Hedda Blog

By: Greg Donaghue, Australia

A private higher education institution in Melbourne, Australia, is being investigated for criminal misconduct according to The Age newspaper. The International Business and Hospitality Institute (IBHI), established by two Chinese businessmen in 2005, is accused of exploiting overseas students. It is alleged amongst other matters that up to 30 Chinese students have been deceived by the institute by being told to “take long holidays” during scheduled term dates, taught the same material repeatedly and being transferred to classes that they hadn’t enrolled in.

Within three months of IBHI opening for business a number of teachers were also dismissed and those staff that remained complained of under-resourcing, unpaid wages and poor quality of teaching.

The need to ensure that foreign students receive value for money and quality education in Australia is vital. In 2005 Education ranked as Australia’s 4th largest export. In the 2005-06 financial year A$9.8 billion (approximately €5.89 billion) was earned from international students studying in Australia. With the vast majority of these students coming from Asian countries with their own increasingly competitive higher education institutes, reports of even a few sub-standard courses in Australia could begin to damage the reputation of the entire sector.

As well as the potential issue of criminal behaviour having occurred in this instance, the case of IBHI highlights the difficulties of regulating private higher education providers in a growing and dynamic marketplace. Australia has a Federal system of government, with the legal and practical responsibility for international higher education sometimes becoming blurred. While the Commonwealth government is responsible for overseeing the international education industry, in practice it relies upon the States to police institutes locally. While the Victorian government has carried out its duty by auditing IBHI and demanding an overhaul of its operations, Immigration consultant Bob Kinnaird is quoted by The Age as saying that with regard to international education regulation “enforcement levels are not keeping up to the pace of growth”.

Students duped by IBHI appear to have finally received some good news. The Australian Council for Private Education and Training has taken action to assist effected students to find more suitable courses. For situations like this to be prevented in the future however, all levels of Australian government will need to ensure that responsibility for oversight and enforcement of international education is clearly defined and carried out.

Greg Donaghue is a first year student in the Erasmus Mundus HEEM programme. He has Bachelor degrees in both Arts (Political science major) and Law from Monash University. Prior to joining this programme Greg worked for several years as a Senior Policy Officer in the Department of Education and Training in Victoria, Australia. He has also worked as a corporate and commercial lawyer.

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Our latest assignment: Reform!
"We just finished the module on higher education governance, management and leadership and our assignment/exam is to reform a private university in eastern Europe, Free University of Transformation (FUT), which is dying a slow death. During the module, Professor Seppo Hölttä introduced the FUT case study; not enough funding to sustain itself, poor management and decreasing student enrollment. He then had us get into working groups to formulate ideas to reform FUT. The group work was challenging due to the limited time and diverse ideas, yet the dialogue was fructiferous. As a group, we made presentations to the class on our reform strategy and the class was allowed to ask critical questions about the plan. From there, Professor Hölttä said, "None of this material is copyrighted, so you can borrow anything from the presentations and add it into your individual papers." Wow...so, here are we today, writing a strategy to reform a private university. Now, this is theory to practice!"
-Leasa, USA

"Freedom and challenge are the things that I liked most about creating FUT development plan. At first, it seems to me that FUT has no hope and should be closed. However, after work in group and thinking very carefully to design the solution of FUT, I found that I enjoy trying to find FUT's future." -Malinee, Thailand

"What I have enjoyed about this assignment is the fact that it makes one develop a creative mind by presenting a real life situation needing attention. This assignment is the only one so far where I have been asked to apply theoretical knowledge acquired in the classroom to real life situations. This not only helps me to master what is taught, but also prepares me for the hard times ahead- character hardening. For a person whose career plans are into consultancy work, this assignment presents a classic example of problems that lie ahead in the working field. The assignment demonstrates the complexity of higher education management. There are many management styles at one's disposal but choosing one which fits a particular situation is an uphill task. It has also taught me that professional managers are necessary in higher education institutions rather than depending on academics who have no background knowledge of how institutions work. In addition, it shows how dangerous it is to use mainstream business management styles in higher education institutions because of the differences between the two sectors. The assignment and the literature show that higher education institutions do not exist in vacuum but with in the environment and as such, that environment must effectively be utilized to the benefit of higher education." - Henry, Uganda

