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We analyze the role of institutional founding conditions and institutional legacy for universities' self-representation in terms of diversity. Based on 374 universities located in the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland, we can differentiate between a more idealistic understanding (logic of inclusion and equality) and a more market-oriented understanding (market logic) of diversity. Our findings show that the founding phase has no significant effect on the likelihood of a university focusing on a market-oriented understanding of diversity--however, we observe an imprinting effect with respect to the adoption of a diversity statement in general and an equity-oriented statement. Moreover, our findings show that there is a socialistic heritage for universities in Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries that is at work and still influences universities' understandings of diversity today.

Introduction: We report an investigation on collaboration practices in research papers published in the most prestigious English-medium astrophysics journals. Method: We propose an evaluation method based on three numerical indicators to study and compare, in absolute terms, three different types of collaboration (international, national and local) and authors' mobility on the basis of co-authorship. Analysis: We analysed 300 randomly selected research papers in three different time periods and used the student's t-test to determine whether the paired two-sample differences observed were statistically significant or not. Results: International collaboration is more common than national and local collaboration. International, national and local authors' mobility and intra-national collaboration do not seriously affect the indicators of the principal levels of collaboration. International collaboration and authors' mobility are more relevant for authors publishing in European journals, whereas national and intra-national collaboration and national mobility are more important for authors publishing in US journals. Conclusions: We explain the observed differences and patterns in terms of the specific scope of each journal and the socio-economic and political situation in both geographic contexts (Europe and the USA). Our study provides a global picture of collaboration practices in astrophysics and its possible application to many other sciences and fields would undoubtedly help bring into focus the really big issues for overall research management and policy.

Purpose: This paper aims to ask how the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has orchestrated a sustainable development (SD) agenda in its international policy since 2020. Design/methodology/approach: By drawing on theoretical ideas around policy orchestration as a key UN governing strategy and applying them to the analysis of the progression of the SD agenda in the EHEA, the paper conducts a thematic analysis of six recent key EHEA international policy documents and 19 interviews with key Bologna stakeholders in France, Germany and Italy. Findings: The resultant analysis uncovers three overarching key themes that show the EHEA has the capacity to mitigate pitfalls in the UN's SD agenda; some weaknesses of the UN's orchestration of SD are translated into weaknesses in the EHEA's formulation of its SD agenda; and the further development of an SD agenda as an essential direction of EHEA's work. The paper then goes on to discuss how EHEA policies only mention SD discourse, omit concrete plans for its implementation and keep the very meaning of SD ambiguous throughout international policy documents. Originality/value: The authors offer three original recommendations that the EHEA should adopt in an attempt to mitigate the issues raised in the run-up to its 2030 deadline for implementing its policies--the EHEA should develop an explicit definition of SD; recognise the Euro-centredness of EHEA policies and open them up to other voices; and cite academic research when developing policy documents.

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through the perspective of university models and missions, noticing relevant aspects regarding the evolution of this institution over time, as well as the transformations undergone. We also consider the main challenges that current higher education systems face in the 21st century. As methodological approaches, we carry out a literature review complemented by a comparative analysis based on data from the higher education systems of ten European countries. The findings show that HEIs can contribute to development through their missions, which are related to the models of higher education. Their first mission (teaching) contributes to improving human capital and attracting highly qualified people to their regions; the second mission (research) improves scientific knowledge which can foster innovative activities; and the third mission (community service) acts as a link between research and business, including patents, business incubators, and collaboration agreements. We also conclude that the challenges of higher education in the 21st century can be categorised essentially in three main areas: (1) globalisation and massification of higher education, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs' missions and diversification of the educational supply to attract new students; (2) new technologies related to the digitalisation of teaching and distance learning; and (3) higher education entrepreneurship, showing the importance of university-company relationships. This paper provides a global setting for a reflection on the role of HEIs in the 21st century, given their connection with society and the need for a more effective contribution to socio-economic development.

