Enlightenment and minority cultures: Central and East European higher education reform ten years later

Abstract

The article discusses general trends of the higher education reform in the Central and East Europe and the countries of the former Soviet Union over the last decade. Author notices that re ections on the reforms have not reached deeper levels than ÿrst diagnostic articles of the early 1990s have. It is explained as a result of the literal lack of the reforms as planned and purposeful changes. While many agencies are interested in continuation of the reform discourse, the actual activities are not coordinated. Discussing the issues of changing relationships between higher education and the State, ÿnancing, sta ng, quality assurance, content of studies and institutional mission, author ÿnds similarities between current political statements and those made earlier this century under di erent circumstances. Author concludes that the gap between the o cial reform discourse and realities of higher education threaten the very existence of public higher education in the region.

Russian Higher Education Reforms: Shifting Policy Perspectives

“…However, during the past decade, the government, affected by an economic crisis, has withdrawn from the full financing of higher education, forcing universities to look for additional external sources of support (Kniazev 2002). As some researchers noted (e.g., Kwiek 2001;Tomusk 2001;Zajda 2005), the movement toward a market economy and globalization has altered both the relationship between the state and higher education institutions and the purposes of higher education. In Russia, the changes in the dominant state ideology resulted in the formulation of fundamentally different educational policies emphasizing the importance of Russia's competitiveness in the global market.…”