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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 October 2019

Zachary Y. Mngo

This paper aims to assess the “external dimension” goals of the Pan European Bologna reform, almost 19 years after its launch. The influences of the reform on higher education in…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to assess the “external dimension” goals of the Pan European Bologna reform, almost 19 years after its launch. The influences of the reform on higher education in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Asia-Pacific are investigated. The paper analyses the appeal of the 1999 Bologna Process (BP), which, arguably, symbolizes an effort to strengthen the hegemony of Western European education and influence, has for the first time gone beyond ex-colonial lines, including areas where Europe’s socio-political influence is not impactful.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper opted for an analytical review of the literature on the European higher education internationalization goals as stated in external dimension objectives of the Bologna Process reform. The literature search was complicated by the limited number of peer review articles focusing on the spread of the Bologna model beyond Europe. As a result, the inclusion criteria were flexible, and consideration was given to educational website reports/articles, dissertations, books, pamphlets, and internal EU/European Commission reports.

Findings

The findings of this review indicate that, in spite of significant challenges, the internationalization objectives of Bologna Process are gradually being met in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Most notable is that some countries that historically did not have a European colonial presence are embracing aspects of the Bologna reform. Almost 19 years after, the BP reform now has a significant external influence not only in the former Portuguese, Spanish, British and French colonies but also beyond. In spite of the overwhelming embrace of the BP model in Europe and outside of Europe, its implementation, everywhere, has faced some administrative, political, and economic challenges.

Research limitations/implications

The study examined the spread of the Bologna Process models beyond Europe and not its acceptability by stakeholders such as faculty and students outside Europe. Future research could examine the satisfaction rates among higher education stakeholders in regions and countries embracing the BP models.

Practical implications

The findings of this review indicate that the steady spread of the BP means that more countries and tertiary education institutions can explore opportunities aimed at developing more educational and socioeconomic partnership, including the exchange of knowledge, technology and resources.

Originality/value

While emphasizing the benefits and opportunities for cooperation, the paper identifies that the increasing internationalization trends influenced by the BP are leading to regional higher education cooperation in Asia, Latin America and Africa. Other higher education models around the world can learn from the marketing strategies of the BP aided by EU.

Details

PSU Research Review, vol. 3 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2399-1747

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 August 2016

Michael Lanford

In 2012, the eight UGC-funded higher education institutions in Hong Kong completed a multi-year process in which the majority of academic programmes were transformed from…

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Abstract

Purpose

In 2012, the eight UGC-funded higher education institutions in Hong Kong completed a multi-year process in which the majority of academic programmes were transformed from three-year to four-year undergraduate curricula to accommodate liberal arts education. The purpose of this paper is to discuss why stakeholders in Hong Kong felt that reforms were necessary and summarizes the implementation of these reforms. Afterwards, recent literature that has similarly addressed higher education reforms is reviewed. Finally, the results of a qualitative research study, grounded in glocalization theory, are presented and contextualized.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper first draws upon policy documents, newspaper accounts, and other published primary sources for the review of Hong Kong’s educational reforms. Subsequently, an exploratory qualitative research design consisting of semi-structured interviews with 23 administrators and professors in Hong Kong is presented. These individuals are designated as “key informants”, as they gave presentations, made speeches, or were otherwise active in conceptualizing Hong Kong’s undergraduate educational reform on macro- and micro-levels.

Findings

Four primary findings concerning educational reform in Hong Kong are highlighted. They include tensions between international benchmarking and internal value systems; confusion over multiple educational paradigms; the limited efficacy of outside speakers and leadership; and controversy over outcome-based assessment.

Originality/value

First, recent educational reforms in Hong Kong’s higher education sector are summarized. Second, the implications of educational reforms for Hong Kong and glocalization theory are discussed. Third, conclusions that may resonate with educational reform processes in other international contexts are drawn.

Details

International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, vol. 18 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2396-7404

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 23 March 2012

Kongkiti Phusavat, Suphattra Ketsarapong, Keng‐Boon Ooi and Stacy H.P. Shyu

The paper aims to share experiences in Thailand's higher educational reforms in which academic excellence cannot be sustained without proper financial and fiscal consideration…

1938

Abstract

Purpose

The paper aims to share experiences in Thailand's higher educational reforms in which academic excellence cannot be sustained without proper financial and fiscal consideration. The overall goal is to disclose the experiences and future issues facing public universities.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper is based on actual involvement by Kasetsart University in assisting the Commission of Higher Education's (CHE) university reform efforts. In addition to projects supported financially by CHE, Kasetsart University has also participated as a committee member and an invited expert. The paper is narrative in nature. It begins by showing the positive impacts from higher education on a country's level of competitiveness, and the inter‐relationship between higher education and innovation. The paper describes the country's recent major reform initiatives to achieve academic excellence and raises concerns over sustainability for public universities.