"I have known that the transformation of higher education institutions is very complex. But this is the first time for me to do a case study. The assignment helped me to reflect the theory and idea of higher education management. I also had to rethink how universities can maintain and survive under different social-political context" - Liu, Taiwan

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This is the first higher education master's programme focusing on capacity-building and the complex relations between higher education and development. Students will enroll in one of the following institutions and have the opportunity to study at one of the other participating universities: University of Western Cape, South Africa, Makerere University, Uganda, and the University of Oslo, Norway. According to the Hedda website, the programme "is a research based master programme focusing on the changing functions, policies, and operations of Higher Education, with a special emphasis on higher education in the developing world. Through the eyes of various disciplinary perspectives, the programme provides students with a solid basis for analysing and critically assessing change processes at all relevant levels in higher education."

Scholarships are available through NOMA and the Quota Programme.

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As higher education serves more students, government spending decreases. In an effort to curve this financial downfall, British Prime Minister Tony Blair has announced a new program to encourage university fundraising efforts. Every £2 will be matched by £1 from public funds for the next three years. 75 top British universities are eligible for these funds and the other universities will be given resources to create and develop fundraising centers and programmes.

But, is there a culture of giving to British Universities? Professor Eric Thomas, vice-chancellor at Bristol University, said it was wrong to assume there is no 'giving culture' in the UK. 'There wasn't even a culture of asking,' he said. 'You can't test if there is a culture of giving when you are not asking people.'

Statistic from the Education Guardian:
· Harvard has a £14.9bn endowment and serves 6,650 undergraduates. Oxford and its colleges holds a fund of £3.6bn and teaches 11,200 undergraduates.

Do you think this initiative will cultivate a culture of giving to British Universities?

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As an Erasmus Mundus scholar, we are afforded the opportunity to study in three different European university cities; Oslo, Tampere and Aveiro. Not only do we learn about the higher education systems, language, food and culture in these countries, but we also experience the climate. And for some, the climate in Finland can be very exotic...

An Ethiopian Enjoys a Finnish Winter
By: Emnet Tadesse, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia from where I come from, we don't have snow at all. I saw snow in movies, but not in the real world. Now in Tampere, Finland I feel like I'm in the movies. Watching snow falling from the sky slowly and gently… wow that makes me crazy! When that happens I feel like I have to go outside and play with it and in it and I do it without a second thought. The north part of Ethiopia, where I was working, is mountainous, dry, and devoid off any vegetation and it has never been below 6C degrees. Here in Tampere, the forests are amazing and walking in the forest settles my spirit when everything on the ground is white and full of snow. The city is so cold (sometimes -35C) but there is nothing more fun than watching snow fall, something I have never experienced before. You know there are a lot of things that I'm eagerly looking forward to…making snow angels, building a snowman, snowboarding, having a snowball fight and so on. I think Finland is the right place to experience everything about
snow.

Emnet is a first year in the HEEM programme. He has a Bachelor’s Degree In Political Science and International Relations from Addis Ababa University. Prior to this programme, he was teaching philosophy and civic education in one of the Ethiopian state universities, Mekelle University, located in the north part of Ethiopia. In addition, he was also a part time instructor in one of the private colleges located in Mekelle called MicroLink College. And in his spare time, he served as a board member in one of the non-governmental orphanage organizations and volunteered his time to work on international relations for the orphanage.

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My Long Relationship With The Thesis Proposal
By: Catherine Batac, Pampanga, Philippines

As a second year graduate student working on my thesis in Oslo, I was recently asked by a first year student how does one decide on a thesis topic in this Higher Education program? It's a long love story...

1.) Research related to “quality” was the first topic I fell in love with. We had lectures on quality starting from the first semester and I found myself writing about this topic the entire year. I was interested in assessment and wanted to explore why in my country, in spite of a large higher education system, the individual academic programs are used as the unit of quality assessment and not the institution. I read so much about quality that the situation was reminiscent of how Timo, our methodology professor in Tampere, put it: You get buried in the literature, but you feel as if you are not getting anywhere and that you are just stuck with being interested.

2.) The next topic I fell in love with was “internationalization” which was the topic I presented during the first thesis seminar. I changed to this topic from "quality" right before we had the globalization/internationalization module in Portugal, hoping that that module would clear up what I really wanted to write about. Note to first year students: while we get bits and pieces of all the possible topics from the very first semester, only a few fellow students are enlightened as to what they really wish to work on from the very beginning. But somehow, I think one is excused to change up to the last minute, if you realize that you like the last module most of all.

