OECD/France conference on the Future of Higher Education
Paris, 8-9 December, 2008
Which tertiary education institutions in
times of accelerated technical change?
A system approach towards knowledge
networks and enhanced societal trust
Manuel Heitor
Secretary of State for Science, Technology and Higher Education
Portugal
Technical Change: materials
Source: Michael Ashby (1998); see also, IPTS(1999)
10 000 BC 5000 BC
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE
GOLD
COOPER
0
BRONZE
IRON
1000 1500 1800
1900
METALS
POLYMERS
1980
AL-LITHIUM ALLOYS
DUAL PHASE STEELS
STEELS
MICROALLOYED STEELS
ALLOY
STEELS
IVORY
COMPOSITES
RUBBER
WOOD
BAKELITE
POTTERT
GLASS
CERAMICS
10000 BC
5000 BC
ALLOYS
REFRACTORIES
PORTLAND
CEMENT
0
1000 1500 1800
FUSED
SILICA
1900
HIGH MODULUS
POLYMERS
COMPOSITES
CERAMIC COMPOSITES
METAL-MATRIX
COMPOSITES
KEVLAR
CERAMICS
SUPERCONDUCTORS
TOUGH ENGINEERING
CERAMICS
CERMETS
1940
POLYMERS
HIGH TEMPERATURE
POLYMERS
EPOXIES
POLYESTERS
NYLON
CEMENT
2020
CONDUCTING
POLYMERS
SUPER ALLOYS
TITANIUM
ZINCONIUM
ETC
2010
NEW SUPER ALLOYS
DEVELOPMENT SLOW
MOSTLY QUALITY
CONTROL AND
PROCESSING
PAPER
STONE
FLINT
2000
SURFACE
ENGINEERING
LIGHT
ALLOYS
BRICKS (with STRAW)
1990
METALS
GLASSY METALS
CAST IRON
SKIN
FIBRE
GUMS
1960
1940
1960
1980
1990
2000
2010
2020
The main argument
Strengthening the knowledge dimension and
external societal links (i.e., “system linkages”) are
critical in making the institutional changes
required for tertiary education institutions, TEIs,
to be “agents of change” and meet the needs of
global competition and the knowledge economy.
This requires strengthening the institutional integrity
of TEIs, while entering into a myriad of
entrepreneurial relations, as well as to establish
long term relations with specific and specialized
actors: build societal trust!
The structure of the talk
1. improved funding and equity for enlarged participation
rates;
2. strengthening knowledge production and
internalization for improved knowledge networks;
3. fostering diversified systems for improved knowledge
transmission and learning;
4. strengthening systems linkages, together with
institutional integrity
Summary: strengthen societal trust on tertiary education
institutions, TEIs
1. improved funding and
equity for enlarged
participation rates
Source: OECD and Eurostat (w/ approximations of population)
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The issue: Large differences in societal engament!
Ratio of total students enrolled at Tertiary Education by 20-29 year-old population (2004)
0,5
0,45
0,45
0,41
0,4
0,35
0,3
0,25
0,25
0,2
0,15
0,1
0,06
0,05
0
Proposition 1
Students matter!...and we need to enlarge access to TE
Policy contraints and challenges:
• Diversify, diversify, diversify…
(access - new publics; institutions; incentives…)
• The “hidden” barriers : basic & secondary education…
…the need to “open” students paths and choices!
• Which economics for tertiary education?
How to raise private funding?
…and how to guarantee a better share of public and private funding?
Which share of institutional and competitive funding sources?
• Free education to all students, by guaranteeing graduates to
share the costs? (Nick Barr, LSE)
…but, which share of grants/loans?...
OECD Education at a Glance:
2008
Student support schemes and levels
Source:.
Public subsidies for education to households and other private entities as a percentage of total public
expenditure on education, by type of subsidy; OECD (2007). Reference Year: 2004
Example 1: Opening-up Tertiary Education in Portugal
Some key measures and results (2006-2008): Access
• THE BOLOGNA PROCESS: dynamic and on-going…
- 98% of initial educational programs in 2008.
…and beyond:
• NEW ACCESS REGIME FOR ADULTS
- 11.773 new adults entered Tertiary Education in 2007-2008
- 10.850 in 2006-2007
(while, just 900 in 2005-2006)
• NEW LEGAL FRAMEWORK FOR SHORT VOCATIONAL CYCLES - (CETs)
- More than 4.800 admitted students in 2008
- Around 250 CETs in Tertiary Education Institutions
• NEW STUDENT LOANS SYSTEM
- 3.650 loans contracted in the period November 2007 – November 2008
Example 1: Student loans with mutual guarantee
Extended Guarantee Triangular Relationship
Bank loan (3)
Students
Banks
(both undergraduate
and
postgraduate)
Guarantee
Sheme
Guarantee
commission
(fee)
Guarantee (2)
Guarantee
State (1) Counter
Financial Support
Legal environment and framework
(1) Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education
(2) Portfolio guarantee (covers losses up to 10% of bank loan values)
(3) Up to Eur 5000 per academic year
Source: SPGM, 2008
Which policy implications?
