Books
Higher Education and Regional Development: Tales from Northern and Central Europe
Author: RÓMULO PINHEIRO, MITCHELL YOUNG, KAREL ŠIMA (Eds.)
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillian
ISBN: 978-3-319-78643-8
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-78643-8
Number of pages: 218
Published: Cham, Switzerland, 2018
The book is based on the results of the PERIF project – Contribution of higher education to the socio-economic development of peripheral regions in Norway and the Czech Republic. The book “Higher Education and Regional Development: Tales from Northern and Central Europe” (editors Romulo Pinheiro, Mitchell Young and Karel Šima) analyses the role of higher education institutions as important actors in the socio-economic development of peripheral regions in Norway and the Czech Republic. It explores the ambiguities and contradictions between the traditional mission of higher education institutions as educational and research institutions in comparison with contemporary societal demands that appeal much more to societal responsibility.
Methodical guide on how to meet the various needs of peripheral regions with the assistance of the HEIs (Tool Kit)
Author: HELENA ŠEBKOVÁ, VLADIMÍR ROSKOVEC (Eds.)
Publisher: Nakladatelství Vyšehrad
ISBN: 978-80-7429-969-8
Number of pages: 100
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2017
(In Czech)
The methodology does not offer general procedures that can be taken into account when forming cooperation between regional institutions and a higher educational institution located in a given region, because the specificities of the region and the higher education institution in question are always applied and must be respected. Therefore, we have tried to summarise the basic practices that have been successful in the PERIF project and that could be used in other regions. We wanted to stress that the methodology is a reminder of the main, and perhaps even general, points that should always be kept in mind when it comes to developing cooperation between the higher education institution and the region.
Author: LIBOR PRUDKÝ
Publisher: Faculty of Humanities, Charles University
ISBN: 978-80-7571-003-1
Number of pages: 309
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2016
(In Czech)
Peripheries, regions, values: opportunities for peripheral regions on the road to good values
Author: LIBOR PRUDKÝ, MICHAELA ŠMÍDOVÁ, KATEŘINA VOJTÍŠKOVÁ
Publisher: CDK
ISBN: 978-80-7325-414-8
Number of pages: 251
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2017
(In Czech)
Regional analyses are common. However, they are almost exclusively partial studies. Attempts to comprehensively grasp the content of the regions, their symptoms and specifics, are like saffron. If we try to look at regions through the lens of their values, we must, wanting-not wanting willy-nilly, approach a holistic view. Even knowing that this is an attempt that may not be successful.
Moreover, when we try to interpret values that are not only valid, not only desirable, but even those that can be considered “good”. This is an approach that is almost suicidal because it goes outside the mainstream of sociological cognition. But as time goes on, one who has spent much of one’s life exploring values will come to themes that one must at least try to look at by looking for underlying trends in their change. Moreover, the peripheral regions we have examined have also proved to be different in terms of value “equipment”. And yet this approach is beyond the interest of the decizing centres.
We are often concerned with tools for “improvement” without knowing what the inhabitants of the regions actually consider valuable. Consistently speaking, this is a vacuum that can be the starting point for fatal mistakes. After all, the reminder that sociologists are responsible for what happens should lead us to attempts at knowledge that leads to efforts to promote the good. This is one of the sources of the origin of this text. And also for discussion. Without them, no paths to good values are possible.
The Humboldtian idea of the unity of research and teaching and its forms in Czech higher education after 1989
Author: KAREL ŠIMA
Publisher: Národohospodářský ústav Josefa Hlávky
ISBN: 978-80-88018-03-2
Number of pages: 85
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2015
(In Czech)
I argue in this study that the unity of research and teaching is not a necessary foundation of modern universities but rather an ideology that has dominated western higher education since the nineteenth century. Empirically, not only universities never achieved this ideal but research also shows no relationship between the quality of research and quality of teaching. My analysis shows that the ideology of unity masks the primary status of research and the subordinate status of teaching and especially of student learning. In individual chapters, I trace the influence of the Humboldtian ideology from its origins through its cultural transfer to other university traditions to its detrimental consequences in contemporary Czech higher education. The institutionalization of this ideology in accreditation policies and its deeply rooted existence in Czech academic culture collide with a number of policy instruments both on national and institutional level. eg. dual funding, research evaluation mechanisms, formula based funding for teaching etc.
I argue that Czech higher education system needs liberation from this ideology that would help to find a new framework for the massified system. This would bring back the interests of students and their expectations from higher education, because it could emancipate student learning (contrary to emphasis on teachers´ teaching), but it could be also in favour of the vast majority of academics and higher education institutions, because it could lead to the recognition of wider variety of scholarly and educational activities that are left aside in present both education and research evaluation mechanisms.
