This article discusses the University as an institution in three parts, moving from the abstract to the concrete. The first and longest section begins with the University as a social form or type: what it is, its inner motors, what holds it together; and its outer drivers, what holds it in society. The second section remarks on tendencies in the…

Europe's objectives of economic growth and job creation require large numbers of professionals who are willing and able to innovate and rise above themselves. In this article, a concept of excellence is developed that can be broadly applied in professional higher education. This concept of excellence derives from three concepts which the German…

Dewey's concept of enabling children to explore based on their own interests has evolved into investigations and projects using methods of exploration, experimentation, and discovery--three tenets of service-learning. Using mixed methodology, the authors examined the implementation of service-learning in a teacher education program. A total of 155…

The purpose of professional education programs is to prepare aspiring professionals for the challenges of practice within a particular profession. These programs typically seek to ensure the acquisition of necessary knowledge and skills, as well as providing opportunities for their application. While not denying the importance of knowledge and…

For Gadamer, understanding moves between two different levels. One is the everyday ontological level in which there is a meeting between the familiar and the alien, between the known and the not-quite-expected. But understanding can also be a skill to be developed. This is the way in which we achieve good knowledge. In pedagogical terms,…

This study was undertaken to develop a rich image and understanding of the actions taken by the leaders in charge to translate the Reggio Emilia approach into their university Child Development Lab School and associated teacher education classes. As the university selling is one in which the links between theory, research and practice are highly…