New challenges for the European higher education

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New challenges for the European higher education

• Nikolaos Taousanidis, TEI of West Macedonia

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Introduction

• NEW RAPIDLY CHANGING ENVIRONMENT
• internationalisation of trade
• global context of technology
• the revolution in information technologies
• growing unemployment rates
• high running costs of universities

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Introduction

• NEW MARKET CHARACTERISTICS
• compartmentalization of the occupational, leisure
  and educational sectors is being eroded
• there are new markets for higher education
  institutions
• the institutions no longer have the monopoly of
  knowledge production and dissemination.

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Implications

• GLOBALIZATION
• uncontrollable process, which integrates forceful
  changes in the economic, political and cultural
  environment, originated from global competition,
  and affects governments which, to a certain
  extent, are compelled to reform their strategies.

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Implications

• EDUCATION
• strongly developing international market
  considered as BIG BUSINESS
• has attracted the attention of
• traditional higher education institutions
• new corporate sector and for-profit providers

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Implications

• EUROPEAN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS (history)
• state (government controlled and funded)
• for many centuries, had the privilege of
  operating a higher education system characterized
  by a strong theoretical background, humanistic
  priorities and a free research policy.

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Implications

• THE PRESENT
• American Universities took over, especially in
  the technological and management fields of
  science
• United States, the leading exporter of education
  systems (South East Asia, but also to Europe and
  South America), is faced with a strong
  competition from Australia and the UK.

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Implications

• EXAMPLES
• Countries, like Greece with highly sustained
  state education sectors that do not meet current
  student demands (not in quantitative but in
  qualitative terms), have experienced more
  problems with education import, whereas
  countries, like Sweden and the UK with open
  diverse and flexible education systems, suffer
  less.

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Implications

• COMPETITION
• already between higher education systems and
  individual institutions, not only over foreign
  students, but also over the best professors and
  researchers
• In disciplines, such as biotechnology and
  computer science, non-academic practices, such as
  head hunting, have already begun, motivated not
  only by money, but also by competitiveness and
  foreign culture interests.

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Implications

• However, competitiveness cannot be reduced to a
  commercial concept only in the first place, it
  implies academic quality.

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Implications

• European higher education institutions have
  realized that society requires educational
  systems that are flexible, life-long accessible
  and cost effective

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Implications

• REASONS - 1
• Society cannot stand graduates' high unemployment
  rates and lack of specialized staff in key areas.
  Higher education institutions HAVE TO equip
  people with the skills for life long learning -
  to cope with increasing heterogeneity among
  students and offer a greater choice of learning
  paths.

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Implications

• REASONS-2
• The public has been less willing to pay through
  the taxation system. Funding is decreasing and
  higher education institutions are required to do
  more with less. Although they are more
  accountable, they have to demonstrate that they
  are relevant and efficient and at the same time
  that they are able to maintain quality.

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Implications

• REASONS-3
• The knowledge commercialization generates
  opportunities for new markets as well as threats
  from new competitors to universities.
• Higher education institutions no longer hold the
  monopoly of knowledge production and
  dissemination

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Implications

• REASONS-4
• Students are more individualistic and utilitarian
  than former generations and they do not hesitate
  to demand learning patterns that fit their own
  lifestyles.

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Implications

• NEW TECHNOLOGIES-1
• the introduction of new technologies promises to
  aid higher education institutions in this
  struggle, firstly, by making them aware of the
  opportunities and threats linked to advances in
  information and communication technologies.

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Implications

• NEW TECHNOLOGIES-2
• the successful integration of new technologies is
  considered as a means to produce skilled
  workforce in order to reduce unemployment, to
  improve access to Higher Education, especially
  for the disabled, and, finally, to reduce cost,
  as they offer the possibility to revitalize old
  teaching styles made impractical in overcrowded
  lecture halls. Space and time will no longer
  constrain the learning experience

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Implications

• GOVERNMENTS SHOULD PROMOTE
• Shorter study periods, especially for
  undergraduate studies
• Large number of substantial undergraduate and
  postgraduate courses
• Quality assurance of Higher Education providers
• International competitiveness of the European
  Higher Education institutions
• Integration of new technologies

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Actions

• Internationalization
• of institution management (e.g.branch campus).
• of funds (British universities)
• of students (declining demographic curve)
• of curriculum and learning process
• of teaching and administrative staff
• of customers.

