This paper is a theoretical contribution to discussions about the emancipatory potential of citizenship education across four sites (i.e. Catalonia, Colombia, England, and Pakistan). By reflecting on policy and empirical data from our four contexts of study, we discuss whether citizenship education manifests different conditions of emancipatory…

In this article we examine the European Semester as an innovative form of policy coordination, with distinct effects on education and skills policies for Member States. We analyse the Semester's framing of education policy, and examine its manifestations in Spain and Sweden, two countries considered to be different in their approach to education.…

Advances in neuro-technology provide new insights into how individual students learn in educational contexts. However, applying it poses challenges for teachers in natural settings. This paper presents an example of the use and applicability of eye-tracking technology in Higher Education. We worked with a sample of 20 students from three…

Open Educational Resources (OER) in higher education cannot be put into practice without considering institutional contexts, which differ not only globally but also within the same country. Each institutional context provides educators with opportunities or limitations where Open Educational Practices (OEP) and OER for teaching and learning are…

Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come…

Europe is, in many ways, of central importance to discussions about higher education. Various European initiatives, such as the Bologna Process and the Erasmus mobility programme, have had a direct and material impact on the shape and nature of higher education across the continent. They have also been linked to wider political objectives, such as…

The purpose of this article is to examine academia and the abuse of power based on auto-ethnographic research. I draw on my experiences across 12 universities in different locations in Spain, the UK and the USA that expose the way power is embedded in institutions of higher education and how it is maintained. This article analyses the exploration…

Endeavors supporting college students' positive psychosocial development are gaining attention and investment in various countries and social contexts. Higher education experiences provide new academic, social, and vocational advancement opportunities at a critical developmental stage. However, higher education can also cause distress due to the…

Higher education is currently undergoing a revolution with the widespread use of electronic tools in classrooms. Simultaneously, personal opinions are increasingly stronger and more expressive resulting in electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM). This article presents two studies. The first study exposes students' opinions about higher education and…

Embedding quality into higher education institutions is a challenging matter given the complexity of the higher education environment. Although several studies have been conducted seeking to reveal associated challenges, a limited number of researches have been implemented on a cross-national level. This study investigates challenges associated…

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through…

It is often assumed within much of the academic literature and by many of those working in higher education that universities across Europe are homogenising, converging around an Anglo-American model as a result of neo-liberal pressures and the aim of creating a single European Higher Education Area. However, drawing on an analysis of 92 policy…

The international student recruitment and overall cross-border education have constantly been evolving. In the past two decades, higher education institutions were developing and implementing their plan of campus internationalization. Various universities and colleges have different approaches to the internationalization. However, through the…

Given the fact that countries can differ in their educational policy and practice and that these national contexts are influenced by international developments makes it interesting to do comparative research into policy and practice of different countries. In this article we present the results of a comparative inquiry into citizenship and…

Southern European countries, like Italy and Spain, have been severely affected by the recent economic crisis. This has affected their labour market in terms of increased unemployment, while many of those in employment feel more insecure. As a consequence, many individuals turn to education as a step to making a career change. The opportunities and…