Self-regulation in the governance of higher education systems is often assumed to improve institutional performance, accountability, and responsiveness. Although studies of higher education governance have addressed the extent of self-regulation across national systems, there has been less investigation of the links between self-regulation and quality and equity. Nevertheless, the universal adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commits all countries to equal access to affordable and quality education, including higher education, by 2030. To assess the relationship between self-regulation, quality, and equity, this paper presents a novel higher education self-regulation index trialed using the cases of England, Finland, France, and Germany. The index compares self-regulation, based on the respective national legal and policy frameworks, in core higher education functions: control and evaluation, funding, strategy and structure, personnel, and teaching and research. Each area is analyzed using six conditions reflecting the level of autonomy of an institution which could be met in full, in part or not met and assigned to a proxy number ranging from 0, 0.5 and 1 respectively. Each of these areas is summarized with a level that is either High, Medium, or Low and these are the levels then shown in the composite index. The impact of varying levels of self-regulation in a higher education system on quality and equity is then analyzed. Whereas higher levels of self-regulation do appear to have some impact on quality, the study found that a mix of policy steering, and institutional initiatives are needed to improve equity. Further refinement and testing of the self-regulation index would improve its utility as a tool to support governments and institutions to enhance higher education governance in support of the SDGs.

Beginning in the mid-1980s, European governments have increasingly implemented performance-based funding systems for higher education. While a focus on the transnational pressures that contributed to the widespread adoption of performance-based funding in Europe accounts for the impetus for performance-based funding policies, it fails to address how and why the resultant performance-based funding policies are as distinct and different as they are. In this paper, I argue that an institutional logics perspective offers a theoretical account of the performance-based funding policy formation process. I use the United Kingdom (UK), Germany, and France as case studies. I contend that in these three cases, different local logics drove the performance-based funding policy formation process.

The purpose of this paper is to identify the special features of the governance structures of research universities in four western countries: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and France. Conceptual framework was laid out as groundwork of the paper. Scholarly work of known authors in higher education governance was reviewed with major features of the governance of the research universities of these countries identified and discussed with reflection of the conceptual framework. It was found in common that major research universities have (1) governance structure with responsibilities of components specifically defined; (2) distinct separation of business affairs and academic work; (3) good collaboration among the entities of their governance structure; and (4) great respect for academic freedom and independence.

In some institutions of higher learning, one of the approaches to successful governance is through student assessment of teachers, dubbed Student Assessment of Faculty or Student Evaluation of Teaching and extensively used in the United States of America (USA). In schools and colleges, the usual largest bloc and primary stakeholders are the students. Students should therefore assess teachers for the purpose of improving the system for all stakeholders including themselves. Teaching is a service in a marketing framework and where it is offered, the buyer is in the best position to assess the offering for better performance. This paper advocates for student assessment of their teachers at the end of each teaching cycle and suggests a basket of approaches to reduce the dissonance that accompanies the exercise where applied. A template is suggested in the paper.

The genesis and spread of COVID-19 around the world since 2020 have caused severe impacts in every aspect of people's lives, from work life to recreation, social activities to physical health. Higher education has not been excluded. Universities have altered curriculum, changed delivery methods, provided more counseling, purchased new technology, and altered attendance policy for classroom, athletic, social and artistic events (Hamlin, 2021). To assess the impacts of these changes on college students, the authors created a questionnaire to ask students about their perceptions of these COVID-related impacts on their own personal lives. The survey had 56 questions about how the virus affected their academic, social, financial, physical and emotional lives. Over 800 students responded with objective input and subjective comments. Due to the volume of data, the authors have split the study into two parts. The survey results for the first part, academic and social aspects of the survey, were published in "Understanding the Impact of Covid-19 on College Student Academic and Social Lives," Research in Higher Education Journal Volume 41 (see http://www.aabri.com/manuscripts/213347.pdf). It will sometimes be referred to herein to provide clarity to the reader. The actual survey itself can also be found at that site. This paper focuses on the impact of the coronavirus on student financial and physical well-being, which have become major stressors to this age group and have contributed to higher levels of anxiety and depression. It also examines how the virus has affected their social and emotional well-being. Lastly, recommendations are made to help educators understand the severity of the problem, and to take action to provide assistance for those students who have been adversely affected.

