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Higher Education Institutions are expected to stimulate the innovation system and to contribute to the development of societies in a global perspective. Within this context, there is an increasing focus on internationalization. HEIs are developing institutional mechanisms to support internationalization while academics are expected to carry specific practices that allow them to improve the internationalization of knowledge production. At the same time, they are encouraged to engage with non-academic partners to co-produce and transfer knowledge, contributing, in this way, to economic and social development. Although there is some research on the impact of internationalization on academic entrepreneurship, studies on the effects in other dimensions of academic engagement with society are almost absent. This paper aims to fill this gap by analyzing the relationship between academics' internationalization practices and perceptions and the development of different types of academic engagement. Our analysis draws on quantitative analysis with data provided by an international survey (APIKS) and explores the Portuguese context. Findings show that the different practices and perspectives on internationalization impact differently on the way scientists engage. While there are positive effects of internationalization of research on engagement, the time academics stay abroad and the high focus on publishing in internationally high-rated journals may negatively affect academics' orientation towards the local community. This paper contributes to the debate on the role of the internationalization in the context of a knowledge-based society, considering different dimensions and a broad spectrum of knowledge-based engagement activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, there has been a notable upswing in the realm of innovation and entrepreneurship education for Chinese students, leading to remarkable advancements. However, students' initiatives in this field fall short of the desired standards. The current evaluation index system is insufficient for meeting the developmental needs of colleges and universities. Therefore, exploring innovative approaches and implementing a comprehensive evaluation framework become crucial. This research analyzes the limitations of the current evaluation system, which focuses on curriculum, teaching materials, management, research output, student employment, entrepreneurship awareness, and participation. Unfortunately, this narrow approach has a significant impact on the quality of education in this field. To address this issue, this paper proposes a novel evaluation system for assessing students' innovation and entrepreneurship education by utilizing the capabilities of backpropagation (BP) neural network. We researched the conceptual framework, components, and learning process of BP neural network. Additionally, we provide a thorough description of the calculation process and structure of the BP neural network algorithm by facilitating stakeholders' understanding. Our study aims to strengthen the landscape of education by developing a culture of excellence. We developed a robust evaluation system with well-defined indexes calibrated to capture the essence of this education. Through precise training and analysis, we achieved remarkable results, with a maximum difference of 1.6% between the anticipated and actual output. This highlights the accuracy of our model in assessing teaching quality. We also thoroughly compared several kinds of assessment methods for the growth of students' entrepreneurial and innovative skills that have been presented in the literature. Based on the simulation results, we discovered that our model performs better as compared to the existing model. Based on the evidence, innovation and entrepreneurship education in Chinese institutions can be characterized as moderate. This finding lays the foundation for further advancements, fostering a future where educational excellence and entrepreneurial spirit thrive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much work has focused on pedagogical innovation processes within universities, less has been said of the processes and cultures which foster and give rise to creativity within higher education and the ways in which faculty members are encouraged to develop their pedagogy across disciplines and within their departments. This paper examines the ways campus spaces at a UK university are utilised by staff for peer learning and the barriers and affordances for innovation and creativity in educational practice. Utilising an interdisciplinary design, this paper suggests that the various spaces available to university teaching staff are able to be further utilised to support creative practice and peer learning, presented as four design principles: innovation happens in everyday spaces, communal spaces need social functions, forums have different scales, and collaborative spaces require a collective culture. The normalising of a culture of innovation requires both physical and behavioural adjustments to the use of space, suggesting that both faculty and institutions need to work together to reimagine spaces for faculty peer learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Improving the governance is one of the priorities of the reforms in the area of higher education in Russia. Radical reforms and massive democratisation of the sector in the last 25 years resulted in accumulation of many development issues: the quality of public services, the efficiency of public spending and the modes of interaction between state, society and institutions. Supervisory boards are the latest addition to the landscape of the university governance. The paper discusses the legal framework of the supervisory boards in Russia, analyses how it relates to the best world practices in the sector and how it reflects in the actual composition of the boards and affects the roles they