European Research and Higher
Education Areas in a Global
Context
CHEPS Summer School on Higher Education Research,
Twente University, Enschede, Holland, July 2004
Prof. Marek Kwiek
Center for Public Policy
Poznan University, Poznan, Poland
kwiekm@amu.edu.pl
www.policy.hu/kwiek
Introduction/Overview
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HE transformations: global
HE transformations: (old) EU
„Universal knowledge” and „knowledge societies”
European Research and Higher Education Areas
Two views on Bologna: protectionism, expansionism
Bologna and ERA: underlying assumptions
Transnational reform agendas vs. Bologna/ERA
The university: changing missions?
The university: dynamic processes
Conclusions
HE transformations: global (1)
• HE more influential than ever before for the economic
growth of nations and regions
• Passage from industrial (work-based) to postindustrial
(knowledge-based) economies and societies (OECD)
• Consequently, knowledge viewed as the major driver of
economic development
• Old and new challenges in HE. Old challenges include:
– shifting from elite to mass (expanded) systems under severe
resource constraints
– inequality of access and opportunities
HE transformations: global (2)
– low quality and relevance of education to the labor market
– rigid governance and administrative structures
– inability (or unwillingness) of governments to finance expanding
public HE
– inability (or unwilingness) of governments to finance everexpanding research in public sector institutions (partnerships)
• New challenges in HE:
– crucial role of knowledge production, dissemination and
application for “knowledge-driven societies”
– consequently, HE in the center of public scrutiny (nationally,
regionally, and globally) – EU, WB, OECD, IMF, WTO etc.
– emergence of powerful market forces in HE and R&D
HE transformations: global (3)
– unprecedented growth of new for profit and virtual providers in
HE (consortia, franchises, corporate universities; foreign/
borderless institutions)
– unprecedented differentiation of HE (from huge community
colleges to small elite institutions)
– rapidly changing demographics („new” students)
– globalization of economies and cultures
– internationalization of academic disciplines and research
communities
– rapid spread of the English language
– advent of new technologies (especially telecommunications)
HE transformations: global (4)
• New challenges for HE in more general terms mean:
– new questions asked: „What is it that society needs from higher
education? - and no longer „What is it that higher education needs
from society?”
– radical move away from the state, and more reliance on the market,
for both teaching, research and service functions
– changing social status of the academic profession (from “Herr
Professor” to „knowledge analyst”), changing working conditions
(pioneers Altbach globally, Enders for EU)
– commodification of research, marketization of educational offer,
corporatization of academic governance and management
structures (collegiality vs. CEO/corporate models; managerialism)
– diversification - growth of the private sector (globally)
HE transformations: global (5)
– research - increasingly goes to the corporate sector (EU goal - 3%
of GDP for research - but increase from private funds, and
considerably for the private R&D)
– students - increasingly „consumers”, HE institutons – increasingly
„providers” of services (major shifts in vocabulary)
– tighter links between university/corporations/military
(Note: the transition countries today face both old and new challenges
at the same time! Western European countries faced old challenges
20-30 years ago, when they moved towards mass systems of HE.
HE in transition economies is working increasingly under both
types of pressures).
