Hedda Blog

The annual flagship publication of OECD "Education at a Glance" has just been released. This publication enables the 30 member countries to see its performance in light of others' through current and comparable indicators. The main areas of focus in the publication are:
-Participation and achievement in education
-Public and private spending on education
-The state of lifelong learning
-Conditions for pupils and teachers.

This year, the overarching conclusion that can be extrapolated from the publication, according to the executive summary, is that higher education systems continue to grow and expand. On average, over 50 per cent of high school/upper secondary graduates are entering higher education at some point in their lifetime. Just 40 years ago, only 1 in 10 graduates entered higher education. With the findings in "Education at a Glance", OECD concludes that the expansion of higher education has had a positive effect on individuals and national economies.

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Marginson, S. and Wende, M.C. van der recently released an OECD/CERI Education Working Paper, "Globalisation and Higher Education".
From the CHEPS website,
"This working paper explores the issues for national policy and for individual institutions. Part I provides an overview of globalisation and higher education and the global responses of national systems and individual institutions of higher education. Part II is focused on certain areas of policy with a strong multilateral dimension: Europeanisation, institutional rankings and typologies and cross-border mobility."

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 08:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A new publication edited by Peter Maassen and Johan P. Olsen, European Integration and the Knowledge Institution, was released in June 2007. The book explores the political momentum, reform pressure, and the vision of European higher education through the Lisbon Strategy and the Bologna Process.

The book is a result of an international cooperation, and in addition to the two editors, Peter Maassen and Johan P. Olsen, Harry de Boer, Åse Gornitzka, Guy Neave, Thorsten Nybom, Carlo Salerno and Bjørn Stensaker, have contributed.

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Here are a few recent higher education publications released by theOrganization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):

On the Edge: Securing a Sustainable Future for Higher Education (Education Working Paper No. 7)
Published: April 27, 2007
"This report examines the conditions needed to secure the future financial sustainability of institutions of higher education from a national (policy) and institutional (management) perspective. "

Funding Systems and their Effects on Higher Education Systems - International Report (Education Working Paper No. 6)
Published: April 27, 2007
"This study focuses on higher education funding systems in: Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Portugal and the Slovak Republic. Each study was designed and conducted within an overall common framework by a project partner from the respective country. "

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

One of the Hedda partners, Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), has been busy publishing articles this spring. Here is a list of 2007 publications and links to the articles:

Student loans in Pakistan: A feasibility study and a proposal for a IFC / NBP Student Loans Product
Dennert, H., Boer den, H. and Vossensteyn, H.
Results of the fact finding mission in November 2006 for the International Finance Corporation, Washington, DC, USA, 2007, 57 p.

Offshore education: Offshore education in the wider context of internationalisation and ICT: experiences and examples from Dutch higher education
Vossensteyn, H., Deen, J., Adrichem van, A., Dekker, P., Mesker, P., Verkroost, M-J. and Weert de, E.
Utrecht, Digitale Universiteit / Stichting SURF, 2007, 107 p.

Learning entitlements in higher education: International practice and experience with learning entitlements in higher education: Australia, Colorado, Germany and the Netherlands
Vossensteyn, H. and Jongbloed, B.
A study for the University Grants Committee Hong Kong, 2007, 43 p.

Continue reading "CHEPS Latest Publications..." »

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 09:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ranking Universities around the globe is popular and becoming a common practice for some countries. The Institute for Higher Education Research published a new paper, "College and University Ranking Systems: Global Perspectives and American Challenges." The report recommends greater cooperation among world-wide researchers and publishers of the rankings. In addition, it calls for more research to study how the rankings affect the "quality improvement of higher education."

Continue reading "New Report on Global Rankings of Universities" »

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Just published February 2007, Å. Gornitzka, P. Maassen, J. P. Olsen, and B. Stensaker attempt to answer the question; how is the University as an institution affected by ongoing processes of European integration? Click here for the PDF file of the working paper.

Continue reading "New Publication: "Europe of Knowledge": Search for a New Pact" »

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Check out this new publication by Vught, F.A. van, of University of Twente, the Netherlands, a partner institution of Hedda.

Youth, Education and the Labour Market

Brussels, Group of Societal Policy Advisors, European Commission, 2006, 15 p.

In this paper Frans van Vught, member of the Group of Societal Policy Advisors of the European Commission, addresses in particular "the second pillar of the knowledge society". He discusses the achievements of the European education systems and explores the development of the qualification structure of the European labour force. The argument presented is that a knowledge-intensive economy produces wage inequality, leading to increasing inequalities between less and better skilled new entrants to the labour market. In addition, it is argued that the ‘knowledge society’ has created a race between education and technology, a race that is increasingly being lost by education.

Posted by Hedda blog administrator at 10:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)