Personality development of university students as part of the quality of teaching
Author: LIBOR PRUDKÝ
Publisher: CDK
ISBN: 978-80-7325-352-3
Number of pages: 111
Published: Brno, Czech Republic, 2014
(In Czech)
The publication deals with a hitherto little respected issue – the function of higher education institutions as educational (“působením vysokých škol jako výchovných institucí“.jak se přeloží „výchovný“ ?) institutions. Part of studying at higher education institution is the formation of the personality of each student. The formation of personality is primarily connected with the process of interiorization of values. It is about what values higher education institutions offer through the education they provide. They should be desirable values. This publication evaluates the activities associated with learning to be free as the basis for the good influence of higher education institutions on the development of the personality of their students. We are born with a disposition to freedom, but without learning to be free we cannot exercise that disposition. The extent to which higher education institutions succeed in ensuring that their students simultaneously learn freedom while studying is an attribute of the quality of these institutions and the studies they provide. This dimension of the quality of higher education is still hardly taken into account at all.
Politics and everyday life in Czech universities: ethnographic perspectives on education and research
Author: KAREL ŠIMA a kol.
Publisher: Slon
ISBN: 978-80-7419-171-8
Number of pages: 267
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2014
(In Czech)
The book is the output of team ethnographic research conducted by the authors in 2011-2013 in five departments of Czech higher education institutions, including one private institution. It disrupts a number of established ideas about Czech higher education institutions, especially the one according to which it is impossible to implement quality higher education and quality research with a high number of students.
The authors’ collective explores the plurality of educational contexts and the intended and unintended consequences of higher education and science policy in different types of higher education institutions and in different disciplines.
Individual chapters address key issues in higher education: the forms of learning and teaching under conditions of massification; the flexibility and precarization of the career trajectories of teachers and researchers; the nature and organization of knowledge produced and reproduced in academia; the differences and tensions between professionally-oriented and academic-oriented education; and the question of the quality of higher education. Interspersed between the chapters are ‘interludes’ that illuminate particular themes from yet another angle and in a different genre (e.g. by comparison with practice abroad or autobiographical accounts).
In between the chapters are inserted “interludes”, which illuminate individual topics from a different angle and in a different genre (e.g. by comparing them with foreign practice or autobiographical descriptions).
Using European Standards for Quality Assurance in Czech Higher Education Institutions
Author: HELENA ŠEBKOVÁ, JOSEF BENEŠ, VLADIMÍR ROSKOVEC
Publisher: Vyšehrad
ISBN: 978-80-7429-438-9
Number of pages: 216
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2013
(In Czech)
The quality of higher education and its maintenance and improvement has long been one of the fundamental priorities for the development of this part of the education systems of many countries. The reasons for emphasising quality and quality assurance are many, and among the most important are the decentralisation of the management of higher education systems, in which autonomous institutions are accountable to the state for the quality of their activities (or its citizens), which is the main provider of public funds. The quality of the activities of higher education institutions is linked to their extensive development, to the emergence and development of modern educational methods and technical means. Internationalisation, of which the mobility of students and academic staff is an essential part, also plays a fundamental role. This publication is dedicated to the results of the project Identifying Barriers in Promoting the European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional Level supported by the EU Lifelong Learning Programme.
Humboldt's lost paradise: the ideology of the unity of research and teaching in higher education
Author: KAREL ŠIMA, PETR PABIAN
Publisher: Slon
ISBN: 978-80-7419-156-5
Number of pages: 174
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2013
(In Czech)
Is the unity of research and teaching the obvious and necessary basis of modern higher education? Academic elites in all Western countries, including the Czech Republic, agree. However, this book shows that it is not, because it has never been implemented in reality – according to the authors, it is an ideological principle which rather obscures reality and which needs to be criticised. As a consequence of this ideology, teachers are often uninterested in their students and what they learn. In this sense, the unity of research and teaching is an oxymoron: it is an apparently lost yet never-existent paradise whose eternal search only obscures current problems and prevents their constructive solutions.
The book’s interdisciplinary approach traces the development of this ideology from the 19th century to the present, in an international context and in the Czech lands. The book refutes the stereotype of the separation of research and teaching in socialist Czechoslovakia and instead points to the innovative transformation of Humboldtian ideology into an ideological unity of “science, education, training and practice”. Thus, the post-1989 period did not bring about a ‘renewal of the unity of research and teaching’; on the contrary, a system emerged that ideologically requires but does not promote integration: universities struggled to accommodate the generally declared increase in study places and the concomitant increasing demands for reporting research results. Therefore, the book proposes to abandon the ideological notion of the unity of ‘research’ and ‘teaching’ and suggests a radical change of perspective on educational assessment, research evaluation and the politics of diversification.
