Policy Futures in Education

ISSN 1478-2103

Volume 6 Number 4 2008

CONTENTS [click on author's name for abstract and full text]

SPECIAL ISSUE
Commercialisation, Internationalisation and the Internet
Guest Editor: CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

Introduction, page 371
Chris Armbruster. Research Universities: autonomy and self-reliance after the Entrepreneurial University, pages 372‑389
Chris Armbruster. On Cost-Sharing, Tuition Fees and Income-Contingent Loans for Universal Higher Education: a new contract between university, student and state?, pages 390‑408
Chris Armbruster. The Rise of the Post-doc as Principal Investigator? How PhDs May Advance their Career and Knowledge Claims in the New Europe of Knowledge, pages 409‑423
Chris Armbruster. Open Access in the Natural and Social Sciences: the correspondence of innovative moves to enhance access, inclusion and impact in scholarly communication, pages 424‑438
Chris Armbruster. Cyberscience and the Knowledge-Based Economy. Open Access and Trade Publishing: from contradiction to compatibility with non-exclusive copyright licensing, pages 439‑452
__________________________________________________

Mike Cole. Learning Without Limits: a Marxist assessment, pages 453‑463
Patrick Yarker. Learning Without Limits – a Marxist assessment: a response to Mike Cole, with a reply from Mike Cole, pages 464‑469
David Rutkowski. Towards an Understanding of Educational Indicators, pages 470‑481
Ruth Rikowski. Computers/Information and Communications Technology, the Information Profession and the Gender Divide: where are we going?, pages 482‑505
Maria Balarin. Post-structuralism, Realism and the Question of Knowledge in Educational Sociology. With a reply by Michael Young & Johan Muller, and a further response from Maria Balarin, pages 507‑527

Introduction

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.371

Commercialisation, internationalisation and the Internet have affected the research university, higher education, academic careers, scholarly communication and scientific publishing over the past decades and will continue to do so. Crucial to debate and policy are issues of funding and finance. The world over, new models are being sought to diversify and increase university income, share the cost of higher education and reduce the adverse effects of rapidly rising prices for journal subscriptions. Key debates are on the entrepreneurial university, tuition fees, junior academic careers, online scholarly communication and the reform of scientific publishing.

Much research and debate has taken place. However, the following set of five papers provides a comprehensive and interconnected evaluation across all domains while at the same time outlining a research programme and policy recommendations. This is possible because care has been taken to identify key issues, which are then treated in an international perspective while some historical depth is maintained. The key issues identified are as follows:

1. Research universities: the entrepreneurial university as idea, and strategy to diversify and increase university income while delivering tangible benefits for innovation and regional development;

2. Higher education: tuition fees to share costs, backed by income-contingent loan schemes, and to enhance internationalisation;

3. Academic careers: flagship awards and extra funding to foster the early independence of post-docs with the aim of supporting the mobility of new people and ideas;

4. Scholarly communication: the convergence of online open access models in the natural and social sciences, enabling global inclusion and impact;

5. Scientific publishing: the switch to non-exclusive copyright licensing for research articles to enable the emergence of a competitive market.

The research and writing of these papers was enabled by two post-doctoral fellowships, held at the Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies (RSCAS), European University Institute, Florence, Italy. The first was a Jean Monnet Fellowship for the European Forum (2004‑05), ‘The Role of Universities in Innovation Systems in the 21st Century’ at RSCAS, directed by Rikard Stankiewicz. The second fellowship was funded by the Fondazione Antonio Ruberti (2005‑06), ‘Cultural, Social and Political Aspects of Science and Technology in Europe’. The latter fellowship was awarded by EIROforum – a partnership of Europe’s seven largest intergovernmental research organisations: European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN); European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA); European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL); European Space Agency (ESA); European Southern Observatory (ESO); European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF); Institut Laue–Langevin (ILL). I thank all of these institutions for their generous support. Furthermore, for inspiration and sustenance I thank the uniquely vibrant transnational community of doctoral and post-doctoral researchers at the European University Institute.

Chris Armbruster

Research Universities: autonomy and self-reliance after the Entrepreneurial University

CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.372

The Entrepreneurial University is a failed idea. This is not to disparage the entrepreneurial activities of faculty, graduates and students. Neither is it to criticise industry-sponsored research and co-authorship. University research and higher education have a role in innovation. However, if entrepreneurialism is institutionalised as a policy of governments and universities, all manner of things start to go wrong. Not only do participants suffer from disappointed expectations, as expected returns fail to materialise, but also, more importantly, universities that ‘go entrepreneurial’ ultimately destroy the science commons essential to the university’s continued existence. A systematic critique of the concept of the Entrepreneurial University is offered and key data is reviewed. Simultaneously, a broader research programme on university autonomy and finance is advanced.

