Hedda Blog

Guest Blogger: Keijo Räsänen

Keijo Räsänen is Professor of Management and Organization at the Helsinki School of Economics. He is a founding member of the MERI group. The group is doing participatory and practice-based research in academic work and studying practices.

In January 2010 all Finnish universities will operate under a new Universities Act. This law separates universities further away from the state apparatus at least in legal and accounting terms. The state will remain the main source of funding, but universities are urged or forced to find new sources of money, especially donations from the industry. One purpose of the reform is to make university governance more clearly based on managerial ideals, adopted from the business world.

Two universities represent extreme cases and experiments in this change wave. The Technical University in Tampere and Aalto University in the capital area will be owned and governed by foundations. Aalto University is being created through a merger between the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design Helsinki and the Helsinki University of Technology. The capital for this foundation comes partly from the state and partly from the industry. The board of the foundation is composed of people who do not work at these universities, and all the university managers will be selected top-down, or outside-in.

Submitted by: Anja Busch,

Project Officer for the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities (ESMU)

Hedda is an associate member of the MODERN Project, European Platform Higher Education Modernisation. We would like to inform Hedda members (and/or blog readers) regularly about the ongoing MODERN activities. Our next event will be the MODERN Conference on Funding on 29 January 2010 in London. For further information on the project and the Conference, please find attached the MODERN Leaflet and the Conference Announcement:

• MODERN Leaflet.pdf
• MODERN London Conference_29 Jan 2010 FUNDING.pdf

HEDDA students, staff, members, etc. are invited to register for MODERN Conferences at a reduced rate, using the following username and password (please use capital letters) on the MODERN website:

Username: PARTNERMEMBER
Password: MODERNPLATFORM

We are currently also conducting a survey on the training needs for leadership and management professions in European Higher Education Institutions and would like to invite all Hedda Blog readers working for Higher Education Institutions in Europe to fill in the questionnaire.

The Academic Cooperation Association (ACA) is seeking to employ a Deputy Director and a Project Officer. ACA is a European organisation dedicated to the innovation and internationalisation in higher education. The focus of ACA's work is on studies into international higher education and on events in the same thematic area.

To learn more about the openings, read the attached job profiles:

ACA Deputy Director.doc

ACA Project Officer.doc

Listen to Episode 5

Direct download (right click and "save target as")

Episode Summary

Episode 5 of our podcast features an interview with Dr. Nico Cloete, as he shares his perspective on Higher Education in Africa. 

Dr. Cloete is professor of Higher Education at the University of the Western Cape and honorary research fellow at University of Cape Town.  He is also a full-time director of CHET, the Centre for Higher Education Transformation.

The 2009 list of the Top 500 World Universities *, researched and published by Shanghai Jiao Tong university in China, is available for your viewing. US universities still dominate, all but 3 of, the top 20 positions in the world, and 67 of the top 100 university ranking positions. European and Asian universities faired better compared to the 2008 rankings. European universities claimed 39 of the top 100 positions, compared to 36 in 2008. Asian universities claimed two more positions than last year, from 14 in 2008 to 16 in 2009.

Based on "six objective indicators", this university league table is known to rank academic research success. The methodology is based on alumni and staff winning Nobel prizes and field medals, the number of highly cited researchers in 21 subject categories, papers published in Nature and Science, papers indexed in the Science Citation Index-Expanded and Social Science Citation Index, and finally a per capita academic performance index.

*Please note: We apologize if the link to the rankings is broken due to high traffic.

Burton R. Clark passed away yesterday after a prolonged illness. Clark will be remembered for his instrumental research on the organizational studies of higher education. Throughout his career, he taught at five leading research universities in departments of sociology and graduate schools of education: Stanford University (Sociology, 1953-1956); Harvard University (Education, 1956-1958); University of California, Berkeley (1958-1966): Yale University (Sociology, 1966-1980); University of California, Los Angeles (Education, 1980-1991, Emeritus (1991-2009). He was awarded numerous awards for his scholarship  including the Comenius Medal from UNESCO in 1998 recognizing his research on the entrepreneurial and innovative university. Clark was also an active and influential scholar in many of the higher education professional associations such as the American Educational Research Association (AERA), Association for the Study of Higher Education (ASHE), British Society for Research into Higher Education (SRHE), and the European Association for Institutional Research (EAIR).  

