The Complexity of Policy Mirroring: The Connection between International and Slovenian Higher Education Policy Discourse
Keywords:
higher education policy, discursive analysis, supranational policy making, the knowledge economy, Slovenian higher education
Abstract
The contemporary economic imaginary of the ‘knowledge-based economy’ is changing the perception of higher education in Europe. The goals of higher education are changing and reform of institutions is predicted. The present article examines these reforms and conceptualisations of higher education by presenting the results of discourse analysis of 47 international policy documents at the European level and two comprehensive national strategies of the Republic of Slovenia for higher education, research and innovation. Based on the analysis of the European documents, the article suggests that two main discourses are constructed: a) ‘the research-based society and economy’, and b) ‘reforming the university’. These present the emergence of a new idea of higher education at the international and national levels. The article investigates the extent to which these discourses are present in Slovenian higher education policy. The findings show that Slovenian discourse hesitates to embrace them fully. In particular, the idea of the managerial university is marginal in Slovenian discourse.
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References
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Wende, M. v. d., Beerkens, E., & Teichler, U. (1999). Internationalisation as a cause for innovation in higher education: A comparison between European cooperation and the Dutch cross – border cooperation programme. In B. Jongbloed, P. Maassen, & G. Neave (Eds.), From the eye of the storm : higher education’s changing institution. Dordrecht ; London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Blasi, P. (2002). The idea of Europe through the history of universities: the European dimension as university heritage in the past, today and in the future. In N. Sanz, & S. Bergan (Eds.), The Heritage of European Universities (pp. 103–110). Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.
Boer, H. d., Enders, J., & Jongbloed, B. (2009). Market Governance in Higher Education. In B. M. Kehm, J. Huisman, & S. Bjørn (Eds.), The European Higher Education Area: Perspectives on a Moving Target (pp. 61–78). Rotterdam: Sense publishers.
Corbett, A. (2011). Ping Pong: competing leadership for reform in EU higher education 1998–2006. European Journal of Education, 46(1), 36-53.
Corbett, A. (2012). Principles, Problems, Politics….What Does the Historical Record of EU Cooperation in Higher Education Tell the EHEA Generation? In A. Curaj, P. Scott, L. Vlasceanu, & L. Wilson (Eds.), European higher education at the crossroads: between the Bologna process and national reforms (pp. 39-58). Dordrecht: Springer.
Council of Europe. (2007). Recommendation CM/Rec(2007)6 of the Committee of Ministers to member states on the public responsibility for higher education and research. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Council of Europe. (2012). Recommendation CM/Rec(2012)7 of the Committee of Ministers to member States on the responsibility of public authorities for academic freedom and institutional autonomy. Strasbourg: Council of Europe.
Council of the European Union. (2007). Council Resolution on modernising universities for Europe’s competitiveness in a global knowledge economy. Brussels: Council of the European Union.
Etzkowitz, H. (1998). The norms of entrepreneurial science: cognitive effects of the new university–industry linkages. Research Policy, 27(8), 823-833.
EUA. (2001). The Salamanca Declaration, Shaping the European Higher Education Area. Genève European University Association. Retrieved from http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/SALAMANCA_final.1069342668187.pdf
EUA. (2003). The Graz Declaration, Forward from Berlin: the Role of Universities to 2010 and Beyond. Brussels: European University Association. Retrieved from http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/GrazDecENG.1066743764824.pdf
EUA. (2009). EUA Prague Declaration, European Universities - Looking Forward with Confidence Brussels. European University Association. Retrieved fromhttp://www.eua.be/eua-work-and-policyarea/eua-policy-position-and-declarations.aspx
European Commission. (2001). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on Strengthening Cooperation with third Countries in the Field of Higher Education. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2003). Communication from the Commission. The role of the universities in the Europe of knowledge. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2005). Communication from the Commission. Mobilising the brainpower of Europe: enabling universities to make their full contribution to the Lisbon Strategy. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2006). Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. Delivering on the Modernisation Agenda for Universities: Education, Research and Innovation. Brussels: European Commission.