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

Purpose: Free and open-source software (FOSS) has been used worldwide because of the advantages of user control, cost-saving, flexibility, openness, freedom, more security and better stability. The purpose of this study is to explore the status quo of educational application of FOSS and the trends from international perspectives and its implications for higher education in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach: The method of cluster analysis was used in this study. The Web of Science database was used as the data source and all relevant literature for the year 2010-2020 on the theme of "FOSS" was collected for analysis. The information visualization software CiteSpace was used for citation visualization analysis, revealing the research results of FOSS worldwide, including hot spots and development trends. Findings: This paper found that FOSS has become an important research area and is playing an important role in the reform and development of education. Meanwhile, the development and application of FOSS have regional imbalances and strong differentiation, including the educational sector. The paper also found that although FOSS has entered the stage of interdisciplinary development, the research and development of FOSS in the field of education is insufficient, which poses a huge challenge to decision-makers, teachers and students. Originality/value: Implications for higher education in Hong Kong including: attach importance to and vigorously promote FOSS research and practice to benefit more teachers and students; teachers and students need to be trained for acquiring the awareness and skills of FOSS applications and formulate different strategies; the government should provide greater support to formulate and implement a short and middle-term development plan to facilitate the application of FOSS; and Hong Kong higher education institutions may strengthen exchanges and cooperation with counterparts around the world to jointly promote the development of FOSS. It is hoped that the findings will provide a reference for the study and application of FOSS in higher education in Hong Kong.

Purpose: Virtual collaboration provides students with an opportunity to develop cultural intelligence while fitting into the team where the members are from diverse cultures. The purpose of this study is to explore whether global virtual team (GVT) projects raise students' understanding of cultural differences. In addition, it is interesting to know how internationally disruptive events such as the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic influence GVT projects. Design/methodology/approach: The research involved two parts--In the first part, a two-wave longitudinal study was conducted to investigate how intercultural sensitivity and intercultural communication competence coevolve within a group of international students enrolled in a virtual business professional project. In the second part, using word clouds and topic modelling on the participants' perceptions, the study investigated whether the sudden disruption caused by the pandemic show similar results in performance, focussing primarily on the resilience of virtual teams. Further, the study explored participants' perceptions towards online learning in higher education institutions as well as the attitude of corporate organizations towards remote working in the post-pandemic years. Findings: The results confirmed that GVT projects, in fact, do raise students' understanding of cultural differences and the need to adjust their behaviour accordingly in order to engage with their culturally different counterparts effectively. Participants reported an increase in their cognitive, behavioural and affective attributes. Research limitations/implications: Among the limitations of this study is the relatively small number of student participants. Furthermore, the number of respondents from India dominated the sample. Since the Indian students were disproportionately affected by the shutdown, causing them to return often to rural areas with poor Internet connectivity, responses concerning the disruption caused by the pandemic may be overriding negative. The same could be said of responses from US-American students, who often rely heavily on-campus employment or whose parents became unemployed during the pandemic, and thus were faced with disproportionate economic insecurity. Practical implications: This paper provides insights to the educators and international organizations on how such projects provide the skills essential for reducing costs, accessing knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) across borders, maintaining flexible work schedules and arrangements, and taking advantage of multiple time zones to increase productivity. Originality/value: While highlighting the significance of cultural intelligence, this paper investigated how the sudden disruption caused by a crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic impacts performance, focussing primarily on the resilience of virtual teams.