His most recent work, On Higher Education: Selected Writings,
1956-2006, highlights the numerous significant contributions he made to the study of higher education. A  biographical article, Developing a Career in the Study of Higher Education, outlines his successful career and can be found in the Handbook of Theory and Research, Vol. XV, 2000.

Expressions of sympathy can be sent to his wife Adele Clark at 201 Ocean Ave.,
Apt 1710B, Santa Monica, CA 90402. 

Written By: Leasa Weimer

Lead Administrator for the hedda blog, Doctoral Student, University of Georgia, USA & Research Fellow, University of Oslo, Norway

Three years ago I was asked to assist with a new project, the University of Oslo hedda blog. Since then the blog has grown to average 1,000 visitors a week and now includes entries from guest bloggers around the globe as well as the recent addition of a podcast series. Not only has our blogging project grown by leaps and bounds, but in general the world of higher education blogging has evolved. As a writer, researcher, and coordinator of the blog I peruse news sources and blogs daily for interesting information and current events. Of course I have my favorites, so why not share them with the hedda blog readers?  

The Boston College Center for International Higher Education Podcast

Since April 2007, CIHE has interviewed over 20 key individuals (professors, World Bank leadership, university and professional association leaders) on current topics in higher education. All discussions are available (and archived) via the on-line podcast series, making it very easy to tune into what key higher education players are thinking. 

"The CIHE Podcast Initiative brings key thinkers and leaders in higher education worldwide to a global audience. Our interviewees present their perspectives and arguments on a range of higher education themes."

Beerkens' Blog: Higher Education, Science & Innovation from a Global Perspective

Looking for a roundup of higher education news from around the Globe? This is a one-stop shop for the latest headlines, stories, reports, and publications specific to higher education, science, technology, and innovation.

"Welcome to Beerkens' Blog, a blog in existence since September 2005. My professional and research interests are in policies and politics in the fields of higher education and science & technology, especially issues related to internationalisation, globalisation, international cooperation and regional integration."

GlobalHigherEd: Surveying the Construction of Global Knowledge/Spaces for the 'Knowledge Economy'

Created in September 2007, this blog features contributions from faculty members and higher education experts from around the globe. The lively blog discussions circle around higher education and the knowledge economy.

"The GlobalHigherEd weblog is designed to highlight and then archive information about new developments (e.g., a new policy or development project), resources (e.g., reports, websites), analytical networks, and so on, so as to better track what is happening with respect to the construction of new globalized knowledge/spaces. We are interested in how and why new knowledge and new spaces (including socio-technical networks) are being developed in association with the emergence of the 'knowledge economy', and what the implications of this complex development process are, especially for global public affairs."

University World News: The global window on higher education

This may not be a blog, per se, but it is similar to a blog. A global network of writers, education journalists, brings you stories of higher education. Articles are written in similar fashion to a newspaper article. You can even sign up to receive a weekly email highlighting the articles.  

"With international competition and collaboration between universities growing apace, it has never been more important for higher education managers, researchers, scholars and public officials to keep abreast of developments in their field and in rival and partner institutions worldwide. University World News is the first high-quality truly international newspaper and website, dedicated to providing such coverage."

Episode 4

Direct download (right click and "save target as")

Episode 4 of our podcast features an interview with the editors of the recently published book, Borderless Knowledge?  Understanding the "New" Internationalisation of Research and Higher Education in Norway.

Book chapter abstracts (Word, 47.00 kB)

Åse Gornitzka is a Senior Researcher at ARENA - Centre for European Studies at the University of Oslo.  ARENA is an interdisciplinary centre for advanced studies on the dynamics of the changing political order of Europe. 

Liv Langfeldt is Head of Research in Research and Innovation Policy at NIFU STEP (Norwegian Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education).

Wei Zhang is in the Master of Philosophy in Higher Education program as well as a Quota Scholarship student from Mainland China who just finished her study in August, 2009. Prior to her studies at the M.Phil program, Wei obtained a Bachelor's Degree in Russian Language and Literature from Peking University and worked in the Embassy of Georgia in China for a year. After graduating from the University of Oslo, she returned to her home country in China, where she is organizing help sessions aimed at helping middle school students make the transition into high school with special attention to the students coming from rural areas. At the same time, Wei is also working on the application for a Ph.D. program in order to realize her dream of achieving a faculty position in a research university.

