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Abstract: In this paper, we examine higher education students’ motivations to continue their studies in higher education and their commitment to graduation based on a survey (N=2,199), conducted in 2018 and 2019 in five countries of the Central and Eastern Europe. According to our hypothesis, career-conscious students take into account primarily the predictions of the human capital theory with respect to further studies (e.g., well-paying job, holding a prestigious profession). Additionally, they are also more committed to graduating (they are more persistent) than other students. Based on the principal component analysis of motivations for further study and persistence indicators, we find that career consciousness and persistence are positively correlated. Through regression analysis, we also show that males are less career-conscious and less persistent than females. In addition, the results imply that even socially advantaged students might not all be career-conscious and persistent. Students whose tuition is paid for by the state can also be poorly motivated and may lack career consciousness. As regards the field of study, students in Humanities are not likely to be career-conscious, while the risk of attrition is present among those who study Economics, Business, or Sciences. This highlights the need for an educational policy intervention.
Abstract: Young people use social networks extensively in their daily lives, and using social media is, without doubt, the media practice they do the most. Therefore, there are increasing efforts to include students’ use of social media outside the classroom into university learning practices. However, there is still very little innovative application of mobile technology and its social networks in Spanish universities. In this article we explore Spanish university students’ perceptions of the use of social networks for educational purposes in the classroom. We found students to have an ambivalent perception as they are both critical and approving of using mobile devices in university teaching. We present data from the research project “Media competencies of citizens in emerging digital media in university environments” funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. The study is based on 897 questionnaires given to Spanish university students studying various degrees, as well as four focus groups held in Seville, Madrid, Huelva and Barcelona during the 2017-2018 academic year. The data show that there is little use of social networks for educational and creative purposes in Spanish universities, and formal practices (organized by the teacher) are very different from informal practices (organized spontaneously by students). The latter is the most common among university students and WhatsApp is the most used internal tool, followed far behind by Facebook and Instagram. Students appreciate the direct and immediate communication of these networks, but are concerned about their distracting influence in the classroom and the possibility that teachers could invade their privacy.
Abstract: There are currently over 35 million students within Europe and yet, to date, we have no clear understanding of the extent to which understandings of ‘the student’ are shared across the continent. Thus, a central aim of this article is to investigate how the contemporary higher education student understands their own role, and the extent to which this differs both within nation-states and across them. This is significant in terms of implicit (and sometimes explicit) assumptions that are made about common understandings of ‘the student’ across Europe – underpinning, for example, initiatives to increase cross-border educational mobility and the wider development of a European Higher Education Area. Drawing on data from students across Europe – and particularly plasticine models participants made to represent their understanding of themselves as students – we argue that, in many cases, there is an important disconnect between the ways in which students are constructed within policy, and how they understand themselves. The models produced by participants typically foregrounded learning and hard work rather than more instrumental concerns commonly emphasised within policy. This brings into question assertions made in the academic literature that recent reforms have had a direct effect on the subjectivities of students, encouraging them to be more consumerist in their outlook. Nevertheless, we have also shown that student conceptualisations differ, to some extent, by nation-state, evident particularly in Spain and Poland, and by institution – most notably in England and Spain, which have the most vertically differentiated higher education systems. These differences suggest that, despite the ‘policy convergence’ manifest in the creation of a European Higher Education Area, understandings of what it means to be a student in Europe today remain contested.
Abstract: As a result of the internationalization of higher education (HE), universities are implementing far-reaching changes such as the adoption of English-medium instruction (EMI) programs. In this new educational scenario, teachers are one of the agents most affected, as they clearly experience how the change in the language of instruction impacts their teaching and their students' learning. Although many universities are drafting policies to guide their academic staff in this process, what remains to be examined is whether teacher's views and experiences are aligned with what these policies determine, if they are complementary or far removed from each other. By adopting a qualitative approach, this paper sets out to analyze the current (mis) alignment between EMI language policies and teachers' practices as reported by 28 lecturers in 10 HEIs across Europe, taking part in an online teacher education program. Drawing on thematic analysis, three main categories emerged in the data examined. Findings reveal that the gap between top-down policies and bottom-up classroom experiences is still a reality that needs to be bridged. Some implications can be drawn from the study such as the need to redefine the diverse roles that English plays in this educational context and to include new contents in the training lecturers and students receive and, finally, the inclusion of top-down and bottom-up perspectives in the drafting of new policies.
Abstract: Apart from teaching, research and service to society, since 2015 higher education systems and institutions in Europe have faced an additional expectation – to respond to the largely unexpected yet nevertheless growing demand for higher education by refugees. This study explores system and organizational level responses to such environmental pressures in Germany and Flanders, both affluent systems, but different in terms of size, attractiveness as destination and the extent to which their languages are widely spoken. Relying primarily on document analysis and interviews, the study highlights three elements of policy dynamics: policy styles, main drivers, and extent of involvement of non-state actors. While, as expected, in both systems the dynamics were re-active, solution-driven, and with strong involvement of non-state actors, contrary to expectations both countries responded primarily in a bottom-up manner. The study provides a conceptual tool and a first empirical insight into this novel phenomenon.
Abstract: Satellite university campuses – whereby established universities decentralise part of their activities, often to areas previously lacking a university – contribute to the diversification of university systems. While satellite campuses, due to their small scale and limited resources, might perform some activities less efficiently than their larger parent universities, we argue that they are uniquely placed to serve the needs of their localities. Based on the case of a satellite campus in North-West Italy, we show that: (i) the campus’ main contribution lies in widening access to higher education to residents who would not attend university in the absence of local provision; (ii) the campus contributes to local development also through research and business and community engagement, and by stimulating local demand for knowledge-intensive services; (iii) research and engagement are more effective for local development where local firms possess relevant absorptive capacity and where there is a favourable institutional framework.