accomplish at the universities. The paper concludes with the discussion of the areas of concern in the current boards’ practices and suggests how they can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As higher education institutions seek to prepare an increasingly diverse population of students for a rapidly changing future, makerspaces offer a pedagogical approach for engaging all learners in active thinking and hands-on learning while promoting creativity, problem solving, and collaboration skills. In this paper, we discuss ways to integrate makerspaces and maker-centered learning within undergraduate and graduate college courses that reach students from majors ranging across the college and university curriculum. We highlight four courses, each taken by students at different points within their academic programs of study: a) digital media production & 3D modeling in a first-year seminar, b) poetry writing and 3D modeling and printing in a flipped learning course, c) wiki page building workshops for future teachers, and d) learning, media, and technology undergraduate/graduate courses. Makerspace experiences are ongoing features of each course, but not in the same ways, offering models that faculty can use in adapting their courses to include more active and applied learning for students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper identifies what can be called the 'paradox of interdisciplinarity' (Weingart ) in Australian higher education research governance and explores some of its constitutive dimensions. In the Australian context, the paradox of interdisciplinarity primarily concerns the proliferation of a programmatic discourse of interdisciplinarity in government reports and government policy and strategy documents, often tied to notions of innovation and applicability, parallel to the persistence or even reinforcement of modes of governance and associated mechanisms that almost exclusively rely on rigid discipline-based classification systems to evaluate and fund research. Two interrelated dimensions of this apparent paradox are discussed. First, the conceptions of knowledge that underpin the use of notions of disciplinarity as well as interdisciplinarity in Australian government reports and policy and strategy papers are analysed. Second, an analysis of the Australian research governance system and its underlying mechanisms is presented, as they pertain to interdisciplinary forms of research. On the basis of these analyses, it is concluded that there is a significant mismatch between the discourse of interdisciplinarity and associated conceptions of knowledge on the one hand, and current, relatively inflexible governmental research funding and evaluation practices on the other. It is finally proposed that the occurrence and perpetuation of such a mismatch in the Australian context can only be understood properly if placed in the context of a more general paradox of research governance, where a politically charged rhetoric of innovation conflicts with the actual trend toward an increasingly diminishing scope for the self-organisation of knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in how to support the design work of university teachers has led to research and development initiatives that include technology-based design-support tools, online repositories, and technical specifications. Despite these initiatives, remarkably little is known about the design work that university teachers actually do. This paper presents findings from a qualitative study that investigated the design processes of 30 teachers from 16 Australian universities. The results show design as a top-down iterative process, beginning with a broad framework to which detail is added through cycles of elaboration. Design extends over the period before, while, and after a unit is taught, demonstrating the dynamic nature of design and highlighting the importance of reflection in teachers' design practice. We present a descriptive model of the design process, which we relate to conceptualizations of higher education teaching and learning, and compare with the characteristics of general design and instructional design. We also suggest directions for future research and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper outlines the contribution made by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) towards enhancing the integration of sustainable development concerns in Africa through its initiative, the Mainstreaming Environment and Sustainability in Africa (MESA) Universities Partnership, during the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (UNDESD). The paper underscores Africa’s wealth and diversity of natural resources while illuminating sustainable development challenges facing the region in order to highlight the need for African universities to respond appropriately. It furthermore outlines the role of education in sustainable development and attempts to contextualise higher education in Africa by exploring universities’ (historical and current) role with regard to ESD. The paper goes onto describe the MESA partnership and list the programme’s key milestones by outlining ESD innovations in African universities, as well as by examining ESD in terms of its global impact and influence on policy to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past four decades, teaching and learning in higher education has been informed by a variety of educational theories. The various initiatives that have been introduced as a consequence have all sought to improve students' educational experiences. However, such moves have not always been successful, as a series of three articles that the authors produced on dental chairside teaching have demonstrated. The first of these investigated the stakeholders' perceptions of this teaching at one dental school. The second evaluated chairside teaching on a UK wide scale, while the third provided educational tools to encourage collaboration among clinical educators to