Higher Education Policies In Central And Eastern Europe

A political science perspective on higher education reform in Central and Eastern Europe. Examines the impact of historical institutions and transnational networking on institutions of higher education and assesses whether Poland, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Romania are converging towards a common model of market-based governance.

In the context of political and economic transformation processes in Central and Eastern Europe a profound reform of the system of higher education and science has become necessary. The difficult legal and economic problems of an institutional-organisational reform of higher education and science are described in four comparative articles and seven case studies covering nine transformation countries. Im Rahmen des politischen und wirtschaftlichen Transformationsprozesses in den Übergangsstaaten Mittel- und Osteuropas ist auch eine tiefgreifende Reform des Hochschul- und Wissenschaftssystems notwendig geworden. In vier vergleichenden Überblicksartikeln und sieben Fallstudien für neun Staaten werden die schwierigen rechtlichen und wirtschaftlichen Probleme einer organisatorischen und inhaltlichen Umgestaltung dieser Systeme seit 1989/90 dargestellt.

The political upheavals in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states in Central and Eastern Europe have produced profound social, educational, and economic changes. Once a centerpiece of the communist state, the study of science and technology in the university has now fallen victim to economic and social disarray. Support for the teaching and funding of science and technology is of primary importance for the economic health of any modern nation. The ten chapters of this work examine what happens to a scientific and technological establishiment that suddenly has to make its own way as exemplified in many countries worldwide today.

The Bologna Process opened a new chapter in the history of the European higher education. The idea of a common European Higher Education Area was developed in Western Europe and accelerated increasingly there in the second half of the 20th century, as a phenomenon of globalization. For the post-communist states in Eastern Europe the complete change of the political system made it possible to join the European Union and the Bologna Process. These changes had an impact not only on the educational policies but also on the educational system and the educational culture as well. This book shows the changes in the higher education of ten countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The country studies are supplemented with an international and a historical comparative analysis, to point out the special features of the implementation of the Bologna aims in the region.

Higher education legislation is frequently changed by policy makers, who are acutely conscious that specific changes have repercussions through the law of general applicability, and eventually may alter and revise fundamental societal concepts. However, normative systems are complex, and the impact and direction of legal and social repercussions are neither always intended, nor are they easily foreseen. It is the purpose of this book to identify the chosen directions, and to contribute to the further development of issues in the higher education and research sector and to trace beginnings of new trends. This volume is intended to appeal to the reader's personal, practical perspective to help generate the creativity and inspiration needed in order to maintain the equilibrium between consolidation and change. In the Council of Europe, much thought has been given to these problems in recent years. The Higher Education and Research Committee (CC-HER), previously known as the Standing Conference of University Problems (CC-PU), has established a Legislation Reform Programme for Higher Education (LRP). The Programme is intended to give effective support to the process of legislative reform in higher education, particularly, but not exclusively, in the new member states in central and eastern Europe. To promote dissemination of experience acquired throughout Europe and as a complement to its ongoing advisory and multilateral activities, the Programme's Steering Group has decided to publish a series entitled `Legislating for Higher Education and Research in Europe'. The first volume of this series, Relations between State and Higher Education, is hereby presented to the general public. Relations between State and Higher Education has been compiled in close co-operation with States Parties to the European Cultural Convention. It seeks, as will subsequent volumes, to identify core issues which countries may need to confront in their legislations, and offers examples of good practice.

This book is about higher education reforms in the post-socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, seen through the eyes of somebody who has spent the last decade analyzing these reforms as well as negotiating and supervising reform projects in countries from Serbia and Montenegro to Mongolia. Analyzing the reforms in a broader political, economic and social context and relating these to global higher education developments, the book addresses the complexity of the processes and contradictions among the demands on higher education systems, which in many instances impede positive changes.

Countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia have clear aspirations to strengthen civic participation and increase prosperity for all. A highly skilled and knowledgeable population is critical to achieving these goals, which makes creating and maintaining high quality and equitable education systems a vital part of regional development efforts. Results from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) show that learning outcomes in the region have generally improved, but that the improvement has not been equitable. While countries in the region are producing some of the top performing students in the world, many other students are being left behind.