Values, Stratification, Transformation
Author: LIBOR PRUDKÝ (Ed.)
Publisher: Aleš Čeněk
ISBN: 978-80-7380-401-5
Number of pages: 471
Published: Pilsen, Czech Republic, 2012
Social scientists of nine post-communist countries have met at a conference to conclude a several-year long research into The Shared Values. The research was coordinated by the editor of this volume and undertaken by the Center for Economic and Social Strategies, Faculty of Social Sciences, Charles University, Prague. The book is comprised of 24 studies examining the changes in values throughout the process of transformation in the post-communist countries and, in general, the questions of values, their conceptualization and research as well as their role in the processes of transformation and stratification. The studies present a new concept of empirical sociological study of values, cultural resources in class reproduction and ideology, problems of hedonism, social trust, cohesion, historical and cultural tradition and many other aspects of development of value structure in post-communist societies. Reviewers have emphasized that the present volume is the first book of its kind and is likely to become a basis for large-scale international comparisons. Its fundamental contribution stems from the comparison of a variety of approaches to the subject in different post-communist countries. Apart from other things, this provides a good basis for better communication and a path to the respect for each other.
The relationship between research and teaching in the age of the massification of higher education
Author: KAREL ŠIMA (Ed.)
Publisher: Národohospodářský ústav Josefa Hlávky
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2012
(In Czech)
Author: LIBOR PRUDKÝ, PETR PABIAN, KAREL ŠIMA
Publisher: Grada Publishing, a.s.
ISBN: 978-80-247-3009-7
Number of pages: 168
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2010
(In Czech)
In this book, the authors attempt to bring a factual and theoretically based perspective to the heated debates about the shape of the development of higher education after 1989. Using the concept of “massification” of higher education, they analyse the basic development trends that Czech higher education has undergone. Significant changes in the capacity of higher education have important implications for the status of students, academic staff and the role of research in higher education. These main actors are analysed both in terms of their internal characteristics and in a broader societal context. The book also poses questions about the meaning of changes in higher education and the search for the content of higher education for society.
Cooperation of technical faculties of public higher education institutions with enterprises and other experts focusing on bachelor's degree programmes
Author: JAROSLAV VETEŠKA, HELENA ŠEBKOVÁ (Eds.)
Publisher: Educa service
ISBN: 978-80-87306-05-0
Number of pages: 336
Published: Prague, Czech Republic, 2010
(In Czech)
The present monograph is the main and summary output of all the work on the project “Cooperation of technical faculties of public higher education institutions with enterprises and other experts focusing on bachelor’s degree programmes” supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports. The monograph is divided into four parts. The first part is composed of five chapters, which contain the main research results concerning the participation of external partners of the surveyed higher education institutions (HEIs) in three complex areas of HEI activities – education (especially curriculum design and delivery), institutional management and quality assurance. The second part of the monograph is mainly devoted to statistical data. The third part of the monograph contains four case studies in four chapters. The first of them contains an extensive comparison of the recommendations of OECD experts to several countries – participants in the Thematic Review of Tertiary Education project – for development in the field of cooperation between HEIs and the labour market. This is followed by a case study on HEI-industry cooperation in Croatia. The next two chapters cover national experiences and provide a comprehensive view of examples of good practice in academic-business cooperation at two of the HEIs studied – the Brno University of Technology and the University of West Bohemia in Pilsen. The fourth part of the monograph summarises the expected results of the project.
Studies on Higher Education. Implementation of the Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in the Central and East-European Countries – Agenda Ahead
Author: JAN KOHOUTEK (Ed.)
Publisher: UNESCO
ISBN: 978-92-9069-189-1 (wrongly mentioned ISBN: 92-9069-189-2)
Number of pages: 321
Published: Bucharest, Romania, 2009
In the process of creating the European Higher Education Area, national higher education systems face many challenges with implications for higher education institutions as well as for the governing bodies of public administrations. As one of the main themes of the Bologna Process, the quality of higher education has become a frequent subject of research over time, but mainly in Western European countries, not in the CEE region. The book “Implementation of Standards and Rules for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Central and Eastern European Countries – Possible Solutions” is the result of the efforts of experts from five Central and Eastern European countries (Czech Republic, Poland, Slovak Republic, Hungary, Latvia) to change this situation. The subject of the research is the current state of implementation of the “Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area” (ESG) at national level in these five CEE countries. To this end, the book is divided into a total of 11 chapters, of which the first three are devoted to theoretical background, and the following five to case studies from each country. In addition to a final chapter summarising the research findings, the book also includes a pilot case study on the implementation of ESG within a higher education institution (chapters nine and ten). In terms of its focus and content, the book “Implementation of Standards and Rules for Quality Assurance in Higher Education in Central and Eastern European Countries – Possible Solutions” is intended for researchers as well as for executive staff of higher education institutions, ministries and other government bodies.