Findings

The experiences from Thailand can be helpful for many countries as the country is moving from an industrial‐based economy towards a knowledge‐based economy. The major concern is that academic excellence for public universities cannot be sustained without more effective fiscal management and public‐private partnership. Finally, despite the fact that the article is descriptive; the knowledge and lessons learned should be beneficial to scholars and practitioners who are interested in higher education reforms.

Originality/value

Academic excellence has often been discussed within the context of quality and innovation without explicitly considering fiscal management. The potential use of public‐private partnerships, which can improve the effectiveness of fiscal management, is revealed and discussed. The knowledge and lessons learned should be beneficial to scholars and practitioners who are interested in higher education reforms.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 4 January 2008

Dean Neu, Leiser Silva and Elizabeth Ocampo Gomez

The purpose of this paper is to examine: how financial practices are diffused across countries and who are the carriers of diffusion; and to determine why the nature of adoption…

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Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine: how financial practices are diffused across countries and who are the carriers of diffusion; and to determine why the nature of adoption varies across countries and specific institutional fields and why certain practices are adopted in some settings but not in others.

Design/methodology/approach

In the macro portion of the study the authors document how World Bank loans in Latin America have encouraged the adoption of particular configurations of accounting and accountability practices. In the micro portion of the study, they analyze the cases of Guatemala and Mexico as a way of illustrating the ways in which the configuration of institutional players, capitals and habitus within these two sites have influenced the adoption of Bank recommended financial practices.

Findings

First, the analyses illustrate that the World Bank functions as an agent of diffusion via direct contact and through indirect modelling activities. Second, the analyses show that diffusion is not an automatic process – rather the predisposition of national governments, the embodied history of higher education and the distribution of capitals within the field influences whether financial reforms will be attempted. Third the analyses illustrate that, even when the introduction of new accounting and accountability mechanisms are attempted, other important field participants such as students can partially block the introduction of financial reforms.

Originality/value

The current study illustrates that international organizations such as the World Bank facilitate the diffusion of accounting and accountability practices but that local actors influence if, when and how accounting will be introduced and implemented.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 21 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 1996

Qiang Lianqing

Describes the programme of reconstructing higher education which is currently under way in China. Outlines the history of formal education in China from the beginning of the…

2008

Abstract

Describes the programme of reconstructing higher education which is currently under way in China. Outlines the history of formal education in China from the beginning of the twentieth century and explains the national system of administration of higher education. Sets out ten major aspects in which Chinese higher education has to be reformed in order to meet the demands of the twenty‐first century

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 10 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2005

Ka‐ho Mok

This paper sets out in the wider context of globalization to examine how and what specific reform strategies the Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region (HKSAR…

4063

Abstract

Purpose

This paper sets out in the wider context of globalization to examine how and what specific reform strategies the Government of the Hong Kong special administrative region (HKSAR) has adopted in reforming its higher education system to enhance the competitiveness of its higher education in the increasingly globalizing economic context. More specifically, this paper has chosen a focus to examine how, and in what way universities in Hong Kong have attempted to make themselves internationally competitive, and what systems have been introduced to assure quality.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper adopts a case study approach in examining recent higher education changes/reforms in Hong Kong. Using literature survey, documentary and policy analysis, intensive interviews, as well as field observations, the paper has provided a comprehensive review and a critical analysis of higher education governance in Hong Kong.

Findings

This paper has reviewed major higher education reforms in the HKSAR, with particular reference to examine how higher education institutions have changed the ways that they are governed and managed. Academics working in Hong Kong nowadays are confronted with increasing pressures from the government to engage in international research, commanding a high quality of teaching and contributing to professional and community services. As Hong Kong universities have tried to benchmark with top universities in the world, they are struggling very hard to compete for limited resources. “Doing more with less” and “doing things smarter” are becoming fashionable guiding principles in university management and governance. Internal competition in the university sector is inevitably becoming keener and intensified.

Research limitations/implications

The paper discusses the case study of Hong Kong which reflects how a rapidly developed economies in East Asia have attempted to tackle the growing impact of globalization on higher education governance.

Originality/value

This paper provides a comprehensive picture of how the universities in Hong Kong have responded to increasingly intensified quality assurance pressures, and fills an identified information gap on specific strategies in promoting the international competitiveness of universities in the city‐state in East Asia.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 13 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 August 2008

Ka Ho Mok

The principal goal of the article is to examine how Singapore, one of the East Asian tiger economies, has attempted to diversify its higher education system by developing…

4854

Abstract

Purpose

The principal goal of the article is to examine how Singapore, one of the East Asian tiger economies, has attempted to diversify its higher education system by developing “transnational education” in the island state.

Design/methodology/approach

With particular reference to the most recent education reforms and changing higher education governance in Singapore, this article focuses on how the Singapore government has changed its higher education governance models in enhancing the global competitiveness of its higher education system by adopting more pro‐competition policy instruments and allowing the growth of transnational education in the city state.

Findings

The findings suggest the choice of policy tools (the choice of market forces in higher education and the rise of transnational education in the present case) is highly political and governments should pay particular attention to the particular socio‐economic and socio‐political contexts of their countries when making such choices.