This is a conceptual paper that examines the origin and development of universities and their current role in global society. There has been an unprecedented and exponential growth of technology and artificial intelligence capabilities over the past ten years which is challenging current working practices and affecting all areas of society. The paper examines how this role may change to match the new demands placed on them by a digitally enabled society that has greater leisure time. The design of the paper is first to detail some of the changes in work practices that are taking place and how these will impact on society. It then offers several ways in which universities could modify their role to respond to these emerging challenges. This could include new courses, new organisational structures and new pedagogical practices. The paper provides a platform for discussion and debate around the strategic vision and direction of travel for higher education.

How is the content of university programs selected and structured? How does it evolve? In the anthropological theory of the didactic, external didactic transposition designates the processes through which knowledge to be taught is delimited and developed for delivery within a school institution, including universities. This paper presents a first international comparative research project focused on the external didactic transposition in European and Canadian undergraduate programs in mathematics. The project aims at analyzing the factors that motivate the evolutions of the programs, the procedures to develop them, as well as the constraints that limit broader modifications and can explain their current state. The exploratory study presented in this paper considers 10 case studies from universities in Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, and Spain. Data is mainly collected from semi-structured interviews with faculty having participated in recent design of undergraduate mathematics programs and syllabi. We identify both similarities and differences between programs and syllabi, with the differences being relatively significant between Canadian and European universities when it comes to the overall structure of programs, and less visible when considering the European programs, as well as the processes in general.

This article maps the scientific production and the contents associated with the sustainable development goals and their integration with universities during the past 21 years. Although many of the topics related to sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been addressed in different studies for decades, it is since 2015 onwards that they gained greater prominence due to the inclusion of higher education as an important actor in the fulfillment of the 2030 agenda and the United Nations SDGs. For the purpose of this paper, a bibliometric analysis of 871 papers, 535 documents in Scopus, and 336 in Web of Science (WoS) from 1998 to 2019 was performed, and the Bibliometrix analysis tool was used. The objective of this mapping is to answer the following research question: Is the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals and Universities a field of study? An analysis of the network of collaborators and trend topics in Scopus and WoS allows us to identify the concurrence and relationships of some keywords, such as sustainable development, sustainability and planning, and some background words, such as humans and global health. In another analysis, the word "higher education" is related to change. This article suggests that the integration of the Sustainable Development Goals in Universities is becoming a field of study under exploration, with a peak of production in 2016 and that has remained stable in the last three years, but thanks to the leading role assigned to Universities, intellectual production should increase in the following years.

Academic libraries, apart from their main function, which is to provide information services to academic communities, may also perform a number of social roles in the broad meaning of the term. Accordingly, they now tend to serve as the third place offering inclusion and animation activities to academic as well as local communities (including potential students) and to groups in risk of social exclusion (immigrants, persons with disabilities, senior citizens, etc.) or in need of various kinds of care and support. However, for libraries to be able to fulfil those tasks, they need properly trained staff who not only have the required competencies but also the right social attitudes. The paper presents an analysis of the social attitudes of academic librarians from twenty countries across the world as compared to the personnel of other types of libraries. The level of individual social capital, activity in social networks, aspirations in life and social and civic engagement were investigated. It was noted that the respondents tend to undervalue the importance of the work done by libraries for local communities. At the same time, the research showed that academic librarians have a somewhat lower level of individual social capital and trust than public librarians and less extensive social networks. Nonetheless, they are open to relationships with others, which enables them to engage in various social projects.

This paper reports preliminary findings on students enrolled in a massive open online course, who were also assigned to work in groups. Part of a larger study on the effect of groups on retention and completion in MOOCs, the paper provides students' demographics (i.e., location, gender, education level, and employment status), and motivation for taking the course. Findings show that women outnumbered men and that students mostly enrolled into the course because of a friend. Indeed, research on MOOCs demonstrates that men outnumber women and that educational pursuit and professional development are the main motivators for taking MOOCs. Yet, this paper shows that when group work is included in a MOOC, women participate more. Furthermore, for students assigned to groups in a MOOC, friends are the principal incentive for enrolling into the course. These results are discussed in light of previous research, and implications for teaching and learning in online environments addressed.

