EAIR in a Changing World:
EAIR Forever?
The Baltic Sea Region Revisited
Kari Hyppönen
EAIR Forum Vilnius 2009
• EAIR (history, development)
• Environment
-Organisations (Professional/Institutional)
-Baltic Sea region
-EU initiatives linked up with the region
-no Bologna, Quality (ENQA etc)
• So what?
History
• AIR -1965 384 members
• 4000 members in 1500 institutions
• AAIR, CIRPA/ACPRI, DAIR, SAAIR,
SEAAIR
• First AIR European Forum 1979 Paris
-26 participants from 12 countries
(21 Europeans and five AIR members)
History
• Heads/Directors/VPs of Administration
Professors and Directors of Institutional
Research
• part-time Secretariat CHEPS Twente 1985
Frans van Vught, Peter de Rooij, Hans
Acherman (Peter Maassen)
• independent EAIR 1989 and The
European Higher Education Society 2000
History
• Membership Directory and Newsletter
• TEAM 1995
Founding Editor Roddy Begg
• Monograph Series
• Secretariat moves to Amsterdam 1997
full-time Executive Manager Ella Kruzinga
(now Hetty van Heeswijk era)
• joint events since 2000
Forums
• Nordic region
NUAS 1982, seminars since 1976
NUS 1995
• Uppsala 1982, Copenhagen 1985 (2008)
• Bergen 1988, Turku 1993 (Lund 1999)
• 1990's policy to locate Forums also in
"new" regions
• many country "firsts"
Forums
• Zurich 1995, Budapest 1996, San
Sebastian 1998, Berlin 2000
• Porto 2001, Barcelona 2004, Rome 2006
Valencia 2010
• Prague 2002, Riga 2005, Vilnius 2009,
Warsaw 2011
• France: Paris 1979 and Lyon 1990
• Norway: Bergen 1988
Forums
• José-Ginés Mora Ruiz
• Janis Stonis and Aleksas Pikturna
Indrikis Muiznieks and Rimantas Vaitkus
Statistics
•
Membership
-177 in 1990
-steady growth, then between 429 and
629 to about 500-550, 493 (496) in 2008
-100 from outside Europe
-"the Rome effect"
Statistics
• Membership
-Netherlands 152 (1995), UK 87 (1992),
Sweden 64 (2000-02), Norway 64 (2006),
Finland 48 (2006), USA 47 (2004),
Denmark 38 (2006), Australia 36 (1995),
Switzerland 33 (1995), Ireland 29 (2003)
-more than 20 in Belgium, Canada, France,
Germany, Portugal and Spain
Membership 2004-08
Statistics
• Eastern Europe
-up in Latvia, Lithuania and Moldova
-down in Czech Republic and Hungary
-minimal in Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland,
Romania, Russia, Slovakia and Slovenia
-Belarus and Ukraine?
Statistics
• Forum participation
-400+ in Trier 1989 and Lyon 1990
-320 in Turku 1993
-then lower, up to 378 in Porto 2001,
sustained level higher than Turku, highs in
Barcelona (450) 2004 and Rome (479)
2006
Zu
ric
h
ste
rd
am
19
94
19
93
ue
20
01
20
05
20
In
06
ns
br
uc
k2
Co
00
pe
7
nh
ag
en
20
08
Ro
m
e
Ri
ga
20
02
Lim
er
ick
20
Ba
03
rc
elo
na
20
04
Pr
ag
19
99
20
00
Po
rto
rli
n
Be
Lu
nd
19
95
Bu
da
pe
st
19
96
W
ar
wi
ck
Sa
n
19
Se
97
ba
st
ian
19
98
Am
Tu
rk
u
Forums 1993-2008
Africa
200
180
Asia
160
140
Australia &
New Zealand
120
East Europe
100
80
Middle East
60
Nordic
40
20
North America
0
South America
South Europe
Western Europe
Forums 2004-08
Geographical distribution of Forum Participation
2004 --2008
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
1
2
3
Barcelona = 450
4
Riga = 367
5
6
Rome = 479
7
8
Innsbruck = 343
9
10
Copenhagen = 356
239 in Vilnius 2009
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Nordic countries
Western Europe
Southern Europe
Eastern Europe
Asia
North America
Australia (and NZ)
Africa
75
73
5
43
6
19
7
11
Organisations
• Professional organisations
• Institutional organisations
• Membership
-Institutional
-Individual
-Mixed
• New professional groups and new
organisations (Quality specialists?)
Organisations
•
•
•
•
who decides on memberships?
membership administration/participation
who pays fees?
opportunities
-vast variety of international events
-not all based on membership
-20-40 events marketed at the same time
-who decides where to go?