3.) At last, after the never-ending relationships with thesis proposals, I have found my one true love! I plan to work on a topic related to marine science research, something that I am interested in. At the same time I believe it is an important area that is not getting the attention it deserves considering the large marine biodiversity in my country. I told my supervisor that to finally have a focus on what I want to do is a great relief, even if I know that I still have a long way to go.

4.) Because of this experience of revising over and over, I learned that it's never too early to plan for anything, and most especially for a thesis proposal. A supervisor is a huge help because as much as I want to discipline myself and treat this like a job that I have to work on from 8-5, I still need someone to push me to deliver. A master’s thesis is obviously something to take seriously. A line from a popular Filipino love song translates to, "I'll do anything, even your thesis." Believe me, that line speaks of true love.

Catherine worked as a creative services consultant for Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. for two years. Then, she shifted her interest to teaching and taught primary and secondary students, as well as those with special needs for four years. She holds a bachelor's degree in Communication and had to forego finishing her MA in Special Education at the University of the Philippines to join the HEEM programme.

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The Chronicle of Higher Education reported that the Russian Parliament approved a contentious bill that mandates by 2009 all students entering higher education would have to take the Unified State Examination. This issue has dominated Russian education debates for the past 6 years. There are both supporters and opponents of the bill.

Supporters say:
-This exam will replace inconsistent high school exams and university entrance exams.
-This new policy will allow geographically isolated students the chance to submit test via mail, hence allowing more access to students from lower socio-economical areas.
-Will cut down on the corrupt system of bribery in exchange for university admittance.

Critics say:
-This new test is an incomplete test of knowledge.
-Corruption through bribery will still prevail in the admissions process.
-Students will continue to cheat on this test, just as they did with the former testing process.

Do you think the intention of this new policy, a fairer and less corrupt admissions process, will actually be the outcome of this policy?

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"A study on higher education is one every concerned patriot would most probably wish to be a part of, with regards to the evolution present therein." -Terrence

Terrence is a first year graduate student in the Philosophy in Higher Education master's programme in Oslo, Norway and serves as the class representative. He comes from Cameroon on the west coast of Africa. At a young age, he had dreamed of a noble profession in the clergy. After 7 years of ministry school and graduation, his dreams changed and took him to the University of Buea where he graduated with a BA in History and a minor in Political Science. After working for a few years, he decided to go back to school in Sweden, where he scored full credits on Scandinavian Studies at the University of Gothenburg. Then, he completed a Master's Degree in Scandinavian History at the University of Linkoping. His master's thesis was on "Immigrants and the Swedish Welfare Model: The Integration Question." Now, his dreams have brought him back to yet another noble profession in higher education.

A short interview with Terrence follows:

Why did you apply for this programme?
My motivation came from the fact that HE in Africa needs work towards the contemporary trend geared towards efficiency and improved output. I have been particularly interested in the multi-dimensional aspects of educational development in developing countries. Cameroon, in particular, needs to meet up with modern challenges and face the realities of evolution in the field of education. The desire to see things work for the common good of all is my utmost goal. An understanding of the national, regional, and international context of educational development is a great incentive to this goal.

What topics in higher education are you most passionate about/what topics interest you the most & why?
So far, HEM 4100, the introductory module in higher education that covers conditions under which higher education operates; organization, governmental polices, funding and internationalization has been most exciting to me. However, I can’t wait to dive into HEM 4220, which deals with governance, policies and management of Higher Education. With this, I hope to learn all of the dialectics and get all the techniques that surround these aspects of higher education. I wouldn’t hesitate to state here that I hope to make a strong impression in the field of higher education.

What career would you like to pursue after completing this programme?
My passion for higher education has reached an unprecedented level. It would be unwisely bold switching on to something else with such imbibed and anticipated know how in the field of higher education. I definitely wish to pursue a PhD programme. This is in my view, a way to ease into the ranks of proper academics. In the absence of any, I would appreciate a job for a related experience. I look onto Peter Maassen, Faculty Chair of Hedda, as a model. Serving in his capacity is my utmost dream.