This paper describes an experiential education course designed to enhance student learning while abroad. Studies have shown that students studying abroad need specific interventions in order to profit fully from the immersive experience. The article describes a sequence of task-based interventions designed to prompt students to engage with the host language and culture. A description and rationale for each assignment explains how the tasks target language functions and intercultural development. The language functions relate to ACTFL's proficiency scale. The intercultural development process relates to Bennett and Hammer's Intercultural Development Continuum model (Bennett, 1986; Hammer, 2012). The students involved participated in the five-year dual bachelor's degree International Engineering Program at the University of Rhode Island and spent a year abroad in China, France, Germany, Chile, or Spain, studying for six months and then interning for six months. Discussion of student work shows the extent to which the tasks elicited interaction with the host culture and reflection on the experience. Results show that the interventions result in greater student engagement with the host culture and greater reflection on the impact of the overseas experience on their linguistic and cultural competency development.

The aim of this article is to show the increased relevance of soft skills in a continuously changing environment. A research was carried out to examine and compare students' and employers' perceptions regarding the importance of soft skills in different European countries. Results show that 86% of respondents indicate an increased emphasis on soft skills over the last 5-10 years and that companies consider soft skills more important than students/graduates. Furthermore, major differences have also been identified in the ranking of the 20 soft skills listed in this paper, indicating different levels of priorities. This paper suggests that companies and Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) need to work together not only to increase students' awareness of the importance of soft skills but also to guide them in taking individual responsibility to acquire and develop these essential skills in order to continuously adapt to the changing labour market and improve their employability.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

The phenomenon of increasing tuition fees is one of the factors which reinforce the increasingly consumerist attitudes among students towards the product (understood as a whole process of university education) they receive from universities. The aim of the study is to characterise the difference between the expectations of students and the extent to which those expectations are met by universities. This analysis also focuses on the conditions that determine this perception of what universities offer and discusses selected issues concerning the relations between universities and industry. The findings demonstrate why creativity, apart from practical knowledge, is one of the most important aspects in the process of education, where a student's graduation work is aimed at solving specific problems in companies and institutions. In the empirical part of the paper, students' opinions about the importance of selected aspects of the education process are compared with the level of support provided by universities. The research covered 505 students of economics from 10 different countries. Their expectations of the educational process with regard to the majority of its aspects (apart from theoretical knowledge) proved to be higher than those of their universities. The findings of this research may thus be useful in formulating optimal study plans.

Serious gaps are found when evaluating the recognition and inclusion of gender aspects in transport strategies, research and innovation. Similar issues can be spotted in the transport labor market, where only 22% of workers are women at the European level. The roots of these limitations are in the low participation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) studies and, therefore, in the traditionally male-dominated transport field occupations. Stemming from the European project TInnGO, the current paper proposes a descriptive analysis to evaluate the gender gaps in educational provision and research in ten European countries. Specific indicators, such as percentages in the gender composition or the presence of university courses dealing with mobility and transport, have been defined and their availability in different countries is verified. In addition, a desktop review of practices for encouraging and supporting women in STEM studies is operated, underling characteristics such as the kind of initiative, the methods and tools used, the target group or the type of promoter. The results of this activity show that a wide network of associations and mentoring operates in various European nations, mostly targeting secondary school students, trying to make females aware of their potentialities in a deeply gender-biased field like the STEM one.

In this paper, we provide an overall perspective on the teaching and learning of discrete mathematics. Our aim is to highlight what research has been conducted in this area and to connect it to existing research ideas for future work. We begin by characterizing discrete mathematics and its role in the school curriculum, highlighting themes, topics, and mathematical practices that distinguish discrete mathematics. We then present potential benefits of focusing on discrete mathematics topics for mathematics education; in particular, we discuss the accessibility of topics in discrete mathematics, the connection to mathematical processes and affect, and the relevance of discrete mathematics in our current society. We also emphasize discrete mathematics from an international perspective, highlighting studies from the US, Italy, France, Chile, and Germany, which are across all school levels--primary, middle, and secondary school, and with some implications for post-secondary education. We particularly discuss discrete topics including number theory, combinatorics, iteration and recursion, graph theory, and discrete games and puzzles; we describe and situate these topics within literature. We also suggest the additional topics of game theory and the mathematics of fairness that we hope to see addressed in future studies.

