Will Academics Drive or Obstruct the Slovenian Government’s Internationalisation Agenda for Higher Education?

  • Alenka Flander
  • Manja Klem
DOI: https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.202
Keywords: the academic profession, academic culture, higher education reforms, Slovenia, internationalisation, international cooperation, the internationalisation of study at home

Abstract

The present article is concerned with the question of how conducive the academic culture and climate in Slovenian higher education institutions are to internationalisation. Our underlying assumption is that academic staff represent either an important driving force or an obstacle to the implementation of internationalisation policies formulated at the national level and diffused into institutional practices. Specifically, we investigate whether the present academic attitudes and behaviours are in line with the internationalisation aims and objectives stated in the National Higher Education Programme 2011–2020. Our findings point to generally favourable attitudes of academics towards internationalisation. We also find that academics’ own priorities regarding internationalisation tend to be higher than the perceived priorities of their respective institutions. At the same time, however, the preferences of academics regarding the various activities associated with the “internationalisation of study at homeâ€, especially conducting courses in foreign languages, are lower and highly divergent, and might therefore obstruct the government’s agenda in this regard. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Altbach, P. G. (2002). The Decline of the Guru: The Academic Profession in Developing and Middle-Income Countries. Chestnut Hill, MA: Center for International Higher Education, Boston College.

Altbach, P. G., Reisberg, L., & Rumbley, L. E. (2009). Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

Braček Lalić, A. (2007). Internacionalizacija visokega šolstva v Sloveniji. Master’s Thesis. University of Ljubljana, Faculty for Social Sciences.

Clark, B. R. (1983). The higher education system: academic organization in cross-national perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Crowther, P., Joris, M., Otten, M., Tekkens, H., & Wächter, B. (2000). Internationalisation at home: A position paper. Amsterdam: EAIE.

Elken, M., Gornitzka, Ã…., Maassen, P., & Vukasovic, M. (2011). European Integration and the Transformation of Higher Education. Oslo: University of Oslo, Department of Educational Research.

Enders, J. (Ed.) (2001). Academic Staff in Europe: Changing Contexts and Conditions. Westport, CT, London: Greenwood Press.

European Commission. (2010). Communication from European Commission: Europe 2020. A strategy for a Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive growth. Brussels: European Commission.

European Commission. (2011). European Innovation Union Scoreboard. The Innovation Union’s performance scoreboard for Research and Innovation. Brussels: European Commission.

Golob Kalin, M., Stabej, M., Stritar, M., & Červ, G. (2012). Primerjalna študija o učnem jeziku v visokem šolstvu v Republiki Sloveniji in izbranih evropskih državah. Ljubljana: Ministrstvo za
izobraževanje, znanost, kulturo in šport.

Horta, H. (2013). Deepening our understanding of academic inbreeding effects on research information exchange and scientific output: new insights for academic based research. Higher
Education, 487–510.

Kehm, B., & Teichler, U. (Eds.) (2013). The Academic Profession in Europe: New Tasks and New Challenges. In The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International
Comparative Perspective, Vol. 5. Dordrecht: Springer.

Klemenčič, M., & Flander, A. (2013). Evaluation of the impact of the ERASMUS Programme on higher education in Slovenia. Ljubljana: Center RS za mobilnost in evropske programme izobraževanja in usposabljanja (CMEPIUS).

Klemenčič, M., & Zgaga, P. (2013). Internationalisation at the European periphery and academics’ geographic preferences for partnership: focus on the Western Balkans. In Weaving the future of global partnerships: A conversation starter for the EAIE 2013 Annual Conference. Amsterdam: European Association for International Education.

Klemenčič, M., & Zgaga, P. (forthcoming). Academic Inbreeding in Slovenia. In P. Altbach, L. Rumbley, & M. Yudkevich (Eds.), Academic Inbreeding: Causes and Consequences.

Knight, J. (2004). Internationalization Remodelled: Definitions, Approaches, and Rationales. Journal of Studies in International Education, 8(1), 5–31.

Kolar, J. (2011). Posnetek stanja raziskovalnega in inovacijskega sistema v Republiki Sloveniji. In Drzna Slovenija. Dodatek. Ljubljana: Ministry of Higher education, Science and Technology.

March, J. G., & Olsen, J. P. (2008). Elaborating the “New Institutionalism”. In R. A. W. Rhoades, S. A. Binder, & B. A. Rockman (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of political institutions (pp. 3-20). Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Musselin, C. (2013) Redefinition of the relationships between academics and their university. Higher Education, 65(1), 25-37.

National Higher Education Programme. (2006). Resolution on National Higher Education Plan of Republic of Slovenia 2006 – 2010. Ljubljana: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.

National Higher Education Programme. (2011). Resolution on National Higher Education Plan of Republic of Slovenia 2011 – 2020. Ljubljana: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology. Retrieved January 10 2014 from http://www.uradni-list.si/1/content?id=103885

Peterson, M. W., & Spencer, M. G. (1990). Understanding Academic Culture and Climate. New Directions for Institutional Research, 68,17(4), 3-18.

Qiang, Z. (2003). Internationalization of Higher Education: towards a conceptual framework. Policy Futures in Education, 1(2), 248–270.

Slaughter, S., & Leslie, L. L. (1997). Academic Capitalism: Politics, Policies, and the Entrepreneurial University. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.

Teichler, U., & Höhle, E. A. (Eds.) (2013). The Work Situation of the Academic Profession in Europe: Findings of a Survey in Twelve Countries. In The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic Profession in International Comparative Perspective, Volume 18. Dordrecht: Springer.

Teichler, U., Arimoto, A., & Cummings, K. W. (Eds.) (2013). The Changing Academic Profession. Major Findings of a Comparative Survey. In The Changing Academy – The Changing Academic
Profession in International Comparative Perspective, Vol. 1. Dordrecht: Springer.

Wächter, B. (2003). An introduction: Internationalization at home in context. Journal of Studies in International Education, 7(1), 5–11.

Zgaga, P. (1998). Development of higher education in Slovenia. Ljubljana: Ministry of Education and Sport of the Republic of Slovenia.

Zgaga, P. (2010). The role of higher education in national development: South-Eastern Europe and reconstruction of the Western Balkans. In The Europa world of learning 2011, 61st ed. (pp. 19-24). London; New York: Routledge.

Zgaga, P. (2012). Editorial. Centre for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 2(4), 5-8.

Zgaga, P., Klemenčič, M., Komljenovič, J., Miklavič, K., Repac, I., & Jakačić, V. (2013). Higher education in the Western Balkans: Reforms, developments, trends. Key findings from field research. Ljubljana: Centre for Educational Policy Studies. Faculty of Education, University of Ljubljana.
Published
2014-06-30
How to Cite
Flander, A., & Klem, M. (2014). Will Academics Drive or Obstruct the Slovenian Government’s Internationalisation Agenda for Higher Education?. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 4(2), 27-48. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.202
Issue
Vol 4 No 2 (2014): Higher Education Studies
Section
FOCUS

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors are confirming that they are the authors of the submitted article, which will be published online in the Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal (for short: CEPS Journal) by University of Ljubljana Press (University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Education, Kardeljeva ploščad 16, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia). The Author’s/Authors’ name(s) will be evident in the article in the journal. All decisions regarding layout and distribution of the work are in the hands of the publisher.
  2. The Authors guarantee that the work is their own original creation and does not infringe any statutory or common-law copyright or any proprietary right of any third party. In case of claims by third parties, authors commit themselves to defend the interests of the publisher, and shall cover any potential costs.
  3. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/deed.en that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  4. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  5. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.