Search

Indicators and metrics have gained increasing prominence in international higher education in recent years, and global rankings have become a powerful force in shaping ideas of what the university is and should be. Yet these measures do a poor job of capturing the broad role of the institution, and particularly in recognising its actions in promoting the public good and addressing inequalities. African higher education institutions have struggled to perform well in the conventional rankings, whose indicators rely on extensive resources for high-level research. This article explores the possibilities of alternative metrics for understanding the public good contribution of universities in the context of four African countries: Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa. After assessing the shortcomings of the existing indicators and metrics, and the challenges of the availability of data, it puts forward a dashboard approach as a possible new model. Dashboards have the advantage of avoiding the conflation of diverse qualities of importance and allow different profiles of an institution to be compared. The article proposes six main elements for the dashboard: solidarity with society, equitable access and deliberative space (which correspond to the intrinsic notion of public good and graduate destinations, knowledge production and community engagement (which correspond to instrumental notions). Finally, the challenges of implementing public good metrics in practice are discussed.

With globalization and the knowledge society, the expansion of higher education has become an 'object of desire' among governments to bolster both economic growth and social development. In recent decades, just as in other countries, Brazil has expanded the system and become the fourth largest in the world in enrollment numbers, significantly increasing distance education at for-profit private institutions. However, massification without the necessary attention to quality and equity may present undesired consequences. Thus, considering Brazil has created one of the largest information databases that allow for studies with huge samples, we statistically analyzed performance in a wide scale national examination (Enade) with approximately 222,000 students, disaggregated by background and education modalities. The results back the argument that learning possibilities and performance in distance education are inferior in relation to in-person modalities and that the expansion based on distance education at for-profit private institutions may be reproducing inequalities within the higher education system in one of the most unequal nations in the world.

While critical thinking is widely regarded as a key outcome of higher education, research has shown that in practice it is only developed when certain conditions are in place, relating to the pedag...

Compare reaches its 50th birthday at a time of tremendous flux in academic publishing. While the old order still stands, and is being reinforced by a growing homogenisation of global academia, its ...

In the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals, higher education has been given a key role in addressing societal challenges, reducing poverty, ensuring sustainable livelihoods and protecting the natural environment. Yet there has been a singular lack of imagination as regards the institutional forms that might help support this vision. This article reports on the findings of an exploratory qualitative case study of the Intercultural University of Veracruz, one of a number of institutions created in Mexico to ensure access for indigenous populations, to promote local development and to provide a space for intercultural dialogue. The findings show a number of ways in which this innovative institution provides opportunities for supporting the SDGs that go beyond conventional universities. The university addresses SDG4 by enabling access for marginalised populations, and through its engaged teaching, research and community engagement also contributes to environmental protection, health, livelihoods, gender equality and a range of other goals. However, it also presents challenges to the global framework, highlighting the lack of attention to culture, language, identity and knowledge traditions, and in critiquing the very basis of its conception of development. Implications are drawn out more broadly for the relationship between higher education and international development in the contemporary era.

RESUMO Apesar de um importante processo de expansão e crescimento, as instituições de ensino superior em todo o mundo ainda enfrentam a exclusão, a discriminação e a desigualdade no que diz respeito às comunidades e povos sub-representados e desfavorecidos, seus conhecimentos e suas línguas. Neste texto, apresentamos brevemente alternativas contemporâneas ao ensino superior regular, que – algumas dentro das universidades existentes, outras além das estruturas convencionais de ensino superior – estão trabalhando contra a corrente para resolver essas falhas. Ao apresentar os estudos de caso das universidades alternativas, interculturais, indígenas, descoloniais, cooperativas e/ou de movimentos sociais que compõem esta seção temática, identificamos tendências institucionais e organizacionais, questões temáticas e contribuições teóricas emergentes, com o objetivo de aprofundar a compreensão da orientação e do papel dessas instituições, seus impactos e os desafios enfrentados. ABSTRACT Despite an important process of expansion and growth, higher education institutions around the world still reproduce exclusion, discrimination and inequality with regard to underrepresented and underprivileged communities and peoples, their knowledges and their languages. In this text, we briefly frame contemporary alternatives to mainstream higher education that – some within existing universities, some beyond conventional higher education structures - are working against the grain to address these failings. By introducing the case studies of alternative, intercultural, indigenous, decolonial, co-operative and/or social movement universities that make up this special issue, we identify institutional and organisational tendencies, topic issues and emerging theoretical contributions, thus aiming to develop a deeper understanding of the orientation and role of these institutions, their impacts and challenges faced.

