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As the government portion of their budgets decline, Australian universities need to reconsider working practices and provide more funds themselves in order to maintatin their functions. This report provides an overview of the powers and constraints on universities to engage in commercialisation. It is divided into the following six topics: Establishing Acts; Establishment of companies, joint ventures, etc; Investments, borrowing, etc; Landuse, acquisition and disposal; Intellectual property legislation; Employment. Also included are two appendices: Establishing Acts, by State; Specific provisions concerning land, by State. Show less

This case study was prepared for the international conference ‘Redefining tertiary education’. It looks at the way funding structures have changed. It then looks in some detail at three factors that have been critical in the fashioning of the structures. The factors are the growth in student numbers, public expenditure constraints and views on the appropriate balance between public and private funding. Finally, issues that are likely to affect the financing of higher education in the medium to long term are discussed. Show less

The development of qualifications frameworks has been a major international trend in reforming national education and training systems since the late 1990s. The initiative first started among English-speaking developed countries. Since the late 1990s such frameworks have also been adopted by non-English-speaking and developing countries. In March 2005, following work undertaken by the European Commission, the European Union Heads of Government requested the development of a European Qualifications Framework for Lifelong Learning. It is planned that the countries within the European Union, and other states, align their national frameworks of qualifications with the European Qualifications Framework by 2012. The Republic of Macedonia joined the process and from May 2009 started with designing and implementation of a national qualifications framework.

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The UK honours degree is a robust and highly-valued qualification. It is the core product of the UK higher education system. This report considers the honours degree classification system, which measures a student's performance on an undergraduate honours degree program. All UK higher education institutions use the same classification nomenclature which is almost universally applied to honours degrees.

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This issue of the journal, entitled 'Trends in quality assurance in the Bologna context', presents some recent experiences in quality assessment in Europe in the context of the Bologna Declaration of 1999 on the creation of a European space for higher education, which is a pledge taken by 29 countries to reform the structures of their own higher education system in such a way that overall convergence emerges from the process at the European level. The papers offer a broad vision of how different aspects related to quality are approached from an international or inter-regional perspective.

The first article, 'Quality assurance/accreditation in the emerging European higher education area: a possible scenario for the future' by Guy Haug (p. 229-240), reviews European developments regarding quality assurance and accreditation and discusses what may be feasible in the European context in regard to a more international approach. 'Quality and European programme design in higher education' by Julia Gonzalez and Robert Wagenaar (p. 241-251), summarises the Tuning project, a project which involved more than a hundred universities and surveyed graduates, academics and employers across Europe. In 'Higher education, quality evaluation and accreditation in Latin America and MERCOSUR' by Norberto Fernandez Lamarra (p. 253-269) the author looks at recent developments in Latin America, in particular Mercosur, which is an agreement between most countries in Latin and South America intended to make the education systems compatible, and gives a detailed analysis of the developments in quality assurance in that context. In 'Quality assurance before and after Bologne in the central and eastern region of the European higher education area with a focus on Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland' by Christina Roznyai (p. 270-284) an overview is given of interesting developments that have occurred in those countries in the context of regime change. 'Recent quality assurance activities in Germany' by Angelika Schade (p.285-290) describes the 'inter-regionalisation' of some quality assurance processes. The aim of the article 'Common standards for programme evaluations and accreditation?' by Kauko Hamalainen (p. 291-300) is to analyse the standards, criteria and indicators used in evaluation and accreditation of programs in Western Europe. The final article, 'Quality assurance, legal reforms and the European higher education area in Spain' by Javier Vidal (p. 301-313) describes the developments of quality assurance through a collaborative approach among the different parties involved in the process in Spain. Show less

This article reviews various models and approaches to state steering of higher education institutions. It begins with an overview of the role of the state in the coordination of higher education and of the primary policy instruments used by the state. The article then introduces various ways of conceptualizing relationships between the state and higher education institutions: (1) bilateral; (2) multilateral; and (3) contextual. The implication of these models or approaches for state steering are analyzed at both the sector and institutional levels.

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This article summarizes the process of conceptualizing the third mission of higher education institutions. First, the relevant changes in the socio-economical context of higher education are enumerated and institutional responses are described. Next, the main trends in defining the third mission are delineated, and the ways in which the various concepts differ are outlined. A conceptual framework for the third mission is presented, and consists of three dimensions: enterprising, innovative, and social/civic. Considering the three dimensions as the basis for efforts to evaluate higher education institutions, indicators based on contemporary research are then assigned to the framework. Finally, based on the example of Czech higher education, the national approach to the third mission and practical possibilities of data collection within the generated conceptual framework in the Czech higher education are estimated.

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The state and status of higher education in different countries and regions has been the subject of considerable debate, research and publication; yet little continental scale research has been undertaken except in the United States of America. This paper reports on large-scale cooperation taking place in European higher education. It particularly examines the development, role, activities and actions of Thematic Network Projects (TNPs) that have been established to support the modernization of higher education and therefore the implementation of the Bologna Process. The paper reviews the operation and structure of TNPs in the context of the Bologna Process and their contribution to the European Higher Education Area, presenting research of the development, activity and some outcomes of thematic networks in higher education in order to examine the impact of such networks as agents of change in turbulent educational times.

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The purpose of this article is to analyse the development of accreditation standards and processes in Vietnam and to offer recommendations for the further progress of Vietnam’s accreditation model. The authors first provide contextual details of the higher education system and then present the conceptual framework of quality assurance in relation to input, process and outcome. Third, the development process of quality assurance and accreditation in Vietnam’s higher education system is described and analysed, including cross-national influences from the US accreditation model. In the final section, a synthesis of the entire Vietnam accreditation process and its implications is followed by recommendations that can be used to inform future policies and procedures.

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The Republic of Macedonia (RM) has been a part of the Bologna process since 2003. The Ministry of Education, law and policy makers and higher education institutions have actively engaged with its main concepts. In parallel with this, since the adoption of the law on higher education in 2008 and the reform of the Accreditation and Evaluation Board, there have been numerous changes and amendments culminating in the fast-tracked adoption of a new law at the beginning of 2015. Some of its solutions created a huge debate among the academic community, other intellectuals and students themselves, resulting in the postponement of that law and a kind of legal vacuum. In such turbulent circumstances, individual higher education institutions had to consider how and to what extent to adopt and develop relevant standards and guidelines, comply with the legal framework and promote good practice.

The aim of this paper is to present how these three aspects, Bologna standards and guidelines for Quality Assurance (QA), a national legal framework and an institutional approach are being reflected, merged and implemented at a relatively young higher education institution. It questions the impact of these three elements on each other and how one institution's drive for improvement is affected. This is done through a qualitative analysis of the three-fold perspectives. The conclusions and recommendations are expected to be of use to policy makers in the country and region as they evaluate how international trends and good practice fit into the socio-economic and political conditions of RM and similar countries. At the same time, it can demonstrate how far institutional quality assurance and progress can be implemented and recognized in the country itself and by some international stakeholders. It can also prove that the South East European University (SEEU) is a national leader in this field as RM has no functioning QA evaluation system, while SEEU has managed to create a well structured and operating one, based on international and institutional experiences.

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