1. Which policy criteria to foster student enrolment?
• horizontally equitable schemes, with good value for students;
• financially sustainable at higher volumes of student take-up;
• low risk for government and financial institutions;
• minimum additional administrative infrastructure.
2. Does “debt aversion” augments social
inequalities?
• which share of grants/loans?...how to evolve with loan schemes?
3. Which new funding mechanisms ?
• What have we learnt about experiences with loan systems, venture capital,
risk capital and tax incentives?
2. strengthening knowledge
production and
internationalization for
improved knowledge networks
The issue:…and even larger differences in
performance at leading reference levels
Worldwide University Rankings
Ranking #1: Times higher education (world
university rankings, 2006)
Ranking #2: Shanghai Jiao Tong University (academic
ranking of world universities, 2006)
Ranking #3: Webometrics Ranking of World Universities
(2007)
US
54
167
20
191
87
104
Europe
7
8
37
42
83
10
13
207
211
78
Asia
63
8
31
9
Top 10
69
9
3
Top 50
18
2
32
Top 200
Top 10
2
2
17
57
Top 50
Top 200
Top 500
5
5
20
24
58
Top 200
Top 500
2
Top 10
Top 50
Source: The Times Higher Education Supplement; Shanghai Jiao Tong Academic Rankings of World Universities
Rest of
the
world
If ability, and not the circumstances
of family fortune, determines who
shall receive higher education, then
we shall be assured of constantly
improving quality at every level of
scientific activity.
Vannevar Bush to President Harry Truman
July 5, 1945
Proposition 2
The top of the system matters!...and we need to foster the
internationalization of research universities and their
specialization. But competition also matters!
Policy contraints and challenges:
• Clarification of the unique roles of the private and public
incentives to support science and technology, S&T
• The “hidden” barriers:
 gender: how to foster women engagement in S&T?
 the appropriation of S&T culture by society.
• The nature of science as a complex whole (John Ziman,
1968, 1978, 2000), ...and “science is social”, referring to “the
whole network of social and epistemic practices where scientific
beliefs actually emerge and are sustained”.
Which policy implications?
• a better understanding of the way private funding complements
(not replaces…) public expenditure on academic research…
…to keep the proper balance between open science and commercially
oriented R&D based upon proprietary information.
• But, always, people, knowledge and ideas…
…how to attract more human resources for knowledge intensive activities?
• A better link between research training and research strengths.
Can Europe “emulate” the US Graduate schools?
Can we rely in traditional departments? How to ensure that graduate schools
permit better employability of their graduates? Can the skills be transferable?
• the conditions able to strengthen institutions and the necessary
critical masses to compete at the highest international level
Example 2: Opening-up Tertiary Education in Portugal
Some key measures and results (2006-2008): Commitment to Science
• NEW CONTRACTS FOR PhD RESEARCHERS/TEACHERS
- At least 1.000 new contracts supported until 2009
• DOCTORATE AND POST-DOCTORATE GRANTS
- Doubling new PhD grants/year
- Increasing about 50% new Post-Doctorate grants
• INTERNATIONALIZATION - PARTNERSHIPS FOR THE FUTURE
R&D CONSORTIA WITH POST-GRADUATE PROGRAMS
- MIT-PORTUGAL:
R&D, 4 new PhDs and 3 Professional Masters in Engineering Systems (Energy,
Transports, Advanced Manufacturing and Bioengineering)
- CMU-PORTUGAL: R&D, 6 new PhDs and 4 Professional Masters in ICTs
- UTAustin-PORTUGAL: R&D and a PhD in Digital Media. Also, Advanced
Computing and Mathematics
3. fostering diversified systems
for improved knowledge
transmission and learning
The issue: …How people learn?
Issues in the European landscale:
Bologna …a sucessful story: Why ?
• a process…
• …voluntary,
but driven by a large consensus that has been
formed about the great challenges and opportunities facing
higher education systems in EU, namely against those in US.
• Understanding the relationship between Bologna reforms and
the social and national contexts in which they take place and
expanding the European policy dialogue in higher education to
include more issues, remain significant challenges in the
current process…
• It is also clear that higher education systems will continue to
be concerned with quality!
Proposition 3
“how people learn?” matters and require diversified
institutions and learning systems
Policy contraints and challenges:
• beyond R&D: R&T and, above all, R&L (Research and Learning)
• education at all levels must consider that learning a new practice
requires moving through discovery, invention, and production
not once, but many times, in different contexts and different
combinations.
• But we also need to reduce drop-out (failure) rates in tertiary
education…
…and to involve students in research activities since their
early stages at our institutions.
Which policy implications?
• Moving
along student autonomy?
...to allow students to determine their own learning paths and
trajectories, namely along education cycles, but also across
institutions in our different regions and countries.
• The conditions to foster effective international TEIs
• Taking
stock of the diversity and evolution of concrete
student-centred parameters.