Internationalisation of higher education has diverging implications for climate change, on the one hand entailing greenhouse gas emissions through mobility, but also contributing to climate action through international collaboration. These apparent contradictions and resulting trade-offs present significant challenges to universities. This paper puts forward a framework for understanding the combination of impacts, the interactions between them and implications for the climate crisis. It distinguishes between three dimensions of internationalisation: actors (movements of students and staff), practices (integration of the international into curriculum and research) and influence (the global reach of the various impacts of the university). Internationalisation in these three dimensions can have positive or negative implications for climate action and sustainability, through direct impacts (greenhouse gas emissions) and indirect ones (changes in individuals, societal structures, knowledge and technologies). Implications are drawn out for the actions and strategies of universities, as well as for the global system of higher education.

In the last three decades Brazil’s enrolments grew from approximately 1.5 million to more than 8 million students. Unlike the expansion in the 1990s, when few students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds gained access, the current expansion of Brazilian higher education is changing student profiles. The share of students from lower socioeconomic levels among enrolees and graduates has increased significantly. However, when analysing these changes in terms of the various courses/careers and modes of education present in the Brazilian higher education system, it becomes evident that there are still remnants of an elitist system displaying significant inequity. This chapter shows how the expansion going on in Brazil, despite including new students, does not achieve ‘horizontality’, and instead reproduces inequalities in one of the most unequal societies in the world.

RESUMO Apesar de alguma heterogeneidade superficial, as instituições de ensino superior do mundo inteiro compartilham algumas estruturas centrais. De acordo com críticos como Ivan Illich, a ossificação destas formas institucionais terminou empobrecendo as práticas que originalmente pretendiam apoiar. Este artigo avalia as bases para essas afirmativas e a construção associada de alternativas. Identifica três aspectos significativos da instituição: portas de entrada – os controles sobre as admissões à universidade; funções – as diferenciações entre estudantes, docentes e outros atores; e carimbos – os processos e os artefatos de validação da aprendizagem e do conhecimento adquirido pelo estudante. Estes três aspectos se apresentam em diferentes formas, níveis de rigidez e pontos de controle, tendo impactos dúbios sobre a igualdade e a justiça social e sobre o propósito central da universidade de promover a compreensão humana. São apresentadas implicações para o futuro da universidade e para as atuais iniciativas que estão tentando subverter estas estruturas e criar modelos alternativos. ABSTRACT Despite some superficial heterogeneity, higher education institutions around the world share core structures. According to critics such as Ivan Illich, the ossification of these institutional forms has ended up impoverishing the practices they were originally intended to support. This article assesses the grounds for these claims and associated construction of alternatives. It identifies three significant features of the institution: gates – the controls on admissions to the university; roles – the distinctions drawn between students, lecturers and other actors; and badges – the processes and artefacts of validation of student learning and scholarship. These three features are seen to have varying forms, levels of rigidity and loci of control, and have ambiguous impacts on equality and fairness, and on the core purpose of the university to promote human understanding. Implications are drawn out for the future of the university, and for current initiatives that are attempting to subvert these structures and create alternative models.

Michael Crossley and Qing GuThis Forum feature is one of a series of initiatives designed to recognise and celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the British Association for International and Comparativ...