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As an effort to modernize Universities in Greece, the government has proposed university reforms. Harsh criticism and resistance to the proposed reforms have resulted in sit-ins and demonstrations since last summer. This week, starting February 5, the Greek university faculty will begin a week-long strike which will shut down universities throughout Greece and displace the February exam period.

Below, are some of the reforms that are especially contentious:
1.) Amend the constitution to recognize private institutions. Currently, the constitution excludes private institutions, as it states that all Greek higher education institutions must be free and open to the public. Some believe that by allowing private institutions to function in the Greek system money will drain from the poorly-funded public universities and the value of public education will diminish.
2.) Limit the number of times students can "re-take" exams, as well as limit the number of years students can complete their degree. The Greek system is known for the "eternal student", a student who lingers in the system reaping full student benefits.
3.) More government oversight of universities to ensure financial accountability and evaluation.
4.) Change professorial appointments by adding at least one external member, of another department, to the appointments panel. Currently, there is no external member and only faculty members, within the specified department, can vote on candidates.
5.) Decrease the politics within the governance structure, specifically the student governance.

According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, in the Greek higher education system, there are 22 Univerisities and 16 technology institutions that are faced with over-crowding and under-funding. Such initiatives as the Bologna process, have exposed the weaknesses within the Greek higher education system. Do you think these reforms will boost the Greek higher education system to compete with other European systems of higher education? Do you think by recognizing private institutions, public universities will diminish in value? WHAT DO YOU THINK?

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Nalanda University in India dates back to 427, when it was founded for Buddhist studies. It is believed to be one of the oldest institutions and the first residential International University in the world. With the combined efforts of China and Japan, there are plans to rebuild the bricks and mortar that now lie in ruins. "We are setting up an international university in Nalanda. Work will begin on the project soon," said Nitish Kumar, Bihar Chief Minister. This University, once home to 10,000 students and 2,000 teachers, met it's demise with the birth of the European institutions, diminished financial support, corruption among University officials and decreased interest in Buddhism. The death of Nalanda occured when muslim invaders burned down the infastructure.

Many western historians do not build these sorts of religious institutions into the teachings or research of higher education history, what do you think...should this institution and others be included?

For more opinions on this project:
New York Times Editorial
Bombay Times Editorial

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A Win-Win Experience: The Finnish Tutors!
By: Leasa Weimer, Colorado, USA

Now we have arrived in Tampere, Finland where your scarf freezes to your neck and the word "sauna" is a common, everyday word. As a student moving from campus to campus, you begin to critique the different university international offices that welcome you, process your paperwork, coordinate events, and who become your biggest resource. I would like to share a "best practice" of the University of Tampere International Office that we experienced first hand.

International students, coming to Tampere, are given the opportunity to have a "Finnish tutor." Our programme, was lucky enough to have Janne & Heidi as our Finnish tutors. Quite frankly, they made our first week in Tampere painless, manageable and quite enjoyable! They welcomed, as well as surprised, some of us on the bus from the airport, by hopping on the bus and announcing with a smile, "Who is from Oslo?" For those of us who arrived late at night, they picked up our house keys and showed us the way to our new home. They called the airlines to trace our lost luggage. They were unbelievably loyal to us, everyday during the first week; they would meet us at the university where we were guaranteed to be greeted with a warm and friendly, "Moi!" They answered multitudinous questions, helped us register for courses and navigated us through all of the paperwork. They acted as our tour guides and showed us the way to the bank, mall, bus station, grocery store, second-hand shops and anywhere else we needed to go, while pointing out Tampere's landmarks. And the best part...they were Finnish students which facilitated an enriching cultural exchange.
All
I can honestly say, I was not looking forward to those first couple of days in Tampere. From my experience in Oslo, setting up your life in another city is coupled with stress, anxiety and a whole lot of running around and getting lost. However, I think this tutor programme takes away much of the stress and anxiety by creating a welcoming environment that facilitates cultural exchange while highlighting the local culture. In my eyes, it's a win-win situation for everyone involved...the international students are happy, the Finnish tutors are exposed to many different cultures and the University gains a reputation of being organized and welcoming. Thanks Janne & Heidi!!

Leasa worked in U.S. higher education administration for the past 10 years, before starting the HEEM programme. She worked in alumni relations, parent relations and managed the department of student programs. She holds a bachelor's degree in Communication and Psychology from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

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