When East Meets West: Decontextualizing the quality of East European higher education

Abstract

This paper discusses the new quality movement in East European higher education. Over the past decade quality assurance agencies have been established in most of the countries in the region. It has been argued that through quality assurance, East European states continue controlling higher education politically. However, a more complex interpretation of the situation may be appropriate. Analysing the post state± socialist quality assurance practices, it is proposed that the relationship between the political power and orthodox academe allows even in the current public policy vacuum using them primarily in one direction, ® ghting non-traditional institutions, programmes, and teaching methods. While post state± socialist countries present their quality assurance initiatives as a part of the Westernization programme, they stand in strong contrast to the`® tness for the purpose' mantra applied in Western Europe. However, there have recently emerged signs, for example, the OECD performance indicators project, suggesting that the convergence of East and West may take place not through relating post state± socialist quality assurance processes more closely to local contexts, but by a radical decontextualization of the Western approaches.Higher education systems in the former state± socialist countries of Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia have recently experienced a few remarkable changes. Rapid growth in the numbers of students, tripling or quadrupling the numbers of