U21 rankings of HE systems – some, but not all the usual suspects

Posted on 16th May 2012 by marielk in Higher Education News

Examining most of the rankings, we face the same usual suspects all around – Harvard tops the most, with a number of other US institutions, and Oxbridge usually being represented in the top 10. Despite the weighing of the measurements there seems to be at least agreement on the very top universities in the world. Of course one could argue that any ranking that has any reputation element included will suffer from a snowballing effect over time. So what alternatives are there?

However, when we start looking at higher education systems, the picture that emerges is quite different. Last year at the Hedda conference, dr. Leo Goedegebuure (LH Martin Institute, Australia) presented a keynote that examined the issue of mergers. In that presentation he also provided a ranking of higher education systems based on how countries do in the usual rankings – that is, how many higher education institutions are represented in the most widely used ranking systems in relation to the number of institutions in that system. By doing that, one can say something about the effectveness and performance of those systems in terms of what is being measured in the rankings. He ended up with the Netherlands, Israel and Sweden being on top of the list. The usual suspects of USA and UK were further down, with UK being on 14th place. However – the list showed much more favourably the Nordic countries and many European countries (you can download the paper here and listen/view to the presentation here).

Recently, Universitas21 (U21) – a network of research universities has taken up an initiative to create a ranking of higher education systems. So their starting point is not institutional performance, but the overall system level indicators. They included 20 indicators grouped together as Resources, Environment, Connectivity and Output. The ranking examined 48 countries and thus one can argue that the overall positions are merely suggestive, since the great majority of countries in the world are not even being ranked (as is the case with institutional rankings as well). (more…)

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HEIK academic seminar on rankings and organisation of universities with K. Sahlin

Posted on 14th May 2012 by marielk in Guest Bloggers and Commentary

This video features a presentation by dr. Kerstin Sahlin, titled “A rising interest in management and governance of universities: Rankings and organization models on the move”.  In this presentation, Sahlin examines two influential global themes: the expansion of rankings and assessments, and how universities have become organisational actors. The two themes are interrelated and they are also connected to a number of other global developments, and multilevel analysis will be employed to explain why universities have lately become subject to such intense reforms of governance and organization.

Kerstin Sahlin is currently a professor of business administration at Uppsala University, and has extensive first hand knowledge about higher education governance in Nordic countries. She has earlier held the position of prorector at Uppsala University and her main research interests are linked to the organizational change in the public sector and the transnationalisation of management ideas.

The lecture was recorded in April 2012 as a part of the academic seminar series of the research group HEIK (Higher Education: Institutional Dynamics and Knowledge Cultures) at the university of Oslo.

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Call for Papers: ICERI 2012

Posted on 11th May 2012 by marielk in Conferences and Seminars

The 5th International Conference of Education, Research and Innovation (ICERI 2012) has issued the call for papers. The conference will take place this year in 19-21 of November, in Madrid, Spain.

The organisers expect approximately 700 participants from over 70 countries. Papers can be presented both in person (paper and poster) and also as virtual presentations.

The conference covers a range of topics, organised under a number of key themes that cover a range of various disciplinary perspectives and are both focuses on research based presentations and practical experiences with educational innovations.

The key themes include: Global Issues in Education and Research; Education: New Trends and Experiences; Research: New Trends and Experiences; New Challenges in the Higher Education Area; Teacher Training; Curriculum Design; Accreditation and Quality Assurance; University-Industry Cooperation; International Projects; Technology in Teaching and Learning; E-content Management and Development. You can view the whole list here.

Deadline for abstracts: 19th of July 2012. You can read more about the submission guidelines here.

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The Bologna Process: reinventing the never-ending saga?

Posted on 9th May 2012 by marielk in Guest Bloggers and Commentary

In this post, Hedda associate and current Hedda blog research editor Mari Elken gives a short summary of her observations during the recent Bologna Ministerial Summit in Bucharest. What were the main debates during the conference and what can we say about the future of the process?   

Just over a week ago, the Bucharest communiqué was adopted, the seventh communique in the Bologna process that started in 1999. Now encompassing 47 countries it often tends to be glorified by the actors involved as a great success and hallmark of changes achieved, whereas the research evidence tends to be more modest in terms of the actual impacts and convergence.

The presentation of the latest stocktaking report at the ministerial conference indicated a number of fuzzy areas (e.g. lifelong learning) and a number of areas where progress had not been very huge. However, there are areas that seem to be highlighted as success stories by all involved in the process. Indeed, for a number of reasons (and these varying from country to country) Bologna has arguably been an initiator for a number of reform processes in Europe and beyond, and there has been some structural convergence in terms of the introduction of the three cycles.

While the initial deadline for building the European Higher Education Area was in 2010, this did not mark an end point in the process. As the Romanian minister of education formulated it: there really are no alternatives so one needs to reinvent the Bologna Process. So – what would that entail and did the ministerial conference indicate that this reinvention ris either taking place or likely to take place? (more…)

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New HEIK working paper on institutional transformation of a new university

Posted on 8th May 2012 by marielk in New Publications and Reviews

 The research group on higher education at University of Oslo, HEIK (Higher Education: Institutional Dynamics and Knowledge Cultures), has recently published a new issue in its working paper series. The working paper series features papers on various issues related to higher education research, both from HEIK members and selected guests who have been speakers at various HEIK academic seminars and similar events.

In this edition, dr. Romulo Pinheiro examines the establishment of a new university in Southern Norway and the types of challenges and contradictions this process creates. He concludes that in their quest to balance the global (excellence) and local (relevance) aspirations, the institution faces a number of challenges. The paper can provide valuable information to both higher education researchers and institutional managers.

You can download the working paper (pdf) here.

You can also view a video recording of the initial version of the paper being presented at a HEIK seminar.

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Guest blogger: New undergraduate campuses in Ontario- policy issues and prospects

Posted on 7th May 2012 by marielk in Guest Bloggers and Commentary

The question of increasing higher education attainment rates is high on the agenda in a number of countries around the world. We highlight the debates from Ontario, Canada – where a suggested solution is to develop three new campuses. In this post, Creso Sá (associate professor, University of Toronto) and Aisha Khaja (MA student, University of Toronto) discuss the issues and challenges related to this process. 

Creso Sá (University of Toronto)

The 2010 Open Ontario Plan has committed to raise Ontario’s postsecondary education (PSE) attainment rate from 62 percent to 70 percent. In order to achieve this goal, the government has promised to establish three new undergraduate campuses. Although no specifics have been announced yet, the debate surrounding whether these new campuses even need to exist has been a major topic of contention.

To further discussion of policy alternatives, the Higher Education Group (HEG) of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto held a symposium entitled, Three New Campuses for Ontario: A Symposium on Options, Challenges and Possibilities. The event brought together academics, policy analysts, presidents and vice-Presidents from Ontario colleges, and other leading experts of strategy and management in higher education.

Multiple Perspectives

Contributing to the debate, some have strongly advocated for the creation of teaching-oriented universities. Others argue that efforts need to be focused on addressing the current issues such as the lack of a coherent credit transfer framework in a historically binary system. (more…)

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