Unbundling is the process through which products previously sold together are separated into their constituent parts. In higher education, this dynamic has been driven primarily by financial motivations, and spearheaded by the for-profit sector, but also has pedagogical motivations through its emphasis on personalization and employability. This article presents a theoretical analysis of the trend, proposing new conceptual tools with which to map the normative implications. While appearing to offer the prospect of financial viability and increased relevance, unbundling presents some worrying signs for universities: frst, the removal of possible synergies between teaching and research, and between different modes of learning; second, the undermining of the ability of institutions to promote the public good and ensure equality of opportunity; and third, the threat of hyperporosity to the conducting of basic research with long-term benefits. Keywords : Commodifcation, For-profit higher education, Future of the university, MOOcs. Resumo A desagregacao e o processo pelo qual os produtos anteriormente vendidos em conjunto sao separados em suas partes constituintes. No ensino superior, esta dinâmica tem sido impulsionada principalmente por motivacoes financeiras e liderada pelo setor com fins lucrativos, mas tambem tem motivacoes pedagogicas atraves da enfase na personalizacao e na empregabilidade. Este artigo apresenta uma analise teorica da tendencia, propondo novas ferramentas conceituais para mapear as implicacoes normativas. Embora pareca oferecer perspectivas de viabilidade financeira e maior relevância, a desagregacao apresenta alguns sinais preocupantes para as universidades: primeiro, a remocao de possiveis sinergias entre ensino e pesquisa, e entre diferentes modos de aprendizagem; em segundo lugar, o enfraquecimento da capacidade das instituicoes de promover o bem publico e garantir a igualdade de oportunidades; e, em terceiro lugar, a ameaca de hiperporosidade na realizacao de pesquisas basicas com beneficios no longo prazo. Palavras-chave : Comoditizacao, Ensino Superior com fins lucrativos, Futuro da universidade, MOOCs. References AGARWAL, A. Unbundled: Reimagining Higher Education. The Huffington Post , 9 December, 2013. Disponivel em: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anant-agarwal/unbundled-reimagining-higher-education_b_4414048.html, acesso em 9/2/17. ANDERSON, R. British Universities Past and Present . London: Continuum, 2006. BARBER, M.; DONNELLY, K.; RIZVI, S. An avalanche is coming . London, UK: Institute for Public Policy Research, 2013. Disponivel em: http://www.ippr.org/files/images/media/files/publication/2013/04/avalanche-is-coming_Mar2013_10432.pdf?noredirect=1 acesso em 9/2/17. BIGGS, J. What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning. Higher Education Research & Development , 18 (1), 57-75, 1999. BOK, D. Universities in the Marketplace : the commercialization of higher education. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2003. BONI, A.; LOPEZ-FOGUES, A.; WALKER, M. Higher education and the post 2015 agenda. A contribution from the human development approach. Journal of Global Ethics , 12 (1), 17-28, 2016. BOWEN, W. G. Higher education in the digital age . Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2013. CHRISTENSEN, C. M.; HORN, M. B.; CALDERA, L.; SOARES, L. Disrupting college : How disruptive innovation can deliver quality and affordability to postsecondary education. The Center for American Progress. 2011. Recuperado de: http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/02/disrupting_college.html, 9/2/17 COLEMAN, J. S. The idea of the developmental university, Minerva: A review of Science, Learning and Policy , 24(4), 476–494, 1986. COLLINI, S. What are universities for? London: Penguin, 2012. COWEN, R. Robustly Researching the Relevant: A Note on Creation Myths in Comparative Education. In: WIKANDER, L.; GUSTAFFSON, C.; RIIS, U. (eds.) Enlightenment, Creativity and Education : Polities, Politics, Performances, pp. 3–26. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers & CESE, 2012. CRAIG, R. College disrupted : The great unbundling of higher education. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan, 2015. de JONGHE, A. Reorganising the teaching-research tension. Higher Education Management and Policy , 17(2), 61–76, 2005. de RIDDER-SYMOENS, H. (ed.) A History of the University in Europe (Volume 2). Universities in Early Modern Europe (1500-1800). