes in higher education, providing the necessary theoretical framework for further applied research.The aim of the present article is to investigate the interrelations between the massification and internationalisation of higher education in order to clarify the institutional conditions that contribute to the development of the international dimension of the modern university.Methodology and research methods. The methodological framework of this research involves socio-philosophical tools. In particular, the research is based on a retrospective analysis and philosophical deconstruction of the socio-historical transition of higher education from elite to mass model. Both statistical data and analytical materials on the national conditions of transition to mass higher education are used to investigate the issue.Results. The massification of the higher school became reality due to the historical development of social systems, representing the further evolution of global higher education. Acting as a source of society's emancipation and democratisation, the massification of higher education ensured the reorientation of universities from upbringing needs (ideology) to professional competence (economics). Meanwhile, mass higher education is considered to be the reason of destruction of the imperialist agenda, including the problem of alienated labour. Institutionally, the massification of higher education has become possible due the state-private cooperation. The implementation of this cooperation requires two options: 1) via government subsidies to private higher education, 2) via private investments into public higher education. Mass higher education is an institutional factor of internationalisation development: 1) it creates a need to improve the quality of education; 2) it acts as an instrument of the international integration.Scientific novelty. The connection between mass education and internationalisation of higher education has been found. Mass higher education acts as an institutional factor in the formation of academic demand for the development of internationalisation processes: 1) forming the need to improve the quality of education; 2) acting as one of the tools for implementing the integration agenda. The absence of processes of massification and internationalisation in the modern system of higher education may indicate on fundamental barriers in the national development of a particular state.Practical significance. The results obtained will contribute to further fundamental research in the fields of philosophy and sociology of education. Moreover, the present findings could be applied as a theoretical basis for further practical research on modern processes of higher education development.

Focus on Quality in Higher Education in India

These days we find a lot more focus on ‘quality’ in the field of higher education than ever before. In fact, it is the concept of quality that makes higher education ‘higher’. Earlier, the pursuit of higher education was elitist. The focus used to be on ‘knowledge for the sake of knowledge’. However, with the massification of higher education in the wake of knowledge-based and technology-driven modern economies worldwide, we find the focus shifting to employability of the students in rapidly changing world of work. The quality education implies not only equipping the students with requisite knowledge and skills for their chosen career field but also to prepare them for lifelong learning. It is expected to train the students to think and act critically beyond university in the interest of society and humankind. The present article focuses on the changing perspectives of the quality in higher education in India. The methodology adopted is analytical, comparative and empirical.

Financing higher education in Ukraine in the 21st century: challenges and prospects for overcoming them

The development of higher education is characterized by new priorities, which necessitates the adjustment of higher education funding mechanisms in response to new challenges. The purpose of this article is to identify these key challenges in Ukraine and justify the possibilities to face them. The analysis of funding of higher education was conducted based on macroeconomic indicators for 2005 to 2020. It is also reviewed that financing of higher education in Ukraine is characterized by decentralization and diversification, which are characterized by an increase in the share of local budgets in the structure of higher education funding in Ukraine and the use of extra-budgetary sources of funding, in the form of tuition fees. The analysis has revealed the following key challenges of financing higher education: massification of higher education, which is characterized by the triad of "high availability - low price - low quality"; change in approaches to educational activities and decrease in the number of students as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic; inefficient model of financing higher education, which results in producing specialists with higher education that do not meet the needs and demands of the labor market. Overcoming the identified challenges can be achieved through reforming higher education models by aligning the structure, scope and quality of training with the needs of the economy and labour market, and its financing, through changing the cost-based approach to financing by results. This, in turn, would help align budget funding with institutional efficiency and curriculum effectiveness, and reduce the number of unclaimed specialists with higher education.

Changing Global Gender Involvement in Higher Education Participation

The global expansion of higher education since the last quarter of the 20th century reflects political and socioeconomic developments, including opening up economic opportunities and addressing neoliberal agendas such as corporatization, digitization, individualization, and marketization. This process of the so-called massification of higher education has also been called academic capitalism, whereby business models predominate what was once considered a public good and a form of liberal arts education. These transformations have implications for questions of equal opportunity and social justice in regard to gender and sexuality linked to diversity, race, and social class, or intersectionality. Transformations include involvement and participation for students, academics, faculty, and researchers. From a feminist perspective, the various transformations have not increased equality or equity but have instead reinforced notions of male power, misogyny and patriarchy, and social class and privilege, despite the massive increase in involvement of women as students and academics through policies of widening access or participation. The new models of global higher education exacerbate rather than erode inequalities of power and prestige between regions, institutions, and gendered, classed, and raced individuals.

CHANGING GLOBAL DEMOGRAPHICS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ITS IMPLICATIONS

The world today is undergoing profound economic, social, and political transformations based on the 'Knowledge Economy', that depends upon the creation and application of new knowledge. Such an economy demands highly educated people with innovative ideas and skills of application. To produce such personnel is the responsibility of higher education system of a country. Subsequently, a worldwide boom in the demand of higher education is observed, which has resulted in massification of higher education. This has significantly changed the demographics of the student Population worldwide. Such a demographic change in the student population has far and wide impact not only on the structure and types of Universities, patterns of funding higher education and curricula but international relations as well. The present paper attempts to discuss the changing demographic patterns of the global student population, its implications and suggest future directions to adapt to this transformation.

Massification and diversification in tertiary language education: evaluating the parameters for a successful outcome

In response to trends such as internationalization, migration and the knowledge economy, universities globally are under pressure to open their doors to as many students as possible. In South Africa, massification of higher education has two additional dimensions to the above. Firstly, it has to provide a forum for creating a socially inclusive society. Further to this, it has to compensate for the inferior standard of basic education. Together these factors compound the number of diversity variables that require management, particularly as far as language and academic literacy imperatives are concerned. This chapter examines how massification is unfolding at one institution of higher learning in the country and how it fuels systemic problems in a particular teacher training programme. What distinguishes the students in this undergraduate course from those in other programmes is that they constitute the future educators responsible for literacy development in the first years of schooling, precisely where literacy levels are deplorable and of critical concern. The study considers relevant policies, institutional support and curricula, before scrutinizing student performance. Two main findings emerge: Successful massification of higher education is highly dependent on quality basic education in which language instruction and the development of academic literacies are foregrounded at school level. This in turn requires comprehensive teacher training programmes that are attentive to sociolinguistic realities and theoretical underpinnings of language learning.

Challenging, Exciting, Impersonal, Nervous: Academic experiences of large class teaching

Massification of Higher Education has resulted in a rapid increase in undergraduate populations, without an increase in the number of teaching staff. One consequence is that students are typically taught in larger classes. While the impact of class size on student satisfaction and attainment is debated, there has been little attention paid to the academic experience of large class teaching. We present results of a questionnaire completed by 80 academics, primarily based in the UK. Academics perceived classes of 100 or more as large, and most had taught classes of several hundred students. Academic perceptions of large class teaching varied considerably. We find no evidence that institution type or contract type affects perceptions of large class teaching. We also find a lack of training that specifically addresses the demands of large class teaching. We call on academic developers to support academics teaching large cohorts to ensure effective education at scale.