Arild Tjeldvoll

The Norwegian Unified School: A Paradise Lost?.

Norway has a legacy of educational policies for equal opportunity in a comprehensive learning environment - envisaged in the model of the Unified School. A peak of success was reached in the third quarter of the 20 th Century. Everybody got the opportunity of secondary and tertiary education free of charge. Education had a distinct equalizing effect. In the last quarter of the last century, indications of serious problems started to appear. Research indicated that the Unified School was producing inequality in learning conditions, achievements and opportunities. Problem solving has been attempted along two opposing policy lines: Educational Populism for restoring the Unified School, and New Public Management for creating a Quality School. Justifications for the present policy changes reside in claims about goal conflicts and the alleged dysfunctional effects of welfare state education policies, ideological changes and economic globalization. The Unified School reflects an equality-driven education policy, while the Quality School reform is competitiveness-driven. Because of particularities of Norwegian culture and economy, a residue of concerns with equality can be traced in the present Quality Reform.

Change leadership in universities: the Confucian dimension

The intensified competition of the global, market-based knowledge economy requires change leadership in universities and colleges throughout the world. National policy makers increasingly see knowledge as a core resource of modern economies and a prerequisite for global competitiveness. By implication, the quality of university leadership becomes crucial, both in the West as well as in Asia which has demonstrated the most rapid growth globally over the past decade. This paper explores the nature of leadership of university leadership in ‘Confucian cultural lands’. Due to certain characteristics of Confucianism, university leaders in these countries may possess certain advantages in terms of changing their organisations to become more effective in terms of meeting the goals of national policies. This link between leadership and the cultural context is discussed in terms of both potential benefits and costs with respect to leading East Asian universities in this global era.

The service university in a service society: The Oslo case

This article aims at presenting the University of Oslo as a case of a Scandinavian university experiencing policy and structural changes as a consequence of changes in governments thinking on university finance. In this situation the active marketing of research based services might be a new source of revenue, and hence the following question comes up: How is the service function of the University perceived by the University and its clients in the Oslo region? The University of Oslo case is explored by reviewing available policy documents, statistics, regulations, charters and legal acts issued by the university itself and the Ministry of Education. In addition, information obtained through interviews with key actors at the university and key clients of the Oslo region, is presented. The study concludes that the University of Oslo is taking careful steps in the service direction.

Finnish Higher Education Reforms: Responding to Globalization

The international academic success of Finnish secondary schooling in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the triumph of the Finnish technology company NOKIA have stimulated national ambitions to improve higher education institutions in Finland. Because secondary schooling and technology in Finland receive world recognition, increased national pressure to raise higher education recognition has followed. Since the early 1990s, the Finnish government has engaged in a reform process of higher education, mainly focusing on polytechnics, to bolster international recognition and success. It was the Bologna Declaration in 1999 that really triggered reform in Finland’s universities. From degree restructuring to the legal, organizational, and financial repositioning, Finnish universities saw great reform to match the success of secondary schooling and technology. Finland, a nation of 5 million people on the outskirts of northern Europe, now has aspiring world-class universities. The country has a homogenous culture based on equity and, until recently, an agriculture and forestry economy. Using Finland’s economic and cultural context, this article outlines Finland’s higher education sector development over the last decades and examines its present “revolutionary” policy changes. The policies examined are contrasted to Clark’s (1998) pathways of transformation model of the Entrepreneurial University. Finally, the policy ambitions to change Finland’s university organization are discussed in relation to

Vietnam – A New Economic Dragon in Southeast Asia?

This study investigates and identifies some of the primary determinants of Vietnam’s growth during the Doi Moi era and provides an assessment of their relevance and application to contemporary challenges. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam has an impressive record of economic growth and poverty reduction over the past two decades. Capitalizing on the advantages of its cultural and economic features, the strategy of incremental Doi Moi reforms has demonstrated the strength and commitment of Vietnam’s political leadership. The country has achieved middle-income economy status in 2009 and is aiming to become an industrialized nation by 2020. However, on the background of mounting domestic challenges and less favorable international economic conditions, the achievement of this ambitious goal seems uncertain. Growing economic affluence may have hampered some of the positive features, which had previously been instrumental in catalyzing growth and development, and the current reform processes appear to be stalling.

The Decline of Educational Populism in Norway

Recent election campaigns in Norway have seen a heated debate about education issues. With reference to an increasing number of indications of crisis in the education system, especially within teacher training, the problems are discussed as possible effects of a particular Norwegian educational populism. Comparing Norwegian education to that of the United Kingdom and the United States it is claimed that Platos essentialism still seems to be strong and is actually increasing as an educational philosophy preferred by elites, as well as politically radical elites. Although educational populism is strongly rooted in Norwegian culture it is claimed that during the next decade populism will not survive international influences in the direction of basic knowledge orientation, organizational differentiation and privatization.

Letter from the Special Issue Co-Editors

New empirical results show the importance of both minimal and high-level skills, the complementarity of skills and the quality of economic institutions, and the robustness of the relationship between skills and growth. International comparisons incorporating expanded data on cognitive skills reveal much larger skill deficits in developing countries than generally derived from just school enrolment and attainment. The magnitude of change needed makes it clear that closing the economic gap with industrial countries will require major structural changes in schooling institutions. (Hanushek & Woessmann, 2007, p. 1)