share good chairside teaching practices. What this paper seeks to do is to locate each of these themes within the wider context of a theoretical frame highlighting the need for dental education to be underpinned by such constructs. The aim of this paper is to help ensure that an informed learning experience is achieved for all students engaged in clinical dental education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Progress files, involving personal development planning (PDP), are becoming a feature of many higher education systems internationally. In the UK they will become mandatory for all undergraduate students from 2005. This presents a major implementation challenge, because while reflection has been a cornerstone of practice in some areas of higher education for a considerable time, its generalisation as national policy changes its discursive location. The paper presents findings from a case study of the implementation of PF in one UK Higher Education Institution (HEI). It reports on how staff in one institution understand PF in the context of national policy, and on how they interpret the challenges they face in facilitating reflection for all students. The paper argues that pedagogical innovations take on a different meaning when applied to the system as a whole. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At the crossroads of current innovation policies towards a European Research Area (ERA) and a European Higher Education Area (EHEA) lies an important province of higher learning and research: doctoral training and the further careers of PhD graduates. A considerable number of higher education systems across Europe shift their paradigms for doctoral training away from the traditional so-called Humboldtian model towards the so-called professional model. On this background, the paper discusses (1) the German pattern of a strong link of the PhD to the labor market outside academe that is based on a traditional academic-disciplinary mode of apprenticeship training, and (2) approaches that argue for a new mode of knowledge production replacing an academic-disciplinary model of research training by a hybrid model that crosses disciplinary and organizational borders. The paper argues that a diversity of organisational and structural forms as well as different validation criteria and procedures will probably determine the future face of research training. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the driving forces behind the Bologna process, its advantages and possible negative effects. It also analyses the dangers that may result in commoditisation of the European higher education systems, in emergence of rigid accreditation systems and of a centralised bureaucracy that will impair innovation and creativity.The paper develops the idea that the Bologna process may be interpreted as a step in the neo-liberal movement to decrease the social responsibility of the state by shortening the length of pre-graduate studies and transferring responsibility for supporting employability to individuals through graduate studies.Consideration is also given to the mechanisms and forces behind the Bologna process that try to present an apparent climate of consensus despite some obvious difficulties and disagreements at the level of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Higher education faces increasing pressures to change to better meet the needs of modern society. Systemic change applies systems thinking and systems theory to change a complex system to a new paradigm. This paper argues for the need for the systemic change of higher education and presents educational technologists as particularly well placed to lead this change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While it is common to claim that university reforms are based on universal and standardised ideas about 'modernising' the university, few studies have examined in a more coherent way how the combined external pressure for change with respect to the areas of education, research and innovation has affected the university. In this paper it is argued that one can identify three different sets of logics concerning the current external reform agenda, and that these logics together create new challenges as to how knowledge is created, diffused and governed by the university. In the conclusion, it is discussed whether the current pressure for reform might change the university as we know it, or whether new institutional translations might emerge from the process renewing the university while maintaining its identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study is to identify the patterns of change in higher education institutions. It examines the contexts of the changing quality assurance mechanisms used by the different types of higher education institutions in England, Japan, and New York State between 2001 and 2007. The paper argues that there were no clear patterns of institutional change in terms of speed, intensity, extensiveness, momentum, trajectory, and consequence between centralized and decentralized institutions and public and private institutions. The study suggests three points for explanation why institutional types do not shape certain patterns of institutional change. The first point is that institutional change heavily relies on agents' interactions. The second point is that the ideas of centralized or decentralized and private or public per se are becoming ambiguous in the market or market-like systems. The third point is that the relationship between the central authorities and the institutions is far more significant than the types of institutions in the formation of particular patterns of institutional change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing importance of knowledge, research and innovation are changing the social role of universities in the globalized world. One of the most popular concepts used to approach these changes in post-industrial and post-modern societies is the