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The proposed paper seeks to add a different dimension to the educational borrowing, lending, and transfer literature by examining the consequences of educational reforms that are implemented under dictatorships and their lasting impacts. In using Tunisia as an example, we assess the effects of the 2008 Licence-Maitrise-Doctorat ([LMD] Bachelor-Master-PhD) reform under Tunisia's former dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali (from 1987 to 2011). The use of coercive transfer and subsequent implementation of LMD reforms by Ben Ali's government were in response to the creation of the European Higher Education Area in 1999 under the Bologna Declaration, which was adopted by twenty-nine European countries. The justification for the indirect coercive transfer of the Bologna model was to ensure the quality of higher education, to encourage student and teacher mobility, to facilitate both the equivalence of diplomas and young people's integration into the labor market. In what follows, we seek to construct a typology of the consequence of wholesaling adopting a reform without tailoring it to the local needs. In this typology, we account for the processes of policy mobilization, local articulation and ownership, structural factors, and path dependency by discussing the power relations through which indirect coercive transfer occur. In doing this, methodologically, we use a comparative-historical approach to Tunisia's higher education policy discourse. Theoretically, we seek to advance the literature of indirect coercive transfer by concluding as to the different factors that should be considered in North-South policy borrowing and transfer.

In the view of many students, business and engineering education in Europe today do not sufficiently take into account complex problems, tendencies of chaos and uncontrollable business behaviour, and the lack of mutual trust in business transactions. Additionally, universities seem to fail in creating leaders, instead focusing on educating future managers. Therefore, the student-run international organisation the European Students of Industrial Engineering and Management (ESTIEM) offers a whole series of educational activities and programmes in parallel to their own university courses. It is based on the concept of experiential learning. Through ESTIEM, we, students of Industrial Engineering Management, learn and practise working in teams with shared and rotating leadership among ourselves. These experiences are to be described in the paper in some more detail, as a model for university education in industrial engineering and management. Furthermore, the following questions will be tackled: What does leadership mean today? How are problems handled by leaders and managers in industry nowadays? How can leadership to solve complex problems be taught in the university? As a consequence, it is suggested to develop out of the ESTIEM programmes, a series of university-equivalent ESTIEM courses. In the long term, the goal might be to realise the vision of a genuine Europe-wide 'ESTIEM University' in its own right, similar to normal universities which will help in shaping new leadership generation in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the relationship between open access and academic institutions, as well as the initiatives that spring from this relationship with a mainly European geographical focus. Design/methodology/approach - The paper describes the main European initiatives and collaborations in the area of open access that have been university-driven so far. Findings - The strength of many universities is in leading many national European initiatives, and collaborations by universities that aim to provide open access to research output, scientific publications and student theses and dissertations. Individual university efforts are the ones that pioneer in software and application development. International agreements and declarations are also signed by university representatives in order to promote open access and the close bond between higher education and open access. Originality/value - The paper describes the latest developments regarding the promotion of open access in European universities and the collaborations that they form. Smaller countries can benefit from these examples. E-theses projects are estimated to lead the next pan-European projects related to open access. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although universities are asked to play a role in the European knowledge society, the precise scope and meaning of this role is still under discussion. A major issue in this debate is the trend to adapt universities to economic needs and demands of society. In view of taking a critical stance against a one-sided economic interpretation of activities and functions of universities, their so-called “public” role is increasingly stressed in the debate as a crucial responsibility of universities that should not be marginalized and therefore deserves our attention. In this paper, which is the introduction to a special issue on the public role of the university, we want to stress the importance of addressing the question of “the role of universities in the Europe of knowledge” in an open way and thus, without prejudices against or in favour of possible answers. It is our contention that a critical view of what is happening in universities today cannot simply rely on authoritative ideas or principles that are vaguely reminiscent of our university traditions. Consequently, this introductory paper pleas for a firmer argumentative and a richer empirical basis that takes account of the fact that our background (horizon) has thoroughly changed in comparison to traditions that still implicitly inform our judgement of what universities can do, should do or should not do. Finally, we will discuss the way in which the articles collected in this issue are intended stimulating and supporting the debate on the public role of the university in Europe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

