| European Educational | ISSN 1474-9041 | ||
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Volume 9 Number 1 2010 | |||
Other issues available | Journal home page | Publisher home page | |||
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CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text] | |||
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KEYNOTES ECER 2009 VIENNA
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Alternative Educational Futures for a Knowledge Society |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.1 |
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This article offers a critical analysis of recent trends in educational policy with particular reference to their assumptions about the knowledge society. It examines the implications of the analysis for the issue of elitism and the promotion of greater educational equality. The article concludes by offering an alternative approach to educational policy based on a social realist theory of knowledge. |
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Learning and Emotion: perspectives for theory and research |
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TINA HASCHER Department of Educational Research, University of Salzburg, Austria |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.13 |
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There is growing interest in and knowledge about the interplay of learning and emotion. However, the different approaches and empirical studies correspond to each other only to a low extent. To prevent this research field from increasing fragmentation, a shared basis of theory and research is needed. The presentation aims at giving an overview of the state of the art, developing a general framework for theory and research, and outlining crucial topics for future theory and research. The presentation focuses on the influence of emotions on learning. First, theories about the impact of emotions on learning are introduced. Second, the importance of these theories for school learning are discussed. Third, empirical evidence resulting from school-based research about the role of emotions for learning is presented. Finally, further research demands are stressed. |
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Higher Education and Employability of Graduates: will Bologna make a difference? |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.32 |
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This article focuses on the relationship between higher education, employability of graduates and students’ satisfaction with their studies, drawing on European statistics, as well as on data collected at national and/or institutional level in Portugal and Sweden. Employability has been understood as a measure of higher education quality and one of the issues at stake within the Bologna process. Having this in mind, the authors try to answer three main questions: What was the baseline situation in the two countries concerning higher education systems, enrolment in higher education and graduate employability before 2007? Were students satisfied with their studies and professional job situation before 2007? Which trends is it possible to envisage – tendencies of enrolment, mobility, employment – after 2007? Data analysed allows these questions to be answered and provides an important comparison due to the fact that both countries started to implement the Bologna structure in 2007 and have quite different educational systems. The authors discuss if ‘Bologna’ makes a difference regarding graduate employability and students’ satisfaction with their studies, and how the differences between the countries can be understood. |
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Employability and Finnish University Graduates |
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ANTERO PUHAKKA Department
of Social Sciences at the University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.45 |
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In this article the authors concentrate on the change in the concept of employability during the Bologna process. They show that employability has gradually moved from a peripheral to a core presence in the most recent Bologna process documents. Using a Finnish university merger (University of Eastern Finland) as an example, the authors demonstrate that implementation of the Bologna process has reached the most remote eastern border of the European Union. The Bologna process is shaping the Finnish universities, and employability discussion is embedded in university reforms. The authors argue that the reason why employability has been raised as one of the core concepts of the Bologna process is labour market needs. Moreover, students want university education to help their transition to the world of work. On the other hand, employers want graduates who are well prepared for the world of work. In this way, the raison d’être for universities is to fulfil the needs of national economies and the labour market. |
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Defining and Comparing Generic Competences in Higher Education |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.56 |
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In this article the author discusses the importance of defining generic competences in alignment with the European definitions. As a case study the generic competences defined by Laurea University of Applied Sciences are compared with European definitions of generic competences. The purpose is to open up the various perspectives within this thematic field of interest and reflect on them according to the objectives of the European Higher Education Area. The comparative matrix of generic competences enhances the comparison of learning outcomes in higher education institutions, facilitates credit transfer and the acknowledgement of prior learning. |
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Third-Cycle Studies in Educational Sciences: expectations and competences development |
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MARIANA GAIO ALVES & NAIR RIOS AZEVEDO Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Monte da Caparica, Portugal |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.69 |
