Europeanisation: Bologna, Lisbon, and the OMC

Higher Education & Development Master in HE, Class 2008 HEM 4230: Internationalisation, Globalisation and the Knowledge Economy Rómulo Pinheiro Oslo, 18 October 2007

Topics being covered

The types of contributions by HE

The dominant developmental paradigms

Empirical Evidence on the role of HE

The importance of knowledge

The role of international policy/donors

Types of HE contributions to Society

Social:

Better quality of life and social harmony

Cultural:

Sense of identity and access to cultural capital

Political:

Empowerment of minority groups, democratisation

Economic:

Improved standards of living, productivity, and competitiveness

Economic imperatives at the forefront

Investments in HE important to:

Societies:

Economic Development & Growth (thus, social stability)

Corporations:

Increased productivity/competitiveness

Individuals:

Higher salaries, standard of living, career mobility, job satisfaction

Knowledge as key driver

Post-industrial (network-based) era puts a strong emphasis on value-added services and knowledge goods (Castels)

Global competitiveness of countries/regions increasingly affected by their ability to: (a) create, (b) transmit; and (c) adapt knowledge to local cirdumstances

Higher Education not longer seen as a ’luxury’ but a condition for development (World Bank 2002)

HE as Development Policy

Many (governmental) stakeholders:

Too important to be left alone to Ministries of Education (also, Foreign Affairs, Finance, Science & Technology, Commerce, etc.)

Focusing on core functions:

(a) training and re-training; (b) knowledge creation; (c) knowledge transfer and innovation

National/Regional Development emerging as key function of HE systems (third revolution?)

Dominant Perspectives of the link HE & Development (Donor Policies) Source: Cloete et al. (2005) Vocational & Technical Training (Sachs 2005) Engine of the new Knowledge Economy (Castells 1991; World Bank 2002 Luxury Ancilliary (World Bank mid 80s-90s) Current

Is there any empirical evidence?

Human Capital Theory (Becker & Schultz, 1960s) have demonstrated that

investments in Schooling (incl. HE) deliver higher economic returns for both

individuals as well as societies (economies), thus representing positive social

investments.

Does knowledge lead to global competitiveness? Bottom-10 Source: World Economic Forum (2006)

Knowledge economy index Tertiary education enrollment Knowledge Economy and Higher education

Links: Knowledge Economy, GDP & Globalisation Knowledge Economy Index & GDP Globalisation Index Iran 62 India 61 Egypt 60 Indonesia 59 Venezuela 58 China 57 Bangladesh 56 Turkey 55 Kenya 54 Denmark 10 Austria 9 New Zealand 8 United States 7 Canada 6 Finland 5 Netherlands 4 Switzerland 3 Singapore 2 Ireland 1 Country Rank

Globalisation index 2004 (www.foreignpolicy.com)

What about broad social (human) development? Bottom-15 Source: United Nations (2005)

National (regional) Examples of Knowledge Investments

Europe : Finland and Ireland (mid 1990s)

East Asia : South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong (1970s and 1980s)

Oceania : Australia and New Zealand (1990s)

More recently (China & India):

Investments in HE as a parallell, rather than a consecutive process, to primary/secondary levels

Leap-frogging developmental stages (primary-secondary-tertiary sectors)

Is that it, then?

Well…”investment in higher education per se is a necessary but not a sufficient condition for development as the oft-quoted World Bank examples of South Korea and Ghana illustrate (World Bank, 2002)…”

” As important as the investment made in higher education is, attention must be paid to the efficiency and effectiveness of that investment which includes ensuring that there are appropriate linkages with the labour market needs of the economy.” (Cloete et al. 2005: 9)

Where are FDIs flowing? (African Continent, as an example)

Focus on Capacity Building

Physical Infrastructure

Training of teaching staff

Training of competent managers/administrators

Information & Communication Technologies

Libraries and other information resources

Research Networks (North-South, South-South)

But , almost no investment in problem/situation accessment (HE studies or analyst training)

Recent Developments (Donors)

Paradigm shift in donor policy

From dependency to internal competence and accountability.

Funding directed to HE studies (CHET 2007)

Postgraduate programmes in HE (e.g. NOMA)

Research on the link HE-Development (across Africa)

Observatory (Monitoring)

Research Output

Development Aid

Policy-relevant data (input)

Knowledge utilisation

Advocacy (Knowledge sharing/transmission)

What about (African) HEIs?

Awareness of the need to become more entrepreneurial (Clark 1999, CHET 2002)

Distinct role of different types of HEIs (comprehensive vs. Technical vs. Short-term/vocational vs, flag-ships)

The importance of proper managerial/governance structures.

Existing constraints; system-level (W.Bank/Unesco 2000)

Absence of a vision

Lack of political/financial commitment

Conditions of initial disadvantage (staff, facilities, ICT, etc.)

Disruptions brought by globalisation (need to respond national/regional level)

Remaining Challenges (HE & Development, the example of S.Africa)

Discourses : Shift from negative to positive mobilising discourse (improve self-image of HE)

Skills Mismatch : Tight links; graduates and employment

Growth & Quality : Both are required!

Signals across the system : between different types of HEIs and those and the labour market/economy.

Research & Innovation : Strategic long-term rather than solely focus on immediate needs

Differentiated Policy : New relationships (pact) between HEIs-State (based on bargaining and negotiations.

Co-ordination : Better orchestration between government and the various agents at the system level.

Development Discourse : instrumental (skill-based) runs the risk of neglecting knowledge-based one. Explore the links between issues like equity, restrcuturing and efficiency.

Source: CHET (2005b: 1-3)

To Conclude