Originality/value

The paper shows that the role of government in East Asia is still important, especially when there is a strong need for government to set up appropriate regulations, social protection and welfare, hence, governments in East Asia are very much conceived as a complement to the markets.

Details

International Journal of Educational Management, vol. 22 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-354X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 January 2006

Brian Dollery, David Murray and Lin Crase

To invoke Julian Le Grand's conceptual model of the interaction between human motivation and policy formulation in order to explain how motivational endogeneity in the university…

1395

Abstract

Purpose

To invoke Julian Le Grand's conceptual model of the interaction between human motivation and policy formulation in order to explain how motivational endogeneity in the university environment has distorted policy outcomes in the Australian higher education reform program.

Design/methodology/approach

Le Grand contends that changes in the perception of policy makers of both motivation and agency in the public sector have transformed public sector reform programs in the past two decades. However, because producers and consumers of public services react vigorously to different policy presumptions of their behaviour, a problem of endogeneity arises that may distort the intended outcomes of reform processes. This conceptual framework is applied to higher education reform in Australia from the so‐called Dawkins reform program in the late 1980s onwards.

Findings

Argues that the Le Grand model can shed light on the changes in Australian higher education that have occurred as a consequence of the ongoing reform process and account for at least some of the unintended negative consequences of the reforms.

Originality/value

The paper represents the first application of the Le Grand model to higher education reform.

Details

Journal of Educational Administration, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0957-8234

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 October 2006

G.R. Durden and G. Yang

This paper addresses the increasingly important economy of China and its associated higher vocational education and training (HVE) system. More specifically, the paper aims to…

1873

Abstract

Purpose

This paper addresses the increasingly important economy of China and its associated higher vocational education and training (HVE) system. More specifically, the paper aims to present the findings of a critical review of recent developments in the HVE system in Liaoning province.

Design/methodology/approach

As part of this review, specific problems faced by Liaoning provincial and central government agencies in meeting the labour market needs of an economy in transition are explicated, as are current constraints in the implementation of the ongoing reform of the HVE system vis‐à‐vis economic reform. Predominantly secondary data sources were used to conduct the review and one of the authors was directly involved in their compilation. The review period was 1997‐2003, which represented the time span between the enactment of the central government's vocational education law and the most current point in time for which statistics on HVE were then available.

Findings

Preliminary findings provide evidence to support the view that the Liaoning HVE system has made a small but significant positive contribution to the growth and development of the provincial economy over the period. Equally, however, the findings identified a number of constraints to the effective operation of the HVE system which could serve to limit continued economic growth. These constraints exist in the form of a low degree of market orientation; an insufficiency of resources both intellectual and physical, stemming from a chronic lack of financial investment; a relatively low level of overall cost effectiveness and a poor image in terms of the perceptions of the population at large as to the value of HVE as a tertiary education pathway. It is the authors' view that the constraints identified within the Liaoning HVE system exist as a general set of constraints within the overall Chinese HVE system.

Research limitations/implications

Understanding the nature of any labour market is a challenging and complex process and the authors are conscious that their preliminary review is deficient in a number of key areas. Firstly, further work is required to better understand the range and relative importance of the strategic drivers of economic and HVE reform in Liaoning province and China generally. Secondly, little has been said regarding the impact of the on‐going state owned enterprises reforms on the performance of the Liaoning HVE system, notwithstanding the fact that the underlying cost effectiveness imperative is greatly affected by these reforms.

Originality/value

Internationally, the Chinese economy is seen as a major driver of growth in the global economy. In light of this it is the authors' view that the findings of this preliminary review provide a better understanding of the issues relating to its continued development, specifically as they relate to reform of the labour market and associated HVE system.

Details

Journal of European Industrial Training, vol. 30 no. 8
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0590

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 September 2012

Gaoming Zhang, Yong Zhao and Jing Lei

Over the past few decades China's higher education has gone through dramatic growth and multiple rounds of reforms accompanied by a remarkable amount of financial investment, all

2506

Abstract

Purpose

Over the past few decades China's higher education has gone through dramatic growth and multiple rounds of reforms accompanied by a remarkable amount of financial investment, all aiming at developing world‐class universities to grow innovative talents. Yet the outcomes so far have been disappointing. This paper aims to investigate this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

By reviewing and analyzing selected educational reforms in higher education in China, this article discusses the reasons of the gap between the massive input for innovation in higher education in China and abysmal results. This paper also reports and analyzes a case that challenges central control and the gaokao system.

Findings

Central control and the gaokao, the infamous college entrance exam, are the bedrocks of China's higher education and also the culprit for China's failure to cultivate innovative talents. Unless they are fundamentally changed it is unlikely that China will have the higher education system it dreams of having.

Originality/value

This article provides an overview of China's efforts to cultivate innovative talents by strategically investing in building world‐class higher education institutions (HEIs) and analyzes the reasons behind the apparent gap between its massive input and the abysmal results achieved.

Details

On the Horizon, vol. 20 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1074-8121

Keywords

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