HE transformations: (old) EU (1)
• Majority of aspects of global transformations present - but
in much softened versions (with exceptions, e.g. UK)
• Majority of aspects of global transformations confirmed in
the „Lisbon strategy” (2000): to make Europe by 2010 „the
most competitive economy in the world”
• Consequently, emergent „European Research Area” (ERA)
and, increasingly, Bologna - directed to economic goals
• „European Welfare Model” in conflict with the global
market orientation of HE
• Bologna process for EU countries - to make EHEA compe-
HE transformations: (old) EU (2)
• titive to American and Australasian HE, to have bigger
share in global market of international students (or to
protect itself agains global challenges – see later)
• current transformations of HE supposed to mean: highly
skilled professional workforce for the new „knowledgeeconomy”; comparability of educational outputs and
diplomas across Europe; mobility of graduates and
workforce; growing employability of graduates
• next moves? Possibly pan-European - accreditation
schemes, quality assurance, framework of qualifications,
and descriptions of „educational outputs” and
„competencies”
„Universal knowledge” and
„knowledge societies” (1)
• European Commission, World Bank, and Magna Charta
Universitatum quoted and compared
• „The knowledge society depends for its growth on the
producton of new knowledge, its transmission through
education and training, its dissemination through
information and communication technologies, and on its
use through new industrial processes or services”
(The Role of Universities in the Europe of
Knowledge, 2003, p. 2)
„Universal knowledge” and
„knowledge societies” (2)
• „The ability of a society to produce, select, adapt,
commercialize, and use knowledge is critical for sustained
economic growth and improved living standards”
(Constructing Knowledge Societies: New Challenges
for Tertiary Education, World Bank, 2003, p. 7)
„Universal knowledge” and
„knowledge societies” (3)
• Magna Charta Universitatum (Bologna, 1988): „constant
care to attain universal knowledge”, university as a „trustee
of the European humanist tradition” etc.
• No continuation in current ERA (and little in Bologna)
documents, in global accounts of HE by OECD, WB, in
discussions on the „knowledge society” and the „Europe of
knowledge”
• Conclusion: the working vocabulary used for debates
about the future of the university has changed substantially
– since its German (or Napoleonic) origins (von Humboldt,
„Universal knowledge” and
„knowledge societies” (4)
• Schelling, Fichte, Schleiermacher) – but also since 1980s
• The shift in vocabulary accompanies the shift in seeing the
roles, tasks and missions of our educational institutions
• Universities no more: detached from society and attached
to the state; attached to the nation-state; building national
identity and constructing nationhoods. Increasingly seen as
part of the public sector – or the corporate sector, with a
task to „construct knowledge societies” (rather than
„invent Germanneness” etc)
European Research and Higher
Education Areas (1)
• Bologna nad ERA – two sides of the same coin: that of
ongoing redefinition of roles, missions, tasks of the
University in changing, market-driven and knowledgebased European societies and economies (gradual,
simultaneous emergence)
• Convergence between intergovernmental Bologna and EU
ERA: supranational, intergovernmental and interinstitutional (universities) levels get increasingly mixed
• Universities may not be able to avoid a substantial
transformation of their functioning, in both T and R
European Research and Higher
Education Areas (2)
• Inward-looking Bologna: while the impact of global
transformations on HE widely acknowledged – no mention
in all Bologna documents since its inception (1998)
• But outward-looking ERA: the impact of globalization on
Europe (competition with USA and Australasia) repeatedly
acknowledged; and at the foundations of the overall EU
„Lisbon Strategy” (2000)
• Bologna seems to be closed to global developments in HE,
regional problems and regional solutions: limited
references to global changes and to huge political and
economic transformations underlying them
European Research and Higher
Education Areas (3)
• But globalization (globally) is one of the main driving
forces behind current transformations of the public sector,
current welfare state models and changes in educational
policies worldwide
• It is an analytical mistake to forget about it within Bologna
process
Two views on Bologna (1)
• Anyway, in general, two simplified contrasting views on
Bologna (Dirk van Damme):
- as an introduction to a much deeper integration of national
educational systems, resulting from competitive pressures and
global liberalization of operations of HEIs (expansionism)
- as a large-scale defensive mechanism to avoid the pitfalls of
globalization and to stay together in Europe against the global odds
(protectionism)
- 1st may imply convergence Bologna/globalization processes on a
regional scale in the future
- 2nd may imply an attempt to make HE systems stronger against
the forces of glob. (with their emphasis privatization,
commercialization, marketization, commodification etc)
Two views on Bologna (2)
• Which adequate? Both „protectionist” and „expansionist”
themes present in Bologna documents; ERA – mostly
expansionist views. Expansionism requires attracting
foreign students and talents – as opposed to protectionism
which emphasizes „public good”, responsibility, and
consequently public funding
Bologna and ERA: underlying
assumptions (1)
• Europe and the world entering a new era of knowledge-based and
market-driven and competing economies (more ERA)
• Europe has to compete with USA and Japan in HE (Bologna) and
R&D (ERA)
• The underlying goal behind current transformations of HE and R&D
policies (explicitely in ERA, indirectly in Bologna with its „social
dimension”): to be the most „competitive” and „dynamic” knowledgebased economy by 2010. Goal - (mostly) economic!