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996. DIANATI, S. What do Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) Have To Do With ‘Good’ Education? : An Ideology Critique of MOOCs. Unpublished PhD thesis. Flinders University, 2016. GEHRKE, S.; KEZAR, A. Unbundling the faculty role in higher education: Utilizing historical, theoretical, and empirical frameworks to inform future research. In: Higher Education : Handbook of Theory and Research (pp. 93-150). Springer International Publishing, 2015. GIBBONS, M.; LIMOGES, C.; NOWOTNY, H.; SCHWARTZMAN, S.; SCOTT, P.; TROW, M. The new production of knowledge : The dynamics of science and research in contemporary societies. London: SAGE Publications Ltd., 1994. GROVE, J. Troubling FX as Falmouth forces staff to go private. Times Higher Education , 3 rd January, 2013. HATTIE, J.; MARSH, H.W. The relationship between research and teaching—a meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research 66: 507–542, 1996. HERK, M. Fixing Our Broken Colleges : Competency-Based Education and Reauthorizing the Higher Education Act. Committee for Economic Development. 2015. Disponivel em: https://www.ced.org/blog/entry/fixing-our-broken-colleges-competency-based-education-and-reauthorizing-the , acesso em 9/2/17. HORN, M. Unbundling and Re-bundling In Higher Education. Forbes , 10 July, 2014. Disponivel em: http://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelhorn/2014/07/10/unbundling-and-re-bundling-in-higher-education/#7ebaea2e79c2 , acesso em 7/9/17. ILLICH, I. Tools for conviviality . New York: Harper & Row, 1973. INEP. Censo da Educacao Superior 2016 . Notas estatisticas. Brasilia: INEP, 2017. KEPLER. Kepler : Higher education for all. 2016. http://www.kepler.org/. Acesso em 7/6/2016. KERR, C. The Uses of the University . New York: Harper Torchbooks, 1963. KINSER, K. Working at for-profit universities: The University of Phoenix as a new model. International Higher Education , (28), 13-14, 2002. LITAN, R. E. The case for ‘unbundling’ higher education . Brookings Institute, 2015. Disponivel em: https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-case-for-unbundling-higher-education/, acesso em 9/2/17 MACFARLANE, B. The Academic Citizen : the Virtue of Service in University Life . London: Routledge, 2007. MACFARLANE, B. The morphing of academic practice: Unbundling and the rise of the para-academic. Higher Education Quarterly , 65(1), 59–73, 2011. MARGINSON, S. Higher education and public good. Higher Education Quarterly , 65(4), 411–433, 2011. MARGINSON, S. What holds the conglomerate university together ? Paper presented at the Education, Practice and Society seminar, UCL Institute of Education, London, 16 November, 2016a. MARGINSON, S. The dream is over : The Crisis of Clark Kerr’s Californian Idea of Higher Education. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2016b. McCOWAN, T. The growth of private higher education in Brazil: Implications for equity and quality. Journal of Education Policy , 19, 453–472, 2004. McCOWAN, T. Should universities promote employability? Theory and Research in Education . 13 (3), 267-285, 2015. McCOWAN, T. Universities and the post-2015 development agenda: an analytical framework. Higher Education 72 (4), 505-523 , 2016a. McCOWAN, T. Three dimensions of equity of access in higher education. Compare: a Journal of Comparative and International Education. 46 (4), 645-665, 2016b. PAULSON, K. Recon?guring faculty roles for virtual settings. Journal of Higher Education , 73(1), 123–140, 2002. ROBERTSON, S. L.; KOMLJENOVIC, J. Non-state actors, and the advance of frontier higher education markets in the global south. Oxford Review of Education , 42 (5), 2016a. ROBERTSON, S. L; KOMLJENOVIC, J. Unbundling the University and Making Higher Education Markets. In: VERGER, A.; LUBIENSKI, C.; STEINER-KAMSI G. (Eds.), World Yearbook in Education (Global edu). London: Routledge, 2016b. SCHWARTZMAN, S. Equity, Quality and Relevance in Higher Education in Brazil. Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciencias, 76 (1), 2004. SELINGO, J. J. College unbound : The future of higher education and what it means for students. Boston: New Harvest, 2013. TOMLINSON, M. Graduate employability: A review of conceptual and empirical themes. Higher Education Policy 25: 407–431, 2012. TROUTT, W. E. Unbundling instruction: Opportunity for community colleges. Peabody Journal of Education , 56(4), 253-259, 1979. UIS (UNESCO Institute for Statistics) Statistical Tables. Education: Gross Enrolment Ratio by Level of Education. 2017. http://data.uis.unesco.org/?queryid=142 Acesso em 15/12/2016. UNIVERSITYNOW. Why we’re different . Making higher education affordable. 2017. Disponivel em: http://unow.com/making-education-affordable/ , acesso em 9/2/17. VASAGAR, J. No frills university college offers half price degrees. The Guardian , 11 October, 2011. Disponivel em: https://www.theguardian.com/education/2011/oct/17/coventry-university-college-half-price-degree , acesso em 9/2/17. WANG, W. K. S. The unbundling of higher education. Duke Law Journal , 1, 53-90, 1975. WILDAVSKY, B. Evolving toward signi?cance or MOOC ado about nothing. International Educator , May/June, 74–79, 2014.

