Jelena Brankovic

The Re-Institutionalization of Higher Education in the Western Balkans

Contents: Bjorn Stensaker/Jelena Brankovic/Maja Kovacevic/Peter Maassen/Martina Vukasovic: Introduction - Martina Vukasovic: How Can and How Does Europe Matter? - Danijela Dolenec/Nikola Baketa/Peter Maassen: Europeanizing Higher Education and Research Systems of the Western Balkans - Antigoni Papadimitriou/Bjorn Stensaker: Governance Capacity of Western Balkan Universities: Perceptions of Institutional Leadership - Jelena Brankovic: Positioning of Private Higher Education Institutions in the Western Balkans: Emulation, Differentiation and Legitimacy Building - Martin Galevski: Dimensions of Higher Education Governance in Macedonia: Exploring the Roles of the State - Sanja Kanazir/Antigoni Papadimitriou/Bjorn Stensaker: Quality Assurance Agencies in the Western Balkans: Balancing European Standards and Domestic Needs? - Martina Vukasovic: Quality Assurance in Croatia and Serbia: Analysis of Changes of Policy and Internal Organizational Practices - Antigoni Papadimitriou/Nina Brankovic/Snezana Dordevic: The Regional Links of Universities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia - Heliona Mico/Suzana Papadhopulli: Differentiation of the Mission of Higher Education Institutions through Developing and Establishing Regional Development Centres at Each Regional University - Bjorn Stensaker/Jelena Brankovic/Maja Kovacevic/Peter Maassen/Martina Vukasovic: Epilogue.

Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education

History of the social sciences could be followed via keywords that characterize each period of its development. Globalization is a term that suddenly appeared at the end of the last century pushing its brand in the forefront where it still insists. Depending on the viewing angle it is invoked once as a “solution” and other time as “destruction.” At the same time it opens up yet other perspectives; one of them is articulated as glocalization.

Partial Horizontal Differentiation in Croatian Higher Education: How Ideas, Institutions and Interests Shape the Policy Process

This chapter looks into the historical process of establishing and strengthening of the non-university sector in Croatia since the mid-1990s onwards and offers an account of its outcome. Initially, the process was part of the country’s broader efforts not only to ensure regionally balanced development, but also to improve quality, efficiency and accessibility to higher education. Since 2001, it was further embedded in broader higher education reform efforts, especially the implementation of the Bologna Process. This reform entailed, on the one hand, the establishment of non-university – professionally oriented – higher education institutions and, on the other hand, a gradual abolishment of professional study programmes in universities. The authors suggest that only a small part of the reform goals have been achieved, whereby some non-university institutions have been established and the number of students enrolled in professional programmes at universities has somewhat decreased. Effectively, the reform failed to align the distinction between types of higher education institutions and types of programmes, rendering the binary divide, at best, blurred. The authors argue that such outcome has been a result of, on the one hand, the governments’ reliance on formal regulation as the main policy instrument, which allowed for discretion in interpretation and enforcement of rules, and, on the other hand, the fact that the most dominant actor – universities – has continuously opposed the reforms.

Between world culture and local context: The university as an empowered actor in national higher education governance

World society theory argues that actor empowerment in local contexts is driven primarily by the expanding world culture, rendering alternative explanations weaker in comparison. This article explores one such alternative explanation and offers an account of actor empowerment which highlights the role of identity constructed in local interaction. The article imports insights from identity theory to show how identities constructed in interaction may complement those derived from the world culture. To explore the phenomenon of theoretical interest, the case of a historical empowerment of Serbian universities in the post-2000 period, as an actor in the national higher education governance, is considered.

Inter-institutional differences in defensive stakeholder management in higher education: the case of Serbia

ABSTRACT In contemporary higher education, stakeholder management is increasingly important given the growing number and complexity of stakeholder groups. Defensive stakeholder management (DSM), defined as verbal responses of universities to stakeholder criticism, is a largely neglected topic in the higher education literature. Drawing from a combination of theoretical perspectives in the organisation science literature, we explore how three Serbian universities engage with DSM (in relation to allegations of academic misconduct). We focus on the antecedents of inter-institutional differences in responses to stakeholder criticism and its antecedents, in particular, decision-making structures and core missions. Our findings suggest that different universities do respond differently to the same type of criticism and as such this is an important contribution to the debate on DSM in higher education and beyond.

Croatia:introducing and strenghtening the non-university sector

The report concerns Croatias policy to strengthen its non-university higher education provision and increase horizontal differentiation among its higher education institutions and study programmes. The report is one of the twelve case studies conducted within the “Structural Higher Education Reform – Design and Evaluation” project, commissioned by the European Commission (EAC/31/2014). The main objective of this project – carried out by the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, the Netherlands, and the Centre for Higher Education Governance Ghent (CHEGG), Ghent University, Belgium - was to investigate policy processes related to the design, implementation, and evaluation of structural reforms of higher education systems across Europe.

Chapter 3: Europeanizing Higher Education and Research Systems of the Western Balkans

In Chapter 3 which focuses on the process of Europeanising higher education and research systems of the Western Balkans, Dolenec, Baketa and Maassen analyse the implementation of Bologna reforms, Lisbon strategy objectives for higher education and research, as well as Tempus and Erasmus Mundus funding programmes of the European Commission, all of which are believed to be contributing to a single objective – advancing Europe’s competitiveness globally.