In the summer of 2008 Wei went to Japan as an exchange student for the Masters in Higher Education program at J. F. Oberlin University (JFOU). During the stay in Japan she carried out a pilot study with a few Chinese students at JFOU and after she came back to Oslo she wrote her master thesis on the academic adaptation experiences of Chinese graduate students at JFOU. The study aimed to address following questions: what are the major difficulties faced by Chinese graduate students at JFOU in their academic adaptation; what might be the possible reasons for the academic difficulties; and how do they cope with the difficulties? A qualitative research strategy, using principles of case study, was utilized for the study. Individual semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted with 15 Chinese students enrolled at the Graduate School of Business Administration of the university. And data collected during the interviews were analyzed under focus questions and themes.

The U.K. based Times Higher Education (THE) Supplement released the THE/QS annual international ranking of higher education institutions for 2009. The first THE/QS ranking was published five years ago, therefore the methodology has been refined over the years allowing for less volatility from year to year. This year a new typology, similar to the Carnegie Classification in the U.S., accompanies the ranking table to highlight institutional characteristics including size, scope, and research intensiveness. Many debate the impact and methodology of international ranking systems. What do you think???

Top 10 Universities:

(1) HARVARD University
(2) University of CAMBRIDGE
(3) YALE University
(4) UNIVERSITY COLLEGE London
(5) University of OXFORD & IMPERIAL College London 
(7) University of CHICAGO
(8) PRINCETON University
(9) MASSACHUSETTS Institute of Technology 
(10) CALIFORNIA Institute of Technology

Guest Blogger: Dr. Rahul Choudaha

Dr. Choudaha is an international higher education professional with expertise in strategy, quality and policy issues. Currently, he is Associate Director at an International Education Services organization based in New York. He earned his Ph.D. in Higher Education from the University of Denver, US and holds an MBA for NITIE, Mumbai and B.Engineering from Jabalpur. He also writes a blog on education -- www.DrEducation.com.

Kashinath Laxman Joshi in his book Problems of Higher Education in India (1977) mentioned that "There is a preoccupation with numbers to be enrolled as opposed to considerations of improved quality and relating education quality with manpower requirements."
 
More than thirty years later, the statement still holds valid despite significant advancement in the socioeconomic environment. The problem of quality and misalignment with the skill demand is evident from the unemployability crisis among educated youth and also the regulatory mess Indian higher education is into.

According to a survey, by McKinsey only 25% of the Indian engineering graduates and 10% of generalists are suitable for employment with multinational corporations. Likewise, India Labour Report 2007, suggests that 57% of India's youth suffer some degree of unemployability.
 
Indian higher education system has a complex web of specialized central regulatory bodies like the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and University Grants Commission (UGC). A panel formed by the ministry of human resource development found that universities consistently experience corruption and inefficiency of the regulator (AICTE). Recent reports also highlighted the inefficacy of UGC related to approval process of deemed-universities. This indicates that quality assurance mechanism has some serious problems to be addressed. 
 

Felipe Polina is a second year HEEM Master's degree student. In addition to his Master's degree studies, he travels to Shanghai often to maintain a trading firm that he owns with a friend. Prior to joining HEEM he worked for the Chinese Ministry of Economy and taught English classes, in Italy he worked for a family owned winery selling their high-end wine and olive oil, and finally in Mexico he worked for Procter & Gamble. Felipe holds a Master's in European Business Administration and Business Law from Lunds Universitet in Sweden and a B.A. in International Business from the Instituto Tecnológico de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM) in Mexico.

Why did you apply for Erasmus Mundus HEEM Master's programme?

I am really interested on linking my previous research in Stem Cell Patents and National Innovation Systems with the Higher Education arena.The topic of my thesis is Human Stem Cell Research and the links between National Higher Education & innovation Systems. It will be a policy analysis.

What has been the highlight of the Master's experience for you?

So far to realise about the complexity of higher education and to gain a deeper knowledge of all the actors that play an important role in it.

What challenges have you experienced during the Master's journey?