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Actions

• HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS AIMS
• Modern learning environment and teaching aids
• New activities (computer - aided learning,
  self-instruction courseware, virtual laboratories
  etc)
• Upgrading communications infrastructure
• Strategic alliances with telecommunication
  companies and computer firm
• Approaches to overcome negative teachers and
  university administrators' attitudes

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Actions

• THREATS
• The existence of a non-restructured mass of
  information which would not be managed by higher
  education institutions
• The use of technology which may widen rather than
  narrow the gap between student and teacher.
  Higher education institutions should aim at
  bringing people together and counteracting
  learner isolation.

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Actions

• DIVERSIFICATION-1
• institutions have to integrate
• Ability to identify variations in the job market
  and in vocational training and to define the
  market niches it wishes to occupy.
• Evaluation of education effectiveness and quality
  assurance
• Open and Distance Learning (ODL)

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Actions

• DIVERSIFICATION-2
• Strategy for life long learning
• More autonomy
• Enhanced social accountability
• More compatibility in the European jungle of
  degrees and diplomas

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Actions

• DIVERSIFICATION-3
• Framework for acquiring skills according to
  customers' requirements
• International and multiple cooperation networks.

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The Bank Model

• LARGE NUMBER OF PRODUCTS
• a variety of degrees
• different levels of degrees
• different means of education delivery
• life long learning opportunities
• consultancy to local, regional, national and
  international bodies
• research

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The Bank Model

• SUPPORT SERVICES TO STUDENTS. Students have
  always looked for a quality of life which
  traditional higher education institutions seemed
  to be neither compelled to satisfy. Nowadays,
  however, there are more players in the game and
  the attitudes have to change.
• Guidance and counseling services
• Support to students who do drop out.

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The Bank Model

• CRITICALLY INTEGRATE NEW TECHNOLOGIES
• in lectures
• in educational material development and
• in the whole range of transactions with
  administration services.

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The Bank Model

• PARTICIPATE IN COOPERATION NETWORKS
• in courses, education materials, joint ventures
  for off-shore campuses etc. The strategic
  alliances can achieve a decrease in the cost of
  the services offered, harmonization in practices,
  system transparency, easier quality control

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The Bank Model

• ENHANCE PERSONNEL QUALIFICATIONS
• especially in the field of new technologies so
  as to be qualified with their new role of an
  expert and mentor, which is a key issue, since
  the system requires human beings despite the
  extensive use of new technologies.

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The Bank Model

• NEED FOR A NEW VISION
• in-depth reforms and an open access policy and
  partnerships with the community and with the
  broadest sectors of society. A way to initiate
  such a role is the role of a Maecenas, the
  organizer and sponsor of major cultural events.

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Conclusions-1

• International correlation will create needs for
  international quality certification, whereas
  international competition needs for international
  strategy. These phenomena will exert a great
  pressure towards cultural and organizational
  changes within higher education institutions.

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Conclusions-2

• There can be little doubt that institutions which
  will not live up to the above challenges will not
  only lose out in the competitive race, but they
  are most likely to be stigmatized by their
  conspicuous absence from the lists of
  international accreditation and evaluation boards
  and agencies.

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Conclusions-3

• Restructuring Higher Education in Europe appears
  to be inevitable, which leads to a convergent
  European Higher Education Policy, displaying
  market oriented and competitive features.
  Nonetheless, linguistic problems have to be
  solved and a three- language model (one of which
  must be English) is considered essential

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Conclusions-4

• On the other hand, higher education institutions
  view transnational education as a threat to
  standards and their own existence. The scale and
  intensity of threat is misjudged as it is
  currently confined to certain sectors of
  educational provision. However, its rapid
  expansion is likely to continue unabated and so
  will its impact.

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Conclusions-5

• The quality standards of the European Higher
  Education are still high however, the
  integration of marketable advantages -
  transparent and accessible for a future student -
  is highly recommended so that both graduate and
  life long learning needs could be satisfied. In
  all events, the need to respect the basic
  principles of education, the aims of which go far
  beyond a purely utilitarian perspective, has to
  be seriously considered.

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Conclusions-6

• Consolidating the development of personal
  autonomy, the opportunities for social
  integration and the improvement of vocational
  competencies, Europe can better respond to the
  imperatives demonstrated in this paper

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Sum - up

• whatever the actions to be taken "..the core
  missions and values of higher education, in
  particular the mission to contribute to the
  sustainable development and improvement of
  society as a whole, should be preserved,
  reinforced and further expanded"