concept of ‘Knowledge Society’. In this paper, we will analyse the roles higher education is expected to play with regard to various knowledge society discourses. We will begin with analyzing the uses of knowledge society as an intellectual device and continue by reflecting on how changes in higher education are related to knowledge society discourses in national, regional and global levels. In the final section we will reflect on current challenges and expectations generated within these discourses for higher education and the implications these expectations have for higher education research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a study that explored the utility and efficacy of the application of a Web-based tool to promote learner engagement among first year students in a large class in an undergraduate communications degree. The Web-based tool was developed to support an inquiry-based learning approach that was characterised by strong learning scaffolds, meaningful contexts, feedback and support and administrative efficiencies. The study explored the forms of engagement that the Web-supported inquiry-based learning approach was able to engender among first year undergraduate students and the factors that were found to influence students’ levels of engagement and achievement in the approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents results from an interview investigation with teachers in Swedish nurse education especially interested in internationalising the education. The aim has been to study teachers’ understandings and experiences of internationalisation against the backdrop of the strong concern for internationalisation expressed in policy documents. The results are seen in the context of globalisation, constraints to educational change, in a cultural perspective, and in relation to the need of a curriculum theory. The teachers united the global, in the form of personal experiences of other countries and cultures, with the national and local. Their experiences abroad were a basis for their interest in, and choice of content in, their teaching, considered to represent internationalisation of the education. The teachers were interpreting internationalisation in line with there understanding of nursing and the general approach to nursing in the education, without making any clear distinction concerning what specifically was internationalisation. The teachers seem to represent an important resource in internationalising the education. However, their understanding of and approach to internationalisation did not represent a shared culture and there was no shared curriculum including a distinct understanding of internationalisation. This is seen as a big challenge to both policy makers and teachers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays the European Universities are worried about how to adapt higher education to the new European Higher Education Area, as proposed in the Bologna Magna Charta Universitatum of 1998, and signed by 32 European Education Ministers. One of the key points in this higher education reform was the introduction of new Master’s level curricula. These Masters will look for the professional specialization and they will have to be adapted to the specific skills demanded by the society. This paper presents the results from a cooperation project – funded by the AECI (International Cooperation Spanish Agency) and developed between the University of Seville (Spain) and the Catholic University of Asuncion (Paraguay) – by about the planning of a new master’s level curriculum in digital signal processing (DSP) area, taking into account the Bologna principles and the conclusions obtained by the Career Space Consortium. A scientific method from social science, known as concept mapping techniques, was used to perform this planning. Basically, the idea of concept mapping consists of compiling the opinion from actors belonging to different environments (lecturers, researchers, workers, businessmen, etc.) related to DSP applications. The compiled data were statistically computed to cluster the opinions of the different agents. The result will be a master’s level curricula adapted to the environment requirements and the social settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While most national systems of higher education are confronting seemingly convergent global pressures, specific national or local issues still mark the distinct features of each system. Hence, higher education, in places, has been enmeshed in the tensions between national issues and global pressures. In China, both the global influences and internal issues have become the major driving forces for current higher education reforms. This paper explores the specific tensions between global pressures and national issues with respect to Chinese higher education in which political, economic and traditional dimensions are focused. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that the major reason for the at least partial failure in the dissemination of teaching innovations lies in the uni-directional approach used and the reliance on dissemination through education, both of which are in conflict with well established change theory, which is outlined. The paper demonstrates how the Enterprise in Higher Education Initiative (EHE), using this theory at least in part serendipidously, succeeded and lists the crucial and rare features of EHE which made it successful as an agent of dissemination. Two other successfully disseminated teaching initiatives are analysed for their special features which led to success, but which it would be difficult to generalise. Recommendations are made for a radical change in the approach to dissemination, based on the lessons learned from EHE: in particular, to involve both institutions and Departments, as well as other relevant agencies, both inside and outside universities, and to appoint `Higher Education Advisers'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]