European Commission. (2009). Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions. A new partnership for the modernisation of universities: the EU Forum for University Business Dialogue. Brussels: European Commission.
Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (2008). The Bologna Process and the knowledge-based economy: a critical discourse analysis approach. In B. Jessop, N. Fairclough, & R. Wodak (Eds.), Education and the knowledge based economy in Europe (pp. 109-126). Rotterdam: Sense.
Felt, U. (2001). University autonomy in Europe: changing paradigms in higher education policy: special case studies: decision-making structures and human resources management in Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom. Vienna: University of Vienna.
Felt, U. (2005). University Autonomy in the European Context: Revisiting the Research – Teaching Nexus in a Post-Humboldtian Environment Managing University Autonomy, University autonomy and the institutional balancing of teaching and research. Bologna: Bononia University Press.
Gornitzka, Å. (2010). Bologna in Context: a horizontal perspective on the dynamics of governance sites for a Europe of Knowledge. European Journal of Education, 45, 535–548.
Gumport, P. J. (2000). Academic restructuring: Organizational change and institutional imperatives. Higher Education, 39, 67-91.
Jessop, B. (2008). The cultural political economy of the knowledge-based economy and its implications for higher education. In B. Jessop, N. Fairclough, & R. Wodak (Eds.), Education and the knowledge based economy in Europe (pp. 13-39). Rotterdam: Sense.
Kolar, J., & KomljenoviÄ, J. (2011). Resolution on the National higher education programme 2011-2020. Resolution on the Research and innovation strategy of Slovenia 2011-2020 : [audacious Slovenia]. Ljubljana: Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology.
Maassen, P., & Stensaker, B. (2011). The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications. Higher Education, 61(6), 757-769. doi: 10.1007/s10734-010-9360-4
Olsen, J. P. (2009). Democratic Government, Institutional Autonomy and the Dynamics of Change. ARENA Working Paper, No 1. Retrieved from http://www.arena.uio.no
Olssen, M., & Peters, M. A. (2005). Neoliberalism, higher education and the knowledge economy: from the free market to knowledge capitalism. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3), 313-345.
Robertson, S. (2008). Embracing the global: crisis and the creation of a new semiotic order to secure Europe’s knowledge-based economy. In B. Jessop, N. Fairclough, & R. Wodak (Eds.), Education and the knowledge based economy in Europe (pp. 89-108). Rotterdam: Sense.
Schmidt, V. A. (2010). Taking ideas and discourse seriously: explaining change through discursive institutionalismas the fourth ‘new institutionalism’. European Political Science Review, 2(1), 1-25.
Simons, M. (2007). The ‘Renaissance of the University’ in the European knowledge society: An exploration of principled and governmental approaches. Studies in Philosophy and Education, 26(5), 433-447.
Sorbonne Declaration. (1998). Joint declaration on harmonisation of the architecture of the European higher education system. Paris, the Sorbonne. Retrieved from http://www.bologna-berlin2003.de/pdf/Sorbonne_declaration.pdf
Välimaa, J., & Hoffman, D. (2007). Higher Education and Knowledge Society Discourse Higher Education Looking Forward: Themes on the Changing Relationship between Higher Education and Society. European Science Foundation.
Weert, E. d., & Vucht Tijssen, L. v. (1999). Academic staff between threat and opportunity: Changing employment and conditions of service. In B. Jongbloed, P. Maassen, & G. Neave (Eds.), From the Eye of the Storm: Higher Education’s Changing Institution. Dodrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Wende, M. v. d., Beerkens, E., & Teichler, U. (1999). Internationalisation as a cause for innovation in higher education: A comparison between European cooperation and the Dutch cross – border cooperation programme. In B. Jongbloed, P. Maassen, & G. Neave (Eds.), From the eye of the storm : higher education’s changing institution. Dordrecht ; London: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Published
2012-12-31
How to Cite
KomljenoviÄJ. (2012). The Complexity of Policy Mirroring: The Connection between International and Slovenian Higher Education Policy Discourse. Center for Educational Policy Studies Journal, 2(4), 9-28. https://doi.org/10.26529/cepsj.277
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