Quality Assurance in Czech Higher Education
Author: ALENA CHVÁTALOVÁ, JAN KOHOUTEK, HELENA ŠEBKOVÁ (Eds.)
Publisher: Aleš Čeněk, s.r.o.
ISBN: 978-80-7380-154-0
Number of pages: 208
Published: Prrague, Czech Republic, 2008
(In Czech)
The development of quality assurance mechanisms is one of the basic development priorities of higher education both at the European level (Bologna Process) and at the national level of individual countries. The reason for this is the state’s efforts not only to ensure the necessary level of higher education in terms of efficient use of public resources, but also the efforts of institutions themselves to achieve the highest possible level of quality in their activities. In the Czech Republic, as in most other Bologna Process signatory countries, the provision of cost-effective higher education is ensured through the mechanism of accreditation, while the continuous improvement of the quality of the activities of higher education institutions is ensured through formative institutional internal evaluation. The aim of the monograph “Quality Assurance in Czech Higher Education” is to describe and evaluate the development of the state accreditation mechanism and institutional internal evaluation mechanisms of public and private higher education institutions in the Czech Republic since 1989. Then, on the basis of a description of the developmental dynamics of accreditation and institutional evaluation mechanisms, to analyse the impact of these mechanisms on the current state of higher education policy at the national level. Last but not least, the monograph aims to refine the understanding of the convergence of the development of Czech and European higher education policy through the analysis of initiatives aimed at the development of quality assurance mechanisms at the transnational level. The content of the monograph is especially intended for researchers and analysts dealing with higher education systems, but thanks to the inclusion of case studies from individual higher educational institutions containing examples of good practice, it will also provide valuable information to other key stakeholders in higher education – students and their parents.
CHES also contributed to the content of the following books:
Drivers and Barriers to Achieving Quality in Higher Education
Author: HEATHER EGGINS (ed.)
Publisher: Sense Publishers
ISBN: 978-94-6209-492-5
Number of pages: 180
Published: Rotterdam, Netherlands, 2014
This book is an integral part of the major project funded by the EACEA Programme of the European Commission, on the topic of ‘Identifying Barriers in Promoting European Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance at Institutional Level’. The Standards and Guidelines for Quality Assurance in the European Higher Education Area (ESG) were established in 2005, and are currently being reviewed. The ESG Part 1 applies to all higher education within Europe and proffers advice on all aspects of quality assurance. The book is grounded on the research findings of the three year project (2010– 2013) which has been examining in detail all aspects of quality work in institutions. The research interrogated a sample of 28 higher education institutions in seven countries. The research teams undertaking the work are drawn from the Centre for Higher Education Studies, Prague, Czech Republic, Durham University, UK, University of Latvia (Riga), the Centre for Research in Higher Education Policy (CIPES), Matosinhos, Portugal, Warsaw School of Economics, Poland, Constantine the Philosopher University, Nitra, Slovakia and the Centre for HigherEducation Policy Studies (CHEPS) University of Twente, Netherlands.
Developing Media Literacy in Public Education: A regional priority in a Mediatized Age
Author: VERONIKA PELLE (Ed.)
ISBN: 978-963-503-622-6
Number of pagesr: 240
Published: Budapest, Hungary, 2016
The growing scientific discourse on media literacy in the last couple of years proves that the actors of science seem to have recognized this need: a numberof publications and conferences on media literacy have emerged, discussing the benefits and dangers, changes and challenges of our mediatized age. Despite the scientific results, however, few decisive steps promoting medialiteracy have been made in educational policy and practice, either on national or European level. One of the possible reasons behind this delay is the lack of comprehensive, in-depth researches, providing an overview on the state of media literacy in public education on national levels. Our project Developing media literacy in public education: A regional priority in a mediatized age embarked on filling in the above hiatus and facing this challenge in the region of the Visegrad Group (V4) countries: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic.Funded by the International Visegrad Fund, the main aim of our project – lead by the Institute of Behavioural Sciences and Communication Theory at Corvinus University of Budapest – was to map the state of media literacy in the V4 region and develop an international knowledge base in this field. For this purpose, an academic research group was set in each of the V4 countries.
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