This paper examines a large dataset of questionnaire responses (n = 5,321) of international students who have studied abroad (mainly via the Erasmus+ programme). Their acculturation experiences with campus discrimination (an acculturative stressor), academic support (a mediator of acculturation) and academic satisfaction (an outcome of acculturation) are analyzed and compared among five European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Portugal). The measures of acculturation experiences are verified by principal component analysis, which yields three components: campus discrimination, academic support, and academic satisfaction. The components are used as aggregate indexes for ranking the five major destination countries in Europe based on students' experiences. A country-by-country comparison suggests that experiences from study abroad are most positive in Germany

There is mutual agreement about the need for internationalization in higher education. However, there is no consensus regarding the best practice. Universities offering cooperative and work-integrated education have a comparative advantage in providing their graduates with capabilities needed on the labor market. They face the challenge to develop an internationalization strategy that reflects the practice-orientation of their study programs. The key question is how to use the specific feature of dual education to expand globally. This paper analyzes the approach of Duale Hochschule Baden-Wuerttemberg (DHBW) as Germany's first university to integrate academic studies and work experience. It examines student exchanges, study-abroad internship tandems, short-term programs as well as the implementation of the DHBW model in other countries. The strengths and weaknesses of these approaches as well as their conformance with the objectives of the internationalization strategy are evaluated.

Today, the term 'global' has become a pervasive description of universities that aim to alleviate their importance and reach. The global looks inherently big. By relating to a spherical shape it attributes size in two distinct ways: it signifies the comprehensive and extensive reach of a theme or issue as well as the spherical centrality of an organisation. The paper argues that such perceptions of the global as big do not simply derive from the size of a terrestrial body. Rather, it excavates the historic roots of global size-building and the complicity of science and the university therein. It draws on two historic case studies: the formation of globality in the 'cordial agreement' between the "Hohenstaufen" emperors and medieval scholars and the conquering globality in the 'symbiotic relationship' between the Spanish Empire and cosmography. While distinct as historical cases they structure globality in a way that nurtures contemporary perceptions of the global. The historic genesis shows that the university is not merely sized through the global but that the university establishes a common knowledge space that makes the global emblematically big. The global sizing of the university today is just as much the story of the academisation of the globe.

In this paper we provide a description of the project DrIVE-MATH, highlighting the main goals, intellectual outputs, outcomes, the involved partners, and activities and reports from the three-years' project. At the end we discuss the impact of the new proposed Education models at various levels, from students, to HEIs, to stakeholders.

This paper argues that links between academia and other economic sectors are increasing, especially through intersectoral mobility of university graduates. Murray [(2010). "The Oncomouse that Roared: Hybrid Exchange Strategies as a Source of Distinction at the Boundary of Overlapping Institutions." "American Journal of Sociology" 116 (2): 341-388] has identified literature pointing both to blending and continuing co-existence of the academic and commercial worlds. Based on a European-wide study of PhD graduates in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), this paper considers the extent to which intersectoral mobility reflects blending. It finds that intersectoral communities of practice exist mainly in applied fields of knowledge. However, in many areas of the SSH, differences in institutional norms and values inhibit intersectoral mobility, particularly in mid-career stages.