On Cost-Sharing, Tuition Fees and Income-Contingent Loans for Universal Higher Education: a new contract between university, student and state?

CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.390

In the search for a viable twenty-first century cost-sharing contract between university, student and state, the issues of rising participation and student demand, functional differentiation, institutional competition and stratification and social inequality are systematically discussed. The argument develops through, firstly, a critical appraisal of the genre of elite, mass and universal higher education; secondly, a discussion of the consequences of US institutional stratification; and, thirdly, an assessment of national tuition fee systems as a way of sponsoring mass and universal participation. The Ivy League and the California Master Plan as well as the tuition fee systems in Australia, New Zealand and England have addressed rising participation and relative declining state funding (per full-time equivalent tertiary student) while seeking to preserve and enhance quality by mobilising and concentrating resources. Yet, the accumulated unintended consequences of these systems are undermining their very foundations, making none of these a suitable candidate for emulation in the twenty-first century. Moreover, the conceptual distinction between elite, mass and universal higher education is flawed and not suitable for guiding further reform initiatives. Consequently, it is submitted that the financing of state-funded undergraduate degrees (BA) be decoupled from postgraduate degrees (MA, PhD). The rise of the European Higher Education Area with 46 member states, and more expected to join, serves as a vantage point from which to critique the legacy of the twentieth century and develop preliminary policy recommendations for the twenty-first century.

The Rise of the Post-doc as Principal Investigator? How PhDs May Advance their Career and Knowledge Claims in the New Europe of Knowledge

CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.409

The European Research Area and the European Higher Education Area are still under construction. Their foundations, however, are visible and already affect what the next generation of researchers can and cannot do. While it is unclear when, and to what standard, construction will be completed, the European Charter for Researchers and the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers clarify the expectations of policy makers and major stakeholders. One significant scenario is the rise of the post-doc as principal investigator. This would signal profound change in the governance and funding of research since hitherto the post-doc has been understood primarily as an assistant (to a professor’s chair or on a research project). It is outlined which new knowledge and skills PhDs and post-docs need to advance their career and projects more independently – in science and engineering as well as the social sciences and humanities. Potential changes in funding and status are discussed as well as changing relations with supervisors and mentors. Because of European flagship awards for post-docs as well as mobility fellowships, a significant number of post-docs are already principal investigators. Details of these flagship post-doc awards and fellowships are outlined. The report then discusses what doctoral students and post-docs might do individually and collectively to follow in the footsteps of the pioneers. A list of the most valuable online resources is provided.

Open Access in the Natural and Social Sciences: the correspondence of innovative moves to enhance access, inclusion and impact in scholarly communication

CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.424

Online, open access is the superior model for scholarly communication. A variety of scientific communities in physics, the life sciences and economics have gone furthest in innovating their scholarly communication through open access, enhancing accessibility for scientists, students and the interested public. Open access enjoys a comparative advantage across the sciences and humanities and it is therefore only logical that functional innovation and structural improvements should be similar in the natural and social sciences. A variety of innovative moves in the natural and social sciences are portrayed and analysed, demonstrating correspondence of the innovative logic across the disciplines even as solutions vary. Open access is technologically feasible and economically efficient. Moreover, open access has become vital to secure the continued advancement of knowledge. It may be expected that public and philanthropic funding will flow in the future only if public visibility and academic impact of the research results can be demonstrated.

Cyberscience and the Knowledge-Based Economy. Open Access and Trade Publishing: from contradiction to compatibility with non-exclusive copyright licensing

CHRIS ARMBRUSTER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.439

Open source, open content and open access are set to fundamentally alter the conditions of knowledge production and distribution. Open source, open content and open access are also the most tangible result of the shift towards e-science and digital networking. Yet, widespread misperceptions exist about the impact of this shift on knowledge distribution and scientific publishing. It is argued, on the one hand, that for the academy there principally is no digital dilemma surrounding copyright and there is no contradiction between open science and the knowledge-based economy if profits are made from non-exclusive rights. On the other hand, pressure for the ‘digital doubling’ of research articles in open access repositories (the ‘green road’) is misguided and the current model of open access publishing (the ‘gold road’) has not much future outside biomedicine. Commercial publishers must understand that business models based on the transfer of copyright have not much future either. Digital technology and its economics favour the severance of distribution from certification. What is required of universities and governments, scholars and publishers, is to clear the way for digital innovations in knowledge distribution and scholarly publishing by enabling the emergence of a competitive market that is based on non-exclusive rights. This requires no change in the law but merely an end to the praxis of copyright transfer and exclusive licensing. The best way forward for research organisations, universities and scientists is the adoption of standard copyright licences that reserve some rights, namely Attribution and No Derivative Works, but otherwise will allow for the unlimited reproduction, dissemination and re-use of the research article, commercial uses included.

