Jani Ursin

The construction of academic identity in the changes of Finnish higher education

This article sets out to explore how academics make sense of the current transformations of higher education and what kinds of academic identities are thereby constructed. Based on a narrative analysis of 42 interviews with Finnish academics, nine narratives are discerned, each providing a different answer as to what it means to be an academic in the present-day university. Narratives of resistance, loss, administrative work overload and job insecurity are embedded in a regressive storyline, describing deterioration of academic work and ones standing. In a sharp contrast, narratives of success, mobility and change agency rely on a progressive storyline which sees the current changes in a positive light. Between these opposites, narratives of work–life balance and bystander follow stable storylines, involving a neutral stance toward university transformations. The paper concludes that academic identities have become increasingly diversified and polarized due to the managerial and structural changes in higher education.

Dominant and emerging approaches in the study of higher education policy change

The purpose of the article is to analyse recent literature on higher education policy change. Based on the review, three different approaches are distinguished: structural, actor and agency. In the structural approach the dynamic of policy change originates in well-established structures. The actor approach focuses on either individual or institutional actors as the drivers of policy change. The agency approach understands higher education policy change as an interactive process between various actors and domains within transient structures. We will also present two emerging, alternative approaches: actor-network theory, which takes interaction as a starting point and proposes that no organization or agent is ever autonomous; and a discursive approach, which sees higher education policy change as a discursive process.

Why (not) assess? Views from the academic departments of Finnish universities

In Europe, national quality assurance systems of higher education have begun to be established. In Finland, this development has had the consequence of forcing universities to take notice of assessment procedures. However, little is known about the procedures taking place in individual academic departments as a result of this pan‐European trend. This article describes how academics currently comprehend quality assessment, paying particular attention to self‐evaluations and quality assurance systems. Altogether, the paper casts light on how academics are responding to the increasing university assessment activities.

Is Education Getting Lost in University Mergers

Mergers are common phenomena in higher education institutions. Improving educational quality is typically one of the stated goals of university mergers. Yet, little information exists about how merging institutions approach this goal. This paper presents results from a study of planning documents created prior to four mergers in the Finnish higher education system. These documents show that there was little concrete attention given to the educational issues related to the mergers. Most attention was placed on administrative issues and issues related to research. When educational issues were mentioned, it was almost always in the form of vague goals with few details provided about how the goals were to be reached. We conclude that this lack of attention to the educational aspect of mergers is a significant weakness of the planning process in these mergers.

Evaluation and Quality Assurance in Finnish and Italian Universities in the Bologna Process

Abstract The purpose of the study is to describe the evaluation and quality assurance practices employed in the basic units of Finnish and Italian universities and analyse the impact of the Bologna process on quality assessment. The data consist of interviews (n=30) conducted in Finland and Italy. The results suggest that: (1) evaluation and quality assurance were primarily seen in connection with the educational provision of the university; (2) although the respondents were familiar with evaluation, they were unsure about the procedures and effects of quality assurance in their unit; and (3) despite the harmonising aim of the Bologna process, evaluation, and quality assurance appeared to maintain their cultural and institutional features.

Collegial or Managerial? Academics' Conceptions of Quality in English and Finnish Universities.

Two specific forms of quality are identified: Type I, which has a managerial focus and stresses fitness for purpose and accountability, and Type II, which is collegial and concerned with enhancement. Through an analysis of the literature on quality in higher education and small-scale empirical research with a sample of academic staff, this article compares conceptions of quality assurance in the English and Finnish higher education systems. The authors highlight the similarities and differences in the two countries and possible reasons for them. Over time the blend of managerial and collegial approaches to quality has come to favour the former but much more so in England than in Finland, which continues to prefer a largely enhancement-led agenda. Both are signatories to the Bologna Declaration, and the implications for other European countries of convergence in quality assurance systems by 2011 through this Declaration are considered.

Quality management in higher education: A comparative study of the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Finland

This chapter examines lecturers’ perceptions of the balance between quality assurance and quality enhancement in three case study higher education institutions in different European countries. Where quality initiatives emphasised assurance rather than enhancement, this was taken to indicate a significant limitation on a lecturer’s autonomy in the quality management process. In-depth interviews using a semi-structured schedule were conducted with 20 randomly selected academic staff in each of the three higher education institutions. The results from the interviews demonstrated a very wide range of views among the interviewees. However, generally, it was found that there was a high level of disappointment with only limited transformation of teaching and learning through quality enhancement. This sense of disappointment was particularly acute in the UK and Dutch institutions where many interviewees expressed concern that quality assurance approaches tended to dominate. In the Finnish higher education institutions, there was a more positive attitude towards quality initiatives with a far higher proportion of interviewees considering that lecturers had significant control over the quality management process and they felt that there was an appropriate balance of quality assurance and quality enhancement.

Finnish adult students’ perspectives on short-cycle study programmes: motives and evaluations

ABSTRACT We investigated how students in Finland perceive short-cycle higher education programmes. In line with the European trend, Finland has piloted short-cycle study programmes in order to attract adult students into higher education. We found that the students were mainly satisfied with their studies, and that their orientations to studies and learning were extrinsic in nature. The strengths of the programme were perceived as related to the flexibility of the studies, the variety of teaching methods, and the extensive contents of the studies. The main challenges were associated with difficulties in using information and communications technology (ICT) within the studies, and issues with time management. The study sheds light on how more open higher education structures and study processes can promote participation in higher education among adult students.