Accessing higher education without having to overcome bureaucratic hurdles is a serious concern for refugees. Although empirical studies on the integration and success of refugees in higher education are scarce, the challenges related to this issue are becoming apparent. The Success and Opportunities for Refugees in Higher Education (SUCCESS) research project has been launched to investigate the effectiveness of new online study programs offered on the Kiron Open Higher Education (Kiron) platform that provides refugees with access to Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). SUCCESS measures the prior knowledge and skills of refugee students and investigates to what extent their study opportunities, learning processes, and chances of academic success can be improved effectively through different forms of support provided in Kiron. In this paper, we present the assessment framework and study design of the SUCCESS project as well as data on 1,376 students entering the study program in Kiron in summer 2017. As students' language skills, intellectual abilities, and prior study-related knowledge play a significant role in their performance in higher education degree programs, we focus on the crucial introductory study phase and valid diagnostics of students' study preconditions. We analyze refugee students' sociobiographical and educational data such as gender, country of origin, highest level of education achieved etc. and examine their English language skills, intellectual abilities, and previous study domain related knowledge. We find extreme differences in levels of education and preconditions on starting to study in Kiron. Based on these results, we discuss implications for the effective and successful integration of refugee students in higher education.

Academic careers are social processes which involve many members of large populations over long periods of time. This paper outlines a discursive perspective which looks into how academics are categorized in academic systems. From a discursive view, academic careers are organized by categories which can define who academics are (subjectivation) and what they are worth (valuation). The question of this paper is what institutional categorizations such as status and salaries can tell us about academic subject positions and their valuation. By comparing formal status systems and salary scales in France with those in the U.S., Great Britain and Germany, this paper reveals the constraints of institutional categorization systems on academic careers. Special attention is given to the French system of status categories which is relatively homogeneous and restricts the competitive valuation of academics between institutions. The comparison shows that academic systems such as the U.S. which are characterized by a high level of heterogeneity typically present more negotiation opportunities for the valuation of academics. From a discursive perspective, institutional categories, therefore, can reflect the ways in which academics are valuated in the inter-institutional job market, by national bureaucracies or in professional oligarchies.

Since 2000, the number of students trained abroad has increased 100%. This statistic shows how not only many students but also how future employers value this training. It gives students an additional skill, which can be called "internationality". Accordingly a large number of countries intend to rapidly increase the number of students studying abroad. This trend leads to a model of international student mobility that would be perfect if, first, all students could benefit from it; second, if this model did not create some inequalities; and finally, if it did not cause some distortions in the world that may be economic or academic in nature. This paper shows that this is not the case. It is therefore important to analyse these phenomena in order to find solutions to improve the current model of international student mobility.

This paper presents an exploratory analysis of the funding mechanisms for higher education across sixteen countries which builds upon existing work on educational institutions, educational outcomes, and welfare regimes. We focus upon the current financing dilemma within the Irish higher education system, seeking potential solutions within an international comparison. Our quantitative analysis identifies four clusters of countries: the Nordic, Continental-Europe, Mediterranean and English-Speaking; all of which are strongly correlated to economic and structural characteristics based on welfare state literature. Each education regime is associated with institutional, economic, and political factors. Our analysis presents evidence that Ireland does not possess the characteristics of a country that could benefit from an income-contingent lending structure to fund university education due to inherent sovereign characteristics. Further, Ireland could be better served through the introduction of free fee structures such as that found in Norway and Scotland or through the generation of state-sponsored lending facilities through private institutions like those already in place in Finland, Germany, and Sweden.

The ECO European Project funded by the European Commission is dedicated to bringing MOOCs to a new dimension by taking advantage of the new possibilities offered by the Social Web (O'Reilly, 2005). This paper focuses on the intercreative aspects of MOOCs. It takes a look at the characteristics of the new ECO MOOCs to see if they are designed and implemented within an intercreative environment. The methodology is quantitative and data collection was conducted using self-administered questionnaires with closed or semi-closed questions. This study includes the so-called sMOOCs, which stress intercreativity to work towards collective intelligence.