4. strengthening systems
linkages, together with
institutional integrity
Proposition 4
We need to promote dynamic and responsive
institutions, at the same time we need to
preserve the institutional integrity of TEIs
Policy contraints and challenges:
• Raising the level of autonomy for TEIs, is one of the main
objectives of sector reforms across different countries in recent
years: getting to “entrepreneurial institutions”?
 Look at students: education, besides offering a specific
qualification, should ensure the assimilation of learning skills.
Economic competition – omitting information as a competition tool;
Proprietary knowledge – ignoring and “depleting” the science commons
hindering the fostering of new knowledge;
…multiple objectives should not be pursued at the cost of compromising
learning and research environments for students.
Policy Implications for EU : institutions
“Notably there is clear evidence that success in improving quality within
institutions is directly correlated with the degree of institutional autonomy. (…)
At the same time, the role of leadership within universities is also critical.” EUA`s
Trends IV, 2005
Patterns of convergence – strengthened autonomy: The underlying motivations
for introducing greater autonomy, in a nutshell, it is to improve the
responsiveness of HEIs to an expanded set of national and societal demands.
This responsiveness can be improved through enhanced capacity for strategic
thinking and taking advantage of emerging opportunities in a dynamic way.
Patterns of convergence – strengthened regulatory regimes: The second
orientation is to strengthen the regulatory regime so that a more autonomous
HEI sector responds more effectively to the requirements of public interest. This
may be seen as a contradictory trend of constraining institutional autonomy
through more indirect mechanisms.
Which way to Independent legal status (ILS)
and university foundations?
…it requires a common EU perspective for strengthening TE institutions!
Example 3: Opening-up Tertiary Education in Portugal
Some key measures and results (2006-2007): Legal Reform
• The New Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES)
•
•
•
•
•
Diversity of governance systems and increased autonomy
Setting up Governing Boards with external participation
Possibility of independent legal status for public institutions: namely as public
foundations
Establishment of consortia among institutions
Recognition of research centres as part of University management framework.
• The creation of conditions to foster the national and international mobility of
students and graduates
•
New Regulations on Arrangements for Changes of Study Programmes,
Transfers and Return to Higher Education
•
New legal framework for the recognition of foreign degrees, which simplifies
the system for recognizing foreign degrees in Portugal.
Which policy implications?
• How far university networks can effectively
contribute to foster basic university goals and
preserve institutional integrity?
…many university clusters (LERU, IDEA; CLUSTER, …)
have been particularly focus on corporate matters and
we argue that there is a need for a platform of the
various clusters and associations of research
universities, notably for stimulating the political debate
among the various stakeholders at international
level and for assisting in the networking of national
constituencies fostering integrity in tertiary education.
5th and Final Proposition: “umbrella”
Accelerate reform of TEIs by strengthening
external societal links and “system linkages”
Policy contraints and challenges:
• creating “new” institutions that have gained societal trust
• the public understanding of S&T and of the role TEIs on
scientific and technical development
• To
cope with such a variety of demands and with a continuously
changing environment, we all know that the tertiary education
systems, in particular, needs to be diversified.
• new leaderships for our institutions: attention should be given to
the need to promote an international market of excellence for
university leaders, as also a critical path to attract our best
researchers to take the lead of our universities.
OECD/France conference on the Future of Higher Education
Paris, 8-9 December, 2008
Which tertiary education institutions in
times of accelerated technical change?
A system approach towards knowledge
networks and enhanced societal trust
The Rationale - 1: what is changing?
• The nature of knowledge production and usage is changing:
innovation is more open, more global and involves a
growing range of players.
• Networking and cooperation are becoming more important
for successful innovation: users and suppliers play a
growing role (e.g., Eric Von Hippel, 2005).
• This also affects the financing of S&T and technical change:
a greater range of instruments and policies are emerging,
markets and intermediaries are evolving rapidly.
The Rationale - 2
1. A large consensus: The accelerated rate of technical
change has fostered an increasingly need to promote
the capacity to learn!
2. This requires a better understanding of the
institutional framework and the structure of
incentives in higher education, as well as going
beyond the institutional context, and consider the
substance of teaching/learning: “the class-room as a
living laboratory”!
3. But this implies strengthening governance structures
and institutional leadership, in a way that contributes
to strengthen the social constituency for science and
technology and a “learning society” ...
The Rationale - 3
1. An underlying assumption (Rosenberg, 2002):
The university as an economic institution!
…and university leaders as fund raisers!
2. The US university system as a “role model” for its fast
rate of responsiveness to the economic changes and
contribution to the creation of wealth.
3. This perception is leading to an institutional
convergence between what universities do (and are
supposed to do) and what firms and other agents do.
Much remains to learn about the “Entrepreneurial University”: in
a reducionist view, it is a potential threat to the institutional
integrity of the university and the future of scientific research due
to the commoditization of knowledge?
…what is best about American
higher education – we create
opportunity. That is our
mission. That is our business.
That is first and foremost what
society expects of us.
Charles Vest, in “The American Research University”,
Univ. of California Press, 2007