The new development order that emerged from the ashes of the Millennium Development Goals has brought much needed attention to the natural environment and to societal inequalities, two features tha...

In recent years, higher education institutions have been encouraged to engage more strongly with their local communities, and address their historically weak links with their surrounding populations. In the latter part of the twentieth century, a number of community universities were established in the South of Brazil, characterised by democratic local community involvement, expansion of access in non-metropolitan regions, and close ties with local industry. This article analyses these innovative institutions in relation to the complex demands of the so-called knowledge economy and multifaceted relationships between public and private, exploring the ways in which the public good role of universities manifests itself in relation to the local. Given their hybrid nature – independent from the state but with a public good mission – these institutions can be seen to represent a new model of non-state public higher education. Implications are drawn out for the potential role of these institutions in the...

Indigenous groups in Latin America face a double exclusion from higher education, with low levels of access to institutions and little acknowledgement of their distinctive cultural and epistemological traditions within the curriculum. This article assesses current policies in Mexico and Brazil towards indigenous populations in higher education, considering the various responses to the challenge, including affirmative action programmes in mainstream universities, intercultural courses and autonomous institutions. These policies and initiatives are analysed using the theoretical frames of redistribution and recognition, focusing on demands for formal equality and material wellbeing on the one hand, and a distinctive cultural and educational space on the other. While state-sponsored policies focus primarily on the redistributive element, initiatives based on recognition come largely from autonomous organisations, raising a series of dilemmas and tensions around educational justice for indigenous popu...

While concerns about graduate unemployment and the work-readiness of graduates in Sub-Saharan Africa abound, there is a severe lack of institutional data and academic research on graduate destinations on which to base policy changes. This article presents findings from an exploratory study of three major higher education institutions in Kenya. An online survey was conducted with recent graduates in a range of disciplinary areas, aiming to determine, first, what employment activities they were engaged in, and second, what associations there might be between those activities, the graduates’ background characteristics, and their experiences at university. Findings suggest that proportions of absolute unemployment are lower than expected, but that many graduates are transiting between provisional or part-time employment and internships, and have not yet obtained the graduate level jobs aspired to. Finally, implications are drawn out for potential national-level graduate destination surveys in Kenya and elsewhere in Sub-Saharan Africa.

A oposição ao pagamento de mensalidades na Educação Superior é, de forma recorrente, formulada como a defesa da Educação Superior como um ‘direito’ ao invés de um ‘privilégio’. No entanto, a base e a natureza desse direito são nebulosas. Este artigo apresenta uma exploração conceitual sobre a questão, a partir de uma aproximação com o Direito Internacional. Um argumento proposto para o reconhecimento do direito à Educação Superior o coloca como uma das muitas formas possíveis de educação pós-escolar, restrita apenas pela exigência de um nível acadêmico mínimo de preparação.

Amidst continuous educational reform and top-down and bottom-up pressures on education systems, it is important not to lose sight of the main participants in education. What unites the contribution...

While higher education has always had an international dimension, it is problematic to assume universally valid epistemologies, curricula and missions. This penultimate chapter explores radical critiques of the university in terms of its institutional structures and epistemic underpinnings, drawing on the ideas of Ivan Illich and post-development theorists. Cases of alternative universities in Mexico and Brazil are explored, assessing the significant possibilities of innovation, but also challenges in providing a viable option of study. These experimental institutions serve not only to reinvent learning, but also to promote a broader imagination of our conception of society and sustainable development.