Purpose: To clarify needs and requests of the young generation to the contemporary and future education on food systems, this paper aims to examine the following issues: students' background knowledge, students' behaviour as consumers and food citizenship, most interesting topics of SFS for students and students' preferences and expectations in developing different skills, topics and preferences in teaching/learning methods. Design/methodology/approach: This study was performed as an online-survey amongst eight European Universities in seven European Union (EU) countries to which 1,122 students responded. Data was analysed with descriptive and multivariate statistical analyses. Findings: Taste and Health are the most important values and motives that influence students' food buying and consumption decisions, but significant differences were found amongst students from different universities and countries. The most important topics for students for future teaching courses are "organic food", "fair trade", "organic agriculture" and most important skills to learn are "ability to make a judgement and justify decisions" and the "ability to create and innovate". Excursions and field trips as teaching methods was given the highest ranks. Research limitations/implications: Different study programmes and cultural backgrounds of the participating students in the different universities could be a limiting factor for the interpretation of some results. Originality/value: These results provide a basis for improvement of higher education in the EU towards sustainable food systems based on experiential learning/teaching methods.

The purpose of this paper is to carry out an empirical examination of the supply-side factors influencing dropout rates in MBA programs. We analyze the extent to which the resources and characteristics of the program (content, teaching methodology, course load, class size, partnerships, reputation) influence these rates. A GLM analysis was conducted on data obtained from a final sample of 94 executive MBA programs in Western Europe. The results indicate that several supply side factors significantly affect dropout: intensity of case study learning, number of credits per month, class size, and proportion of lessons given at partner institutions. Several implications for the design and management of higher education programs have been drawn from this research.

Cross-border higher education institutions are considered a main way to fulfill the educational internalization in Mainland China; to some extent they represent the attitude of entering the international market. In this paper, the history, status quo, and future of Chinese-foreign cooperatively-run schools are analyzed and discussed. Cross-border higher education institutions in Mainland China have experienced the process from accidental and disorder to a systematic and quality orientation.

Ongoing technological progress in measurement systems triggered the development of an in­novative, hands-on teaching program to help students toward a fuller understanding of recent changes in the field. This paper presents a lab project that links theoretical principles with the practical issues of signal conditioning systems. This is accomplished in the context of a Master's Degree in Mechatronic Engineering, though the experience gained could be applied to other cur­ricula. Students designed and tested a signal conditioning circuit in order to acquire and monitor the electrical activity generated by the heart. This lab project contains most of the circuits studied in lectures and presents a general methodology for the design of signal conditioning systems. Five years of lab project work was compiled, and with the help of students' feedback, we were able to evaluate both the improvement in their knowledge and in their motivation.

The paper analyses which conditions may predict a better salary for people who got a PhD in social sciences and humanities (SS&H) in 13 European countries. Among the controlling variables, predictors are also: change of country of residence; percentage of time spent respectively in research and managerial activities; and impacts achieved during one's PhD programme. Findings, but also policy implications both for PhD programme planners and PhD candidates, are: some specific impacts such as having advised policy-makers, having released interviews to media and having managed and coordinated projects, all predict better salaries for PhD holders in SS&H, other things being equal. To move geographically out of one's country where PhD was awarded is also a good predictor of better wages, provided PhD holders do not swap sectors after attainment of PhD.

This paper addresses the interaction between European Union policies and national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the TRUE project (England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland) making the case for European governance. Relevant for this matter is the role of political processes that evolve at European level shaping political discourses and practices, thus creating a common grammar for European higher education governance. By empirically focusing on evaluation and funding policies the paper argues that European governance reflects in how this common grammar is being created and reconfiguring the environment within which European higher education systems and institutions are developing.

This paper discusses the results of a study of the requirements for developing a remote radio frequency (RF) laboratory for electrical engineering students. It investigates students' preferred usage of the technical content of a state-of-the-art RF laboratory. The results of this study are compared to previous findings, which dealt with other user groups (technicians in technical colleges and engineers in the RF domain). Based on the results of these analyses, seven essential principles for designing and developing such a laboratory were identified. As a case study, these principles were then implemented into a remote laboratory system. In this paper, the implementation examples are also provided and discussed. The primary aim of this study is to guide remote laboratory platform developers toward the most effective instructional design. This study also determined, from the remote laboratory system case study, what the requirements are of such a laboratory from the students' perspective. (Contains 11 tables and 4 figures.)