Changing External Contexts

Autor(en)

Liviu Andreescu, Robert Harmsen, N.V. Varghese

Preis

12,99 € (60 Seiten, PDF)

Inhalt

• The Demographics of Diversification in Post-Communist Romanian Higher Education

  Liviu Andreescu

  The article discusses the main changes in student demographics in post-communist Romania, particularly in relation to their influence on the diversity of the higher education system after 1989. It argues that the demographic trends in question explain, in substantial part, the fact that on a number of dimensions the higher education landscape has either become more homogeneous or has ignored important opportunities for differentiation. The paper ends with a set of lessons learned in light of the recent crisis in student numbers.

• The Governance of the Global University: Leadership and Policy Challenges

  Robert Harmsen

  This paper takes as its starting point the argument that the ‘global university’ is better conceived as a complex hybrid than as a genuinely transformative type of institution. The fundamental challenges of governance which it poses are correspondingly conceptualised primarily in terms of the need to strike difficult balances across multiple, competing demands. The analysis is developed in two broad stages. The first part of the paper problematises the idea of globalisation as related to higher education policy, highlighting both the limits of the phenomenon and its intrinsic contradictions. The second part of the paper then explores the significance of this understanding for institutional leadership, looking in turn at issues of internal governance and the management of external policy congruence.

• Managing Massification in India: Institutional Autonomy and Leadership

  N.V. Varghes

  Traditionally, public funding and government control characterized the structure of governance of institutions of higher education in many regions of the world. This model of governance came under strain when the fiscal capacity of the state to finance an expanding higher education sector declined. The alternative financing strategies were mostly privatization of public institutions and promotion of private higher education. Privatization helped public institutions attain autonomy and reduce reliance on state funding. However, autonomy also implied preparing institutional development plans, reorganizing activities and mobilizing resources. Institutions need effective leaders to successfully undertake these new responsibilities. This article argues for introducing transparent processes to select credible institutional leaders and organizing orientation programmes to make the selected leaders more effective.