To be able to deal with the very different styles of education in Norway, Finland and Portugal while moving around the world.

What are your future aspirations after completing the Master's programme?

I would definitely consider pursuing an academic position or a PhD, however I must likely will go back to China (where I was living before joining the HEEM programme).

What have you enjoyed most about living/studying in Oslo, Finland, and Portugal?

Overall the fun, excitement and uncertainty of moving around the world. Besides moving between Oslo, Tampere and Aveiro I have the need to travel quite a bit between Europe and Asia so it is also challenging for me to cope with both my current academic commitments with the programme, my professional and personal affairs which force me to be a very mobile person.

Survey of Master Degrees in Europe A report published by the EUA that surveys the state of the European Masters Degree. How do European Master degrees measure according to the Bologna Process? How are National governments and institutions changing the Masters degree to reflect issues of employability and national interests?  

Collaborative Doctoral Education: University-Industry Partnerships for Enhancing Knoweldge Exchange Exploring the "knowledge triangle" among education, research, and innovation in the European region, this report presents data collected by the EUA DOC-CAREERS project.The aim of this report is to encourage dialogue surrounding university/industry partnerships within the framework of doctoral education. The main recommendation calls for European universities to increase the university/industry collaborative doctoral programs.

Improving Quality, Enhancing Creativity: Change Processes in European Higher Education Institutions This is the final report of the Quality Assurance for the Higher Education Change Agenda (QAHECA) project. EUA, along with consortium partners the Certification and Quality Assurance Institute (ACQUIN) and the Higher Education Academy (HEA), launched this project to stimulate dialogue surrounding quality assurance and the continued modernization of European universities. How can internal and external quality processes for teaching and learning in higher education support the modernization agenda of universities?  

Guest Blogger: Dr. Peter Maassen

Dr. Maassen is Professor of Higher Education and Head of Research at the University of Oslo and a Senior Research Fellow at NIFU STEP.  He is also Director of Hedda, a consortium of European centers for research in Higher Education.

The establishment of the European Research Council (ERC) 27/28 February 2007 is an important milestone for European research policy. For the first time in its history Europe has a continental research council comparable to the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the USA in the sense that it supports top basic research, or in the words used by the ERC: "investigator-driven fundamental research of the highest quality". To put it in soccer-terms: the ERC aims at creating a European 'Champions League' of top researchers. The total budget to achieve this mission is for this period (2007-2013) around € 7.5 billion. Every researcher from anywhere in the world fulfilling the eligibility criteria can apply for an ERC grant under the condition that the applicant will do his/her research in Europe.

Even though the ERC's programme is part of the seventh Framework Programme (FP7) it has an organisational structure of its own that is independent of FP7. This structure consists of a Scientific Council and an Executive Agency. The former is responsible for all scientific ERC matters, including the funding strategy, the annual work programmes and call for proposals, the evaluation (through peer review) of the proposals received, and the selection of the proposals to be funded. The ERC Executive Agency (ERCEA) is a management

structure responsible for the implementation of the decisions of the Scientific Council, which includes the contract negotiations with the researchers whose proposals have been selected for funding. The ERC is an important innovation in the EU's research policy: it supports individual researchers and their teams instead of projects; it uses scientific quality as the only criterion for selecting proposals instead of a set of political, academic and social criteria as the other programmes in FP7; it does not take geography into account in allocating funds implying that it does not aim at spreading the funds more or less evenly over Europe; all fields of research are eligible instead of a limited number of targeted research areas; and it provides the selected researchers with rather substantial grants of up to € 2 million (starting researchers) and € 3.5 million (advanced researchers). The competition for these grants is organised in two separate biennial rounds, i.e. in year 1 only young researchers, i.e. researchers who have obtained a PhD more than two years but less than ten years ago, can apply for a grant, in year two only senior researchers, in year three only young researchers, and so on.

The International Higher Education Podcast is back for the new academic year, and back with a new format. Our new format features one interview per episode and a shorter program length.

Episode 3

Direct download (right click and "save target as")


Episode Summary
Episode 3 of our podcast features an interview with Dr. Thierry Luescher, as he shares his perspective on Higher Education in South Africa. Dr. Luescher is a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education, located at the University of the Western Cape.  He is also a researcher with CHET, the Centre for Higher Education Transformation.