This chapter explores the various pathways through which higher education can have a positive impact on the SDGs. The goals are diverse in nature, and their achievement requires in some cases innovation and breakthroughs in knowledge, in some the development of professional skills, and in others the raising of public awareness or changing of attitudes. The roles of the university, therefore, must be equally diverse, involving education, knowledge production, service delivery, public debate and embodiment (expressing the principles of the SDGs within the workings of the institution). The chapter also assesses existing evidence of the impact of universities in lower income countries and draws out implications for the changes needed in policy and practice.

The final chapter summarises the main arguments made in the book, in light of the cataclysmic prospects facing humanity in the twenty-first century. Heterogeneity in higher education is desirable, yet this diversity can cohere around a common set of principles including a commitment to human understanding through open-ended enquiry, fair access, a dialogue of knowledges, non-commodification and public good. Some proposals for change are put forward at the institutional, national and global levels.

The ability of universities to fulfil the developmental role is not only dependent on their internal workings, but also on the external policy environment. This chapter addresses three major global trends affecting higher education: status competition, manifesting itself principally through international university rankings; commodification, appearing through the expansion of the private sector but also marketisation within public sectors; and unbundling, the disaggregation of the various functions of the university and constituent parts of the teaching and learning process. While these three are complex and sometimes contradictory processes, they all have a potential negative impact on the ability of universities to promote the SDGs, through reducing the resources available for contribution to the public good, and encouraging exclusivity rather than inclusivity.

This chapter outlines the model of university that provides the best fit with the role proposed in the SDGs. The developmental university emerged in Africa in the post-independence period, but has its roots in the nineteenth-century land grant institutions in the USA, with other antecedents in Latin America. It has four primary characteristics: service to society, egalitarianism, non-academic impact and application of knowledge. Examples of developmental universities in practice are discussed, including the University for Development Studies (UDS) in Ghana, and the ‘thematic’ federal universities in Brazil. Finally, the challenges facing these institutions are assessed, including resource constraints and the possible encroachment on autonomy from the close relationship with the state.

Understanding the role of education in development is highly complex, on account of the slippery nature of both concepts, and the multifaceted relationship between them. This chapter provides a conceptual exploration of these relationships, laying the groundwork for the rest of the book. First, it assesses the role of education as a driver of development, including aspects of economic growth, basic needs and political participation. Second, it looks at the constitutive perspective, involving education as national status, human right and human development. Finally, it assesses the ‘other face’ of education and its negative impacts, as well as the specificities of higher education in relation to other levels.

This chapter presents the theoretical framework of the book in relation to the institution of the university. It starts by outlining four principal models of the university—the mediaeval, the Humboldtian, the developmental and the entrepreneurial—drawing on historical accounts. These are not neatly successive stages, but represent broad approaches that continue to influence our contemporary institutions. Three key axes of institutional variation are identified: value, the underpinning orientation of the institution and its mission; function, the range and balance of its activities; and interaction, the relationships that it has with external actors and ideas. Finally, implications are drawn out for how the framework can be utilised in understanding the role of universities in the SDGs.

Employability is becoming increasingly central to the mission and functioning of universities, spurred on by national and supranational agencies, and the demands of marketisation. This article provides a response to the normative dimensions of the question, progressing through four stages: first, there is a brief consideration of the meaning and manifestations of employability and the historical conditions underpinning its emergence; second, the question is addressed of whether employability is a desirable societal and individual aim per se; third, there is a discussion of the fundamental purpose of the university, drawing on the well-known accounts of Newman and Collini, before – fourth – addressing the principal question of whether and in what way employability might fit within that purpose. It is argued that employability is a valid aim of universities only in so far as it is consistent with the central purpose of the institution to foster human understanding through open-ended enquiry. Further questions are discussed, namely, whether other social institutions are better equipped to promote employability, possible costs for the university, the ethical dimension and differences between public and private institutions.