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In Europe, third-cycle studies may be undergoing structural changes because of the orientation of the Bologna process. This article intends to shed light on the question of how and whether the ongoing changes might mean that we are in the process of reconstructing the university offer of doctoral degree studies. The authors look at the particular case of the Educational Sciences Doctoral Programme offered by the Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal, which started its activities in 2007‑08 under the framework of the Bologna reform. The article draws on data from a survey that constitutes the first stage of a case study of this doctoral programme. Thus, the issue of doctoral students’ expectations and competences development, focusing on the perceptions of current students enrolled in the programme, is addressed. Data have been gathered by means of a questionnaire answered by the students. The survey allows for the progressive exploration of emergent questions on the changes taking place at doctoral level within the Bologna reform. These questions concern changes in the profile of third-cycle students as well as organizational and pedagogical strategies. |
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Rethinking the Research–Teaching Nexus in Undergraduate Education: Spanish laws pre- and post-Bologna |
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JOSÉ LUIS GONZÁLEZ GERALDO Castilla-La
Mancha University, Cuenca, Spain |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.81 |
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In Europe, under the roof of the Bologna process, the emerging concept of the ‘knowledge-based society’ has its pillars in the so-called European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the European Research Area (ERA). This new kind of society demands a new role for the universities and associated stakeholders, and could provide an ideal opportunity to explore new ambitions and roles, revisiting the old synergy between research and teaching, and rethinking why teaching and research have come into tension for academics in recent years. However, there is some evidence which suggests that actual initiatives are not that coherent in terms of the aims of the process. For example, explicit research training of graduate students is excluded. Has Bologna two faces? The authors consider the Bologna process in the context of Spain, and offer some possible scenarios of the actual and future undergraduate research–teaching nexus within the Bologna framework. These scenarios should have interest and implications for scholars and students entering a new era. |
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The Bologna Process and the Economic Impacts of Research and Development within the Context of Europeanization: the case of Finland |
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DRISS HABTI Department of Sociology and Social Policy, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland |
doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.92 |
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Higher education and public research play an important role in economic development, mainly in industrial research and development (R & D) and innovation through the manufacturing sector. Finland has taken great strides in this regard as it represents a Europeanization of a knowledge system in the European Union, being relevant at the international level for the outstanding development the economy has witnessed throughout the R & D sector while facing international challenges. The available database from Tekes (on the current state of the Finnish R & D sector) provided records of the gradual development of the sector over time and at different levels of the Finnish knowledge system. The article does not describe major policy measures of the Bologna process but rather attempts to consider the economic rationale of R & D development and its economic impacts in Finland within the Bologna framework. The article is concerned with the ways in which Finnish R & D under specific conditions has given results at the economic level with the Europeanization process and its subsequent policies. A synoptic view is given of higher education research strategies in terms of R & D and the article also touches on the issue of the general effects of the development of R & D and its economic relevance in light of the Bologna reforms. |
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Reflecting on the Bologna Outcome Space: some pitfalls to avoid? Exploring Universities in Sweden and the Netherlands |
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CHRISTINE TEELKEN Faculty
of Social Sciences, VU University Amsterdam, Netherlands |
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doi:10.2304/eerj.2010.9.1.105 |
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Europeans have tried for decades to find a way to take a mutual stance on issues of higher education and its development. In terms of taking on the challenge of such a mutual commitment with respect to higher education, the Bologna process is a giant step for the European Union. It involves a large number of countries, representing a great variety of higher education systems, which are currently engaged in a process of striving for certain common, converging goals. The question is whether this is also the ‘right step’ in terms of the actual organisational goals of higher education institutions: teaching students to the best of their abilities, carrying out good-quality research, and serving a constructive societal role. Is the Bologna process as such helpful in achieving these goals, or do we need to acknowledge peripheral forces that are affecting the (Bologna) process to a much higher degree than we bargained for? The purpose of this article is to explore both mainstream and more tangential issues in order to cast a more critical spotlight on the outcomes of the Bologna process and its construction(s). The article attempts to contribute to the Bologna debate, with emphasis on three contradictions, by placing these issues in a broader perspective. |
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