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Amidst the backdrop of contemporary conflicts and hostilities unfolding across various regions globally, the landscape of higher education is confronted with a myriad of novel challenges and prospects. War initiates the need for rapid and effective innovations in education to ensure access to learning in times of crisis. The objective of this article is to assess and scrutinize the application of modern technologies in higher education amid periods of conflict, focusing specifically on their influence on educational accessibility and quality within nations grappling with wartime circumstances. To achieve this goal, an analysis of scientific literature and publications was conducted. The conducted research revealed that the utilization of modern technologies in higher education during the war contributes to increasing the availability and quality of education. These technologies make it possible to provide distance learning using remote forms of communication and learning. The conclusions show, that the utilization of modern technologies in education is a key factor in ensuring continuous learning during war and conflict. These technologies allow efficient use of resources and provide a high-quality educational environment for students in difficult conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is based on a keynote paper presented at the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER), University College UCC, Copenhagen, 22–25 August, 2017. In this paper, I problematise the idea that we live in an era of constant change with respect to education and educational research. I claim that what presents itself as change on supra-national as well as national levels, or even in classrooms, more often than not has to do with adjustments within a given reality rather than of a radical and profound change of this same reality. The response to this situation I will suggest is to mobilise radical forms of theory that address the inherent emancipatory and transformational character of education. This kind of theory, I argue, actually also addresses the central characteristics of a truly pluralistic democracy. Drawing on Jacques Rancière and Judith Butler the paper will lay out some arguments for resisting an anti-democratic and anti-pluralistic tendency within what I will call ‘pre-Sophist’ educational trends and instead promote an education that is concerned with a ‘liveable life’ for all. [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]

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]

'Internationalisation' became a key theme in the 1990s, both in higher education policy debates and in research on higher education. The process is accompanied by a European policy that seems to favour a de-nationalisation of higher education, a growing responsibility of individual institutions of higher education and an increasing popularity of managerialism. This paper addresses the traditional controversial role of higher education as regards internationalisation and the nation -state, comparing the mainland European and the Anglo-Saxon approach. Assessing the different impacts of internationalisation as a challenge to European and German higher education, it analyses the role of the European Union and the Bologna process, as well as the icebreaker function of internationalisation for higher education reform in Germany. A closer look at the complex and dynamic multi-level set-up of internationalisation in European higher education reveals that it not only means varying border-crossing activities that are on the rise, but rather substantial changes towards systematic policies and a growing awareness of international cooperation and competition in an increasingly global higher education market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to facilitate research on the processes of innovation and change in higher education, an area of scholarly endeavor which is attracting much interest of late. To meet this goal, a conceptual distinction is first drawn between the broad process of organizational change and the more specific processes of purposive change and innovation. Then, a typology of four research frameworks relevant to innovation and change is presented and illustrated through exemplary studies in the field of higher education. Using techniques of causal modeling, a prototypic flowgraph is constructed to capture the major features of each framework. Flowgraphs are cast in terms of posited relationships between generic variables which can be operationalized to suit the particular needs and setting of a given study. The authors further suggest that the most productive research on change and innovation in higher education will be based on sound theoretical reasoning employing combinations of the four frameworks. They argue that the specificity inherent in causal modeling can clarify important conceptual issues and thereby promote more informative investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In higher education (HE) settings, staff and students are often end-users of a variety of educational technologies, tools and platforms, including Learning Management Systems (LMSs). As technological evolution is constant, transitioning to a new system may be a familiar occurrence. For technology to support educational purpose more fully, further insight needs to be gained into how staff and students actually experience the process of transition. This article focuses on this area in the context of institution-wide transition to a new LMS. The study's aim was to explore how academic teaching staff and students experienced a university-wide technological change process: namely, a process of changing to a new LMS. Data were collected through a series of interviews with staff who were involved in the first stage of the change process. In addition, students enrolled in the first tranche of subjects undergoing transition participated in surveys. Data were analysed using a qualitative, comparative analysis approach; student and staff perspectives were compared, and the points of intersections and divergences between the viewpoints were located. Detailed analysis helped identify factors that contributed to a smooth transition, while also showing how staff expectations of student behaviours and needs were not always aligned with students' own approaches to technology-assisted teaching and learning, which tended to be predominantly pragmatic. Feedback gleaned from investigating stakeholders' transition experiences can contribute in a valuable way to informing change processes and support empowering change. The findings highlight how positioning LMS transition as a student-centred and education-led process, rather than as a large-scale technology project, has potential to support staff and students to have a positive and relatively seamless transition experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers recommendations on how to improve time, technology, teaching, and degree program in education. It mentions the need to find ways for faculty and students to save time and to upgrade content, deepen learning, and improve the program's ability in order to attract and retain a variety of students. It also provides suggestions to improve teaching and learning including the need to focus on changes in research methods, to be compelling enough to academic programs to attract faculty, staff, and benefactor attention, and to extend and enrich interaction among students, faculty, and others. It also outlines the recommendations for implementing sustainable improvement through encourage peer support among faculty and developing coalitions to sustain the initiative.

If South Africa is to transform its educational landscape, access to higher education is crucial. However, if equity of access is not coupled with equity of success, participation, and relevance, access can become problematic. The Information Systems Department at the University of Cape Town, South Africa, has been concerned for a number of years about both the relevance and coherence of its first year Information Systems course. In 2007, the Department re-conceptualized this course. This case study looks at the background to the problems and motivation for the change and the proposed changes and course redesign, as well as the limitations and anticipated future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on topics related to coherence in general education in the U.S. It has been noted that coherence is a major focus of general education reform in the country. However, an examination of the history of higher education indicated that interest in maintaining curricular coherence has fluctuated over the past 200 years. Furthermore, it has been described that the situation of higher education in terms to the result of the investigation as a swinging pendulum that alternates between periods of integration and fragmentation.

The article discusses the international competitiveness of national higher education systems in U.S. and Germany in which the two countries are borrowing structures in education reform. The authors point out that the practice of importing selected parts of the U.S. system of higher education into other national systems is widespread, making these transfers a phenomenon of global relevance and importance. The international competitiveness of national higher education systems is an important political issue in many countries in which these politics drive some governments to reform their systems by borrowing elements from societies with systems thought to be superior.

Public debate on higher education reform today is dominated by competing views about what higher education institutions, particularly universities, are or should become. To a surprising extent, these views are based upon highly simplified characterisations of university history. The claims in question have been repeated so often that they have become clichés. Historical research has challenged all these conventional claims. The article aims to acquaint readers with the most important of these challenging results. Central here is an analysis of The Humboldt Myth about the rise of the modern research university in Germany and its alleged export to the US, and of the reasons why that myth remains so powerful, even though it has very little relation to realities on the ground. A second goal is to try to bring out some of the implications that a revision of standard views of higher education history might have for current policy debates, focusing in particular on the Bologna process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the transition period in Hungary the role of the market has become more significant, and several market elements have appeared in education, as well. The growing social demand for schooling resulted in the huge expansion of secondary and higher education. Schools try to match the demand with the supply in a colourful variety of programmes. However, public education in Hungary struggles with very great problems of inequalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this exploratory research was to investigate whether: entrepreneurship in the higher education context can be distinguished by disciplined-based needs; and curricula can be developed around these needs. Design/methodology/approach - The authors reviewed the literature related to the development of professions in order to establish a sound theoretical base to distinguish disciplines that require stringent criteria, and which potentially would challenge the introduction of a more flexible curriculum that includes contemporary concepts such as entrepreneurship. The research then focused on two other groups of disciplines which lead to entrepreneurial opportunities with distinct needs in (principally) people management and intellectual property law. This discussion was couched in the occupational motivation literature. Semi-structured interviews (n = 31) were conducted with individuals randomly selected from three groups associated with an American Land Grant Research University. Additional survey data were collected from 58 respondents. Findings - The research found support for the categorization of disciplines into the framework of profession-, industry-, or invention-based entrepreneurial ventures. Originality/value - Although this is an exploratory investigation, the framework sets out clear pathways through the entrepreneurial processes and has crucial implications for a variety of stakeholders. For example: curriculum designers will be better able to understand and address the demands and vagaries of multiple disciplines; critical assumptions (that often plague those involved with technology transfer) will he able to be addressed prior to or in the early stage of the commercialization process because inventors will be better informed and prepared; equity stakeholder negotiations (particularly those that involve government-operated institutions) will be more realistic as both parties, over time, become increasingly ‘market-savvy’; and students (tomorrow's entrepreneurs) will be better able to plan for an entrepreneurially-focused career. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues for a new theoretical paradigm for the analysis of change in educational institutions that is able to deal with such issues as readiness for change, transformational change and the failure of change strategies. Punctuated equilibrium (Tushman and Romanelli, 1985) is a theory which has wide application. It envisages long-term change as being made up of a succession of long periods of relative stability interspersed by brief periods of rapid profound change. In the periods of stability only relatively small incremental changes are possible. The periods of transformational change may be triggered by external or internal influences. A recent study of the long-term process of internationalisation in higher education institutions shows evidence to support the theory: long periods of incremental change, events precipitating profound change and the failure of externally imposed attempts to change. Also, as the theory predicts, changes in collegial organisations are slower and more uncertain than changes in managed organisations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles about higher education reform in Germany published in the April 2002 issue of the journal "German Policy Studies." History of higher education reform; Influence of technological innovations on education system; Administrative and structural reform in the education system; Changes in the education governance structure.