Professional organisations
• EAIE (European Association for
International Education)
-1989, more than 1800 members
-membership overlaps with EAIR
-21st annual conference in Madrid on 1619 September 2009
-35 workshops
-initiation/introduction to the profession
Organisations
• 11 session streams including
-Accreditation and evaluation
-Bologna
-Development cooperation
-Management & organisation
-Policy & strategy
-National education systems
• getting too big?
Organisations
• IROBALT
-1998, six countries, closed down in 2002
• EARMA (250/80), EIRMA, ARMA (UK,
1150), EUPRIO (437)
• CHER (Consortium of HE Researchers)
-1988, about 160 members in 30 countries
-membership overlaps with EAIR
-joint history, contribution to EAIR Forums
Organisations
• SRHE, AUA, AHUA
• IMUA (International Meeting of University
Administrators)
-now a joint AUA and AHUA operation
-1981, 16th meeting in Vancouver in 2008
-participation about 250
-no membership, meetings open to all
-subject to available space and fees
Organisations
-meetings
-programmes overseen by a UK committee
-advised on topics and venues by an
international advisory committee
-Beijing, Bath, Hong Kong, Waterloo, New
Delhi, Sydney, Maryland, Twente,
Singapore, Prague, Cape Town, Auckland,
Edinburgh, Helsinki, Kingston and
Vancouver
Organisations
• HUMANE (Heads of University
Administration and Management in
Europe)
-1997 by 27 pioneers
-among them many active EAIR members
-now 200 members in 20 countries
-almost all HUMANE members have left
EAIR (with some important exceptions)
Institutional organisations
• ESMU (European Centre for Strategic
Management of Universities)
• networks and projects
-DEAN, HUMANE, EDUPROF
-MODERN, EU-DRIVERS
MODERN (Eur Platform HE Modernisation)
-EAIR associate partner
-mapping, questionnaires and conferences
Organisations
• EUA (European University Association)
-more than 800 members in 46 countries
-2001 merger of CRE (Association of
European Universities) and the
Confederation of European Union Rectors'
Conferences
-members early from Eastern Europe
-acronym and name changes vs. clients
Organisations
• EURASHE (polytechnics), Compostela
Group of Universities, the Santander
Group, the Utrecht Network, UNICA,
ECIU, Coimbra Group, IRUN, LERU (20
carefully selected members)
• CBUR (Conference of Baltic University
Rectors)
-1990, by 2001 82 full and six affiliated
members, last conference in Tartu in 2001
Organisations
• Baltic Rectors' Conference
• the Rectors' Conference of BUP of
Uppsala University
• next meeting on 15-16 October 2009
• teaching and research programme on
sustainable development
• 225 institutions
Organisations
• Stephan Bathory Collegium
-1999, nine universities in Budapest,
Bratislava, Brno, Kaliningrad, Cracow,
Prague, Vilnius and Warsaw
-Vilnius University key actor
-no information on recent activities
-some of the members now in EEUN
Organisations
• EEUN (East-European University
Network)
-meeting of Belarusian, Polish, Ukrainian
and Russian rectors in 2004
-meetings in Cracow and Lublin in 2005-06
-35 institutions, also in Lithuania and
Slovakia
-no information on recent activities
Organisations
• CEEUN (Central and Eastern European
University Network)
-for applied research on transition studies
• Now
-most geographical names already in use
-other regions have their own networks
(UNIMED etc.)
Organisations
• BSRUN (Baltic Sea Region University
Network)
-2000, 16 universities, now 40 universities
in seven countries
-evaluation before 10th anniversary in
Turku in February 2010
-cooperation with NUAS, early contacts in
1990's with no concrete results
Organisations
• BSUA (Baltic Seminar of University
Administrators)
-TEMPUS projects and IMHE's
Management of Change programme for
Central and Eastern Europe in 1990's
-discussions in 1999 of a group of 13
-first BSUA in Riga in 2000, then Kaunas,
Tartu, Kaliningrad, Warsaw, Vilnius, St.
Petersburg, Turku, Gdansk and Riga
Organisations
• joint BSRUN and EAIR events
-9th and 10th BSUA in Gdansk and Riga
-External Relations seminar at Warsaw
School of Economics on 10-11 December
2009
-Business Relations
-Media Relations
• EAIR Forum in Warsaw in 2011
Organisations
• Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian networks
-the Baltic Graduate School
-2008, Social Sciences and Humanities
-Tallinn University, University of Latvia
Vytautas Magnus University (Kaunas)
• the Baltic Association of Summer Schools
-University of Tartu, Vilnius University,
University of Latvia, Klaipeda University
Organisations
• Less interest in CEE Networks?
• New tasks like EU – Russia, Belarus,
Ukraine cooperation: EEUN?
• Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation
Window consortia
-EU-Russia (University of Turku)
-EU-Belarus, Moldova,Ukraine (University
of Deusto, Bilbao)
EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
• Higher Education and Research
-to exploit the full potential of the region in
research and innovations (coordination:
Sweden and Poland); and
-to maintain and reinforce the
attractiveness of the Baltic Sea region in
particular through education (Germany),
tourism and health
EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
• Baltic Sea Fund for Innovation and
Development (lead: NCM)
• Enhancement of cooperation of between
the (regional) universities (Fast Track)
• Development of joint curricula and the
sharing of educational resources (FT)
• Identification and removal of barriers
hampering mobility of researchers and
students
EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
• University cooperation
-based on existing networks
-BSRUN and BUP with UHI Millennium
Institute given as a model
-the Northern Dimension Institute could
also provide opportunities for networking
-leadership: BUP with Lithuania (tbc)
EU Eastern Partnership
• EU and Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus,
Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine
• Declaration of the Prague Eastern
Partnership Summit on 7 May 2009
• increased EU financial support is agreed
• Comprehensive Institution Building
Programmes (training, technical
assistance and innovative measures)
EU Baltic Sea Region Strategy
and Eastern Partnership
• Swedish Presidency since 1st July 2009
• need to be coordinated with EU joint
actions and programmes with Russia
• Eastern Partnership: Poland and Sweden
• Northern Dimension: Finland
• much will depend on the importance of the
Baltic Sea region to Poland and Germany
CBSS
• members: all countries by the Baltic Sea,
Norway and Iceland with EU participation
• 1992, Hans-Dietrich Genscher and Uffe
Elleman-Jensen
• BSPC, BSSSC, HELCOM, VASAB, Baltic
Development Forum, Baltic Sea Forum,
ScanBalt and UBC (Union of Baltic Cities)
• EuroFaculties: Riga, Tartu and Vilnius;
Kaliningrad; and Pskov (PPI and PVI)
CBSS
• the future of EuroFaculties
-continuation of the Pskov project?
-EuroFaculties in Belarus or Ukraine?
• increased interest in direct cooperation
with Belarus which now has observer
status in CBSS
• European Humanities University (EHU) in
exile in Vilnius with funding from of NCM
and individual countries
CBSS
• Lithuanian Presidency since 1st July 2009
• Objectives
-lift barriers for cooperation, encourage
more freedom of movement of people and
exchange of ideas, participation of Belarus
in the EP Initiative and dialogue with EU
-Kaliningrad region and Belarus have to
become full-fledged members of the
region
So what?
• EAIR has consolidated its place in the
family of organisations
• unique target group mixing theory, policy
and practice
• a mixed target group is a mixed blessing
• how important is EAIR to its members?
• why do members join and stay?
So what?
• we serve a purpose, no need to reinvent
• relatively steady Forum participation
• core group of members (big enough?)
• almost half pay their fees without Forum
Still
• almost total lack of interest in EC
membership and elections
• responsibilities, costs and rewards
So what?
• how to find Forum hosts?
• Forums only not enough (too few, takes
too much time, too big?)
• proactive strategy and a clearly agreed
division of labour between EC and
Executive Manager/Secretariat
• environmental scanning and contacts with
other organisations (France?)
So what?
• joint events with other organisations
(BSRUN/EAIR example)
• Southern part of Eastern Europe, Belarus,
Ukraine, Russia? Global AIR?
• who covers membership and Forum fees?
• university policy on individual
memberships?
• central administration budget?
So what?
• NUAS/NUS/BSRUN policy: institutional
membership serving many target groups
• how do universities tell about their
memberships (web page, intro, [logo])
• EUA, Coimbra, UNICA, Utrecht, LERU
(IRUN [Nijmegen], U4 Network
[Groningen]), IAU (International
Association of Universities, 1950, 600+
members in about 120 countries)
So what?
• additional sources of funding?
• EU funding and joint actions (MODERN;
professional development programmes)
• cost-effective Secretariat (synergy with
EAIE [also in activities?])
• fees rising (bigger Secretariats; Coimbra)
• publications policy (TEAM and
monographs electronic?)
So what?
• analysis of EAIR regions and statistics
• membership or event organisation?
• event coordination (IMHE/OECD, CHER,
EAIR) for increased attendance
(Valencia 1-4 Sept, IMHE 13-15 Sept. 2010)
• the importance of being truly European
and international (balance of meetings in
different regions)
• benefits vs. loyalty/affiliation (pin?)
So what?
• this year 20th/30th anniversary of EAIR
and many national/local celebrations
• VU 430th anniversary, Millennium of
Lithuania, Cultural Capital of Europe
• human chain, Baltic Way, 600 kms, one
million people, Tallinn-Riga-Vilnius, 23
August 1989
• Berlin Wall 9.11.1989 (Finland 1809)
So, will EAIR be forever?
• Yes, with partners like this, it will.
• So far, so good.
• Thank you for your support to EAIR
and
• Thank you for your kind attention!