Abstract: In this article, we study the enrollment decision of candidates to Portuguese public Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). We classify candidates according to their revealed preference for regional mobility and measure the impact of their mobility status on the likelihood of enrollment. For instance, candidates succeeding to be placed in their home district are about fourteen percentage points more likely to enroll than those pushed away. We also show that distance deters enrollments, even for candidates that reveal a preference for migrating. Finally, we measure the impact of the availability of private sector alternatives in the home district on the likelihood of enrollment and show that their existence reduces the likelihood of enrollment by up to nine percentage points.
Abstract: During the last decades, there has been increasing interest in the role of the university as a key stakeholder and agent in innovation and regional development. In the face of new technologies, especially growing digitalisation and new societal and economic challenges, this paper proposes to reconsider the role of the university in the innovation system. More particularly, we introduce the idea of a business model for the entrepreneurial university of the future and develop nine conceptual theses. The theses are based on four elements of a business model concept: value proposition, creation, delivery and capture. With the help of the nine theses, we aim to trigger new discussions regarding policy implications for the future university in Europe.
Abstract: As the Bologna Process reaches its twenty-year mark, reflecting on its global influence is of particular value. This special issue aims to take stock of the Bologna Process’ international function by critically examining the motivations and interests behind its ‘global strategy’ as well as scrutinising how the reform has been perceived and applied beyond Europe. The issue offers a ‘bi-directional’ perspective on the externalisation of the Bologna Process by examining both motivations behind it (with a particular focus on the EU as a leading actor) and global responses to it. This introductory article sets the stage for this discussion by unpacking the relevant literature related to the Bologna Process and its global strategy, providing both a contextual and theoretical background to the ensuing contributions. The article considers the Bologna Process through a foreign policy lens by revealing the underlying EU interests tied to the reforms, and higher education policy more broadly. Through this perspective, the article aims to launch a discussion on higher education as a foreign policy tool and the wider implications for EU policy and global higher education.
Abstract: Higher education policy has long had important domestic, intergovernmental and values‐based features. However, through the Bologna Process, the European Union (EU) has influenced these traditional features and helped to develop an external dimension to higher education policy in and beyond Europe. Despite these significant changes, scholarship on the EU has not yet interrogated directly the external dimensions of Bologna and the influence the EU wields through this process. This article employs Market Power Europe (MPE) as a conceptual framework to examine the Bologna Process and the EU's role in these important changes. Focusing on the notion of externalization, the article reveals the importance of market factors, multiple means (externalization tools) and actors (beyond intergovernmental) through which the EU influences other actors in higher education policy. The findings contribute to the MPE conceptual framework and encourage further research into the causal mechanisms at play in the under‐studied external dimensions of this policy area.
Abstract: Higher education is of considerable importance to policymakers across Europe. Indeed, it is viewed as a key mechanism for achieving a range of economic, social and political goals. Nevertheless, despite this prominence within policy, we have no clear understanding of the extent to which conceptualisations of ‘the student’ are shared across the continent. To start to redress this gap, this article explores four key aspects of contemporary higher education students’ lives, considering the extent to which they can be considered as, variously, consumers, workers, family members and political actors. On the basis of this evidence, it argues that, despite assumptions on the part of European policymakers that there are now large commonalities in the experiences of students across Europe – evident in pronouncements about Erasmus mobility and the operations of the European Higher Education Area – significant differences exist both between and within individual nation-states.
Abstract: Since the initiation of the Erasmus programme in 1987, intra-European student exchanges in higher education are expected to promote a sense of European identity and citizenship among European exchange students. Panel studies grasping students’ identification before and after participating in an exchange programme, however, remain remarkably scarce today. Moreover, the few existing studies report conflicting results. This paper adds to this debate, presenting the results of a survey conducted in 2009 and 2010 among non-exchange and exchange students from thirteen European countries, based on a pretest – posttest nonequivalent groups design (n = 400). My analyses did not find any statistically significant differences over time within and between the groups of exchange and non-exchange students, and neither between students with similar identification scores at wave 1. Finally, an analysis of the relationship between social network types and identification patterns did also not yield any significant results. Altogether, these findings suggest the impact of European exchange programmes on European citizenship and a sense of European identity is relatively limited.
Abstract: Apart from teaching, research and service to society, since 2015 higher education systems and institutions in Europe have faced an additional expectation – to respond to the largely unexpected yet nevertheless growing demand for higher education by refugees. This study explores system and organizational level responses to such environmental pressures in Germany and Flanders, both affluent systems, but different in terms of size, attractiveness as destination and the extent to which their languages are widely spoken. Relying primarily on document analysis and interviews, the study highlights three elements of policy dynamics: policy styles, main drivers, and extent of involvement of non-state actors. While, as expected, in both systems the dynamics were re-active, solution-driven, and with strong involvement of non-state actors, contrary to expectations both countries responded primarily in a bottom-up manner. The study provides a conceptual tool and a first empirical insight into this novel phenomenon.
Résumé : À l’heure où l’Europe n’apparaît plus comme une évidence pour les peuples et pour les États ni au plan économique ni sur les plans social ou culturel, quel bilan peut-on tirer des deux principaux moteurs de la construction d’un espace européen de l’enseignement supérieur, à savoir le processus « de Bologne » de 1999 et le programme Erasmus, qui a été lancé il y a presque trente ans, en 1987 ? Et si ces programmes étaient les principaux moteurs de la construction européenne ?
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