• But higher competitiveness needs to be combined with social cohesion
• To reach the goal, knowledge, from universities or elsewhere, is a clue
• Consequently, neither in ERA nor in Bologna, the University is seen in
a traditional way (which was dominant before the advent of globalizat.,
Bologna and ERA: underlying
assumptions (2)
before speeding up of the European integration, and the passage from the
industrial and service societies – to the postindustrial, global,
aknowledge and information societies
Transnational reform agendas
and ERA/Bologna (1)
As set by the WB and OECD, HE reforms seen within
wider reforms of the state
– the minimal state: provides only an „enabling framework” for
functioning of the market forces and competition between (mostly
private) providers
– privatization (in the long run) of major welfare services:
healthcare, pensions, (higher) education
– to take the burden off the state’s shoulders (and to users of
services)
– to keep national budget deficits as low as possible, lower taxes etc
– to downsize („rightsize”) the public sector
– HE seen more as a private good, not a public good (also a tradable
good: see WTO)
Transnational reform agendas
and ERA/Bologna (2)
• EU reform agendas for new EU countries similar
to the transnational agendas in general
• traditional EU’s concerns about the „European
welfare model” under threat - generally irrelevant
for new EU-countries (no Keynesian welfare state
to dismantle; more Anglo-Saxon attitude)
Transnational reform agendas
and ERA/Bologna (3)
• Necessity in new EU: to combine transnational views of
downsizing the public sector (no resources available soon,
growing other social and economic needs; low taxation)
with European views of HE as crucial for economic
growth (for future common European labor market)
• HE is competing strongly with other sectors for shrinking
public funds. Private funds for HE grew faster than public
funds in all major OECD economies
• Consequently, Bologna might go together with
transnational reform agendas for HE but mostly in new
EU; ERA may converge with WB/OECD views on R&D
The University: changing missions
• In ERA and Bologna documents, the current role for
universities is to be:
- engines for economic growth of countries and regions
- contributors to economic competitiveness of nations and regions
- suppliers of highly-qualified and well-trained workers for the new
knowledge-driven economy (but - quote „Berlin Communique”)
- Without much discussons about principles („Idea of the
University” of Idealists, Newman, Jaspers, y Gasset etc),
the university in the European context may be entering a
new era of its history
The University: dynamic processes
• Some major factors implying a transformation of the
institution:
- the globalization pressures on nation-states and their public services
- The questionig of the foundations of the WS and the public sector in
general
- The end of the „Golden age” of the KWS (with its lavish support for
national public research and for strong national HE systems – 3 decades)
- The emergence of knowledge societies (and economies) in affluent West;
funding, funding, funding...
Processes of transformations more generally are:
- Gradual individualization (and recommodification) of our societies
- Denationalization (and desocialization) of our economies
- Universalization of HE and commodification and marketization of
research (50-70%; „leased Ivory Tower”, „corporate takeover” etc
Conclusions
• Bologna and ERA complementary: two sides of the same
coin, redefining roles and tasks of HEIs
• Bologna and ERA converge - increasingly for economic
purposes, for knowledge production on a regional scale
• Will be increasingly affected by global transformations if
the idea is to „globally competitive”
• Will lead to pan-„European” (EU) accreditation, quality
assurance schemes; harmonisation of curricula in the long
run
• Still changes depend largely on effective legislation, and
on the academic profession
Conclusions
• Bologna and ERA - as well as global transformations in
HE and R&D - undermine the idea of the traditional
modern university
• Consumer-driven T, market-driven R; huge competition
with „new providers” of both T and R
• The academic profession under new pressures, hugely
diversified, massified academics for almost universal
studies
Thank you very much for your attention, let
us remember that:
• „Changing a university is difficult. It is like
moving a cemetary; hard work and there is no
internal support”, Clark Kerr