Jussi Välimaa

Pedagogical perspectives on the relationships between higher education and working life

The relationship between higher educationinstitutions and their environment has changedmarkedly during the last two decades.Massification and diversification of the highereducation system, economic globalisation, novelmodes of knowledge production, new professionalrequirements and the establishment of newvocational higher education systems in manycountries have challenged higher educationinstitutions to develop new forms ofcollaboration with working life. The newsituation also challenges higher education todevelop pedagogical and educational thinkingand practices. The purpose of this article isto examine the pedagogical aspects of theincreasing interaction and collaboration thatis taking place between higher education andworking life and to outline what kind ofchallenges it poses for research on highereducation. It is emphasised that from thepedagogical viewpoint integration betweentheory and practice in work-based learning isessential. Our general conclusion is that therelationship between higher education andworking life should be examined at least fromfour different perspectives: (1) from theviewpoint of student learning and thedevelopment of expertise, (2) from the viewpointof educational institutions and staff, (3) fromthe viewpoint of working life organisations andemployers, and (4) from the viewpoint of societyand the system of education.

Culture and Identity in Higher Education Research.

The aim of this article is to develop a cultural approach in higher education studies. It will be argued that the cultural approach is rooted mainly in two different intellectual starting points to analyze academic communities as cultural entities: studies of disciplinary cultures and institutional cultures. Notions of disciplines as cultural entities have been developed in Europe in relation to the “two cultures” topic and to issues developed in the sociology of knowledge. The institutional studies tradition is, in turn, rooted in the American intellectual tradition, where cultural concerns emerge from institutional level phenomena whether they concern students, faculty or higher education institutions. The article discusses the pros and cons of these traditions in order to find new avenues for future research. It will be argued that academic identity provides a seminal perspective for cultural studies in higher education.

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.

Polytechnics in Finnish Higher Education

This chapter is part of a book that provides a comprehensive discussion of the non-university higher education sector in Europe. Higher education throughout the world is facing rapid change and the book describes and offers critical comparisons between the systems in 10 European countries. Finnish polytechnics (AMK institutions) are in transition as organisations after a series of mergers resulted in the amalgamation of over 200 vocational institutions to form 32 polytechnics. Transition is also generated by challenges stemming from new national legislation and the Bologna Process. In this chapter, the authors describe the characteristics of Finnish polytechnics and analyse their development from the perspective of governance and institutional autonomy. The study draws on published research on Finnish higher education complemented by the personal experiences of the authors in universities and polytechnics.

Three Rounds of Evaluation and the Idea of Accreditation in Finnish Higher Education

This study is based on the analysis of evaluation reports published by the Finnish Higher Education Evaluation Council (FINHEEC) supported by relevant research literature, the higher education databases (KOTA and AMKOTA)1 maintained by the Ministry of Education, and other statistical data.

Two discourses: researchers and policy-making in higher education

The theme of this article focuses on how policy discourse and research discourse meet in contract research in higher education. The interplay of these discourses has consequences for researchers who have to balance conflicting demands, which we view as links between research and policy cycles. Two evaluation studies on the introduction and effects of new policy instruments are discussed, focusing on the interaction between policy needs, and research design. The examples are taken from policies in the development towards increasing self-regulation in higher education, of which Finland and the Netherlands are interesting examples in the European context.

The Bologna Process in Finland

The aim of this chapter is to analyse how the Bologna Process influences Finnish higher education by examining what changes are related to or caused by it. The study focuses first on the social field of national higher education policy-making, and second on the study of higher education institutions examined from the perspective of academic basic units. The study is based on critical analysis of national policy documents and on a qualitative case study conducted at the University of Jyvaskyla in the spring term of 2004. The qualitative case study was based on thematic focus group interviews. The themes of the interview can be found in the Appendix 1. In order to reach a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomena taking place in higher education the choice of academic departments was influenced by studies of academic cultures (see Becher and Trowler 2001). A more detailed methodological discussion will be offered in section 5. The idea of a

Change as an Intellectual Device and as an Object of Research

Change is normally taken for granted in higher education research and policy-making - and in everyday life. It is a matter of fact that we can see change everywhere but there are only very few people who have defined the nature of change as a problematic matter as such (e.g. see Halonen & Hayry, 1990).

Introduction: How Is Change in Higher Education Managed?

It is an understatement to argue that the previous two decades have been characterized by an interest in reform and change of higher education. It is thus difficult to find an area of the sector that has not been exposed to policy initiatives aimed not only at changing the surrounding structures, but also at the ways in which teaching and research are organized and function. Reform initiatives have been taken at the supra-national level (exemplified by the Bologna Process in Europe), at the national level and at the institutional level (Gornitzka et al., 2005).

Higher Education and the Knowledge Society

Knowledge society may be defined as a discourse which is based on certain intellectual starting points in the analyses of modern societies, while as a concept it tends to create its own images, expectations, and narratives. The importance of higher education in this discourse is rooted in the fact that changes in science, research, and technology have changed the social role of universities. According to a radical perspective, a rapid metamorphosis is taking place in the relationship between knowledge production and university institution, whereas a more moderate view holds that recent changes challenge the traditional values found in higher education institutions.