Learning Without Limits: a Marxist assessment

MIKE COLE Bishop Grosseteste University College Lincoln, UK

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.453

In this article, the author begins by outlining the main features of the Fixed Ability paradigm and the Learning Without Limits paradigm (developed in the book of the same name) respectively. It is argued that the Fixed Ability paradigm must be contested if we are to realise the unlimited potential of the working class, a basic premise of Marxism. The author goes on to suggest that while the LWL paradigm is a considerable advance on the Fixed Ability paradigm, and that it accords with this basic premise of Marxism, it is lacking in two respects: first, its inherent social democratic politics, and second, its lack of concern with the emancipatory potential of content in the curriculum. The author concludes by suggesting some spaces within the English National Curriculum where discussions about global capitalism, and its only humane alternative, international socialism, might take place.

Learning Without Limits – a Marxist assessment: a response to Mike Cole, with a reply from Mike Cole

PATRICK YARKER

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.464

Mike Cole argues in his article (Policy Futures in Education, 6(4), 2008) that the Learning Without Limits (LWL) paradigm of transformability manifests ‘inherent social democratic politics’, offering merely a reformist rather than a revolutionary outlook. The LWL paradigm is further hamstrung, in his view, by a ‘lack of concern with the emancipatory potential of content in the curriculum’. Patrick Yarker tries to argue that the potential of ‘transformability’ is inherently revolutionary, and that while the relationship between pedagogical form and curriculum content is important (and a more fully-worked-out socialist approach to education would no doubt want to address this issue in some of the ways put forward in Mike Cole’s article), the issue of content arises tangentially in a text whose chief aim is to offer the detailed outline of an alternative (and in the author’s view oppositional) way of teaching within contemporary (English) schools, based on ‘actually-existing’ transformability practices.

Towards an Understanding of Educational Indicators

DAVID RUTKOWSKI IEA Data Processing and Research Centre, Hamburg, Germany

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.470

The role of international organisations (IOs) in educational policy making at all levels of governance has increased in recent history due in part to the creation and dissemination of educational indicators. It is the purpose of this article to introduce the concept of indicators, briefly explain indicators’ history and how IOs are involved with indicator collection, and propose one theory toward explaining the increased use of indicators within IOs. In order to facilitate this understanding, the article first attempts to define indicators. It then moves to a brief history of the social and educational indicator movement. This will allow for a better understanding of where education indicators are placed in time and their connection to economic policy knowledge and utility. Finally, the article explores possible motivations for IOs to collect indicators and promote them as valid sources of understanding. While not an exhaustive account, the basis to collect and disseminate indicators includes a desire for comparative information, an aspiration to establish benchmarks, and an ambition to become the sole collectors of information. This list collectively suggests a culture of performativity as described by Lyotard.

Computers/Information and Communications Technology, the Information Profession and the Gender Divide: where are we going?

RUTH RIKOWSKI

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.482

This article examines the gender inequalities in computing, with a particular emphasis on these inequalities within the library and information profession. This includes, discrimination against women in academia; socialisation processes; issues around women’s confidence in computing; the male-dominated environment in the computing industry; female isolation in the computing world; females providing ICT support and training (rather than being the main decision-makers); computer programming and screen design and layout; presenteeism and flexible working and social networking. It also notes, in particular, the fact that the number of females in computing continues to fall. Furthermore, there is a section on gender and ICT in Central and Eastern Europe, the Commonwealth of Independent States and developing countries. Consideration is given to a number of issues here, such as some of the ways in which the new technologies can empower women in these countries, but how women are hampered by a lack of resources, education, poor literacy levels and domestic responsibilities. The author suggests that we should seek to find ways to improve this situation, and that social networking could be beneficial here on a short-term basis, but that to find lasting solutions, we should seek to move beyond capitalism itself.

Post-structuralism, Realism and the Question of Knowledge in Educational Sociology: a Derridian critique of social realism in education

MARIA BALARIN Department of Education, University of Bath, United Kingdom

doi:10.2304/pfie.2008.6.4.507

This article engages with a current debate in the sociology of educational knowledge which seeks to dispel the alleged relativism of social constructivist influences in education. While supporting the claim that the sociology of education needs to bring knowledge ‘back in’ to its understanding of school processes and policies, the author contends the necessary relativism that proponents of such efforts often attribute to some of the philosophies that have inspired constructivism. To support this, the article explores the compatibility of some of the realist tenets of post-empiricist philosophy with those of post-structuralism, especially as seen in the work of Jacques Derrida. It is suggested that if the latter’s thought does not necessarily shun the connection between knowledge and reality, its contributions towards an ethical understanding of knowledge can be positively incorporated in current debates about the role of knowledge in education.

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