While comprehensive research has been conducted on the Bologna Process (BP) as well as on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), the roles of the social sciences in these reforms have remained mostly overlooked. Based on a systematic literature review of articles and reports from 1999 to 2018, we analyse the interplay of social sciences with…

The past two decades have witnessed growing interest in Higher Education (HE) achievement standards. Globally, the English Language Teaching (ELT) sector provides students with Direct Entry (DE) English language program (ELP) pathways to university study. It has typically relied on commercially available English language tests to ensure…

Purpose: Standards should provide a means for transparently comparing academic programmes delivered by higher education providers and the research activities they carry out. The purpose of this study is to investigate the different sets of standards related to the quality assurance of academic programmes in four countries with regard to the…

This contribution examines the domestic reinterpretations of international and European recommendations in Central and Eastern European countries (CEECs). It asks under what conditions these institutional recommendations, but also global processes such as the university rankings, affect domestic public policies. The countries of Central and…

Higher education is fundamental to both national and global contemporary knowledge economies. It is also a driver for social change (see for example) which crucially includes making higher education available and relevant to a wider section of society and improving the mobility and relevance of its graduates in the workplace. New tools are…

The European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has been established, at least in structure, remapping Higher Education as we know it. This scenario offers a new framework in which the role of universities can be rethought, independently of the field of the new degrees and post graduate studies. As part of this reconceptualisation, the roles of teachers…

Argues that higher education is essential for the facilitation of globalization, pointing out that in the Eastern and Central European transition countries, higher education has been a main engine of transition. Asserts that it too must adapt to change, such as the rigors of a market economy that require it to be accessible to all and financed…

A discussion of costs for students attending higher education institutions in nine European countries (Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Sweden, United Kingdom) looks at average expenditures of American students, sources and conditions of public support for foreign students, requirements for student academic…

The Estonian Minister of Education discusses recent higher education trends and developments in Central and Eastern European countries, including the growth of institutional autonomy, expansion of educational opportunity, financial issues and privatization, balancing of academic and vocational education needs, part-time and continuing education,…