After integrating the main lines of argumentation developed in the special issue, this paper makes a balance of the question on the public role of the university. Furthermore, the paper focuses on the discussion underlying the articles collected in the issue. A distinction is made between “comprehending” the past and present of the university on the one hand and “justifying” the university and its public role on the other hand. In view of this distinction, it is argued that the question concerning the value of a (normative) idea of the university and its public role is related to the question of democracy. The question is, however, not only whether we live in a democracy, but whether we may still speak of a “commitment to democracy”. An inquiry into the meaningfulness of a (normative) “idea” of the university arises directly from this question. At this point, the viewpoint of Derrida is introduced to discuss the question of the democracy and university of the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper recognises the growth in emphasis in work-based learning as Europe moves forward on economically driven life-long learning. We support such a move and point to issues which still need to be resolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past two decades regional agreements have become more significant in educational and training. This paper situates and analyses the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the Bologna Process and the Lisbon Strategy and explores their influence on the integration of higher education systems in Mercosur (the Southern Common Market of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela). Mercosur is still a customs union, and the project of integrating higher education is at an early stage. Lacking organically established regional bodies, coordination of integration in Mercosur has focused on summits and meetings of officials. However, in a context of unequal maturity in regional integration, there is emerging evidence that the EHEA project is influencing the reforms of national systems of higher education and even Mercosur’s model for a regional area of higher education. A nascent Europeanization of higher education systems in the Mercosur region is emerging, by-passing Mercosur’s regional structures. The formulation of policies has been permeated by policy transfer from Europe to national territories within Mercosur. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate factors that affect progression to university education across Europe. Design/methodology/approach – The data used are obtained from the fourth round of the European Social Survey (2008). Findings – Findings point to interesting age by gender and age by parental education interactions affecting the entrance to university. It demonstrates the disparity that exists across Europe whereby in some countries progression has been a smooth process for the past few decades while in others widening participation to higher education has only been a recent phenomenon. Research limitations/implications – The findings of this study are discussed with reference to social reproduction theories and have implications for wider European educational policies for enhancing access to university education. Originality/value – In a globalised education market inequalities may be observed within countries but also between countries making the outcomes of policies for offering equal opportunities a complex one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context The Bologna Declaration of 1999 has led to the initiation of profound changes within the European Higher Education Area. Methods This paper gives an overview of the Bologna Process, reviews the developments within European dental education that have arisen as a result of the Process, and describes the impact of the continuation of the Process on health science education in the UK. Conclusions The Bologna Process has led to the establishment of the European Higher Education Area, which is committed to implementing a series of action lines by 2010. Currently, we are just over halfway to 2010, and the importance of UK higher education institutions engaging with the Bologna Process is stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing number of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe places new demands on European education systems. In this context, the role that free digital learning (FDL) could play in fostering inclusion has attracted renewed interest. While the existing literature highlights some general design principles for developing FDL for migrants and refugees, there is little information on the use of FDL at specific education levels, or for specific learning purposes. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that was carried out as part of the Moocs4Inclusion project of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) between July and December 2016. The study, which has a European focus, disaggregates the analysis of FDL initiatives by what were identified as its three most common purposes: a) language learning, b) civic integration and employment, and c) higher education. For each of these topics, the study sheds light on the approaches used by a wide sample of initiatives, users' levels of awareness of what is available and take up, and migrants' and refugees' perceptions of the current offer. In order to collect the information needed to cover different approaches and perspectives, semistructured interviews with 24 representatives of 10 FDL initiatives and four focus groups with 39 migrants and refugees were carried out. The results show that there are indeed overlaps between the purposes of FDL initiatives and their design principles. Specific recommendations on how to better design FDL initiatives for migrants and refugees, taking into account their specific purposes, have also been identified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: Cultural behaviors are theoretically linked to future life chances but empirical literature is scant. We use heavy metal as an example of cultural identities due to its high salience. We first assess the social morphology of metal preferences in terms of socio-economic and socio-structural positions, and then asses the short term outcomes of being a heavy metal fan on education and health behaviors. Methods: The analysis was based on a representative random stratified sample of 23-year-olds of native Swedish, Iranian, and Yugoslavian background in contemporary Sweden (n = 2,232). Linear probability models with multiple imputation were used to calculate preferences for metal music and the association of metal preferences with subsequent outcomes. Results: In contrast to many prior studies, we find that the preference for heavy metal is not structured by social background or neighborhood context in Swedish adolescents. Poor school grades tend to make them more prone to like metal, but net of previous grades, social background, personality, personal network, and neighborhood characteristics, metal fans have substantially lower transition rates into higher education. Discussion: The study suggest that metal preferences appears rather unsystematically with few important predictors, and is linked to lower education attainments in the short run. While these findings are specific to heavy metal as a certain type of culture and to Swedish adolescents, we suggest that they are indicative of how cultural consumption may play a role for life-chances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main aim of this work was to investigate the availability and capacity of educational programmes at different levels at European Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) that are directly related to disaster resilience. This investigation was important since education in disaster resilience for citizens, communities, public administrators and decision makers is vital for improving preparedness, mitigation, resistance, absorption and recovery as a result of natural disasters. For this purpose, a study on the capacity of HEIs across Europe to address the threats imposed by natural hazards has been carried out. The study was performed by using a web-based survey tool which ran for 1 year with participants from 28 European countries. Findings of this work showed a great lack of educational programmes in disaster resilience across Europe. However, in recent years, there has been an increase in such programmes mainly at postgraduate level. At undergraduate level, there is only a very limited number of such programmes, which might be related to the multidisciplinary nature of these programmes. The cohort size of the ongoing programmes indicates that they are in good health despite their young age, suggesting the potential and need for many more. The results of this study are valuable for HEIs, policy makers, decision makers and governments as it provides an insight into the existing situation across Europe with regard to educational programmes directly related to disaster resilience which can help them to focus, direct and promote education in disaster resilience according to the needs at national and European level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Competence-oriented restructuring of curricular content for the study of geographic information system (GIS) in higher education has become a primary educational enterprise in Europe due to the Bologna Reform. Although there are different international curricular documents for outcome-based design of learning activities within the geographic information science and technology domain, it has not yet been clarified which competences should be considered essential components of a university-level course of study in GIS. Our content analysis of those curricular documents demonstrates that there are three dimensions of core competences foundational to the study of GIS in higher education, which are GIS knowledge and skills, spatial thinking, and problem-solving. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The requirements placed on Olympic and professional athletes in contemporary world sport are such that they need to dedicate themselves more and more to achieving excellence. This immediately implies that most athletes' time is dedicated to developing their sporting career, with very little time left to develop other aspects of their lives outside their sport. The reality facing many elite athletes is that few are sufficiently financially rewarded to allow them to make a living out of their sport, and even fewer can rely on measures in place in their own country to assist with the financial and psychological impacts of their retirement from sport [Stambulova, N., Stephan Y., and Japhag U. ‘Athletic Retirement: A Cross-National Comparison of Elite French and Swedish Athletes’.Psychology of Sport and Exercise8 (2007): 101–18.]. This places even more importance on the need for the athlete either to have a ‘dual career’ or to prepare for a post-athletic career while still participating in elite sport. The current work is an attempt to identify both the opportunities and constraints that have been experienced by student-athletes in combining an academic and sporting career successfully in three European contexts: Finland, France and the UK. It also proposes a rationale outlining eight reasons that student-athletes identified to justify their decision to pursue a dual career path. This is an important contribution to this field of research, as till date there has been hardly any evidence that claims that the two careers were not simply mutually compatible but in fact mutually complementary. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article investigates planning education programmes and attempts to re-orient them in the context of both an international 'problematique' in reforming planning education, and European Union directives about the creation of a common European space in higher education. First, the article reviews the international trends in changes and challenges in planning and planning education in the 21st century and proposes an 'integration model' of planning education programmes in a European and international context. Second, the article focuses on the development of planning studies in Greece. It presents their history and development as well as the institutional framework in which planning and planning education operate. It then analyses the Greek educational curricula in two ways: (1) a quantitative analysis classifying courses into different thematic areas and thereby, revealing the basic structure of the curricula; and (2) a qualitative analysis based on interviews with academic staff in charge of educational curricula and examining the content of courses, the adopted pedagogies and possible restrictions (e.g. human capital, institutional framework, etc.) in introducing effective planning curricula. Finally, the article proposes guidelines for re-orienting educational curricula in Greek schools of planning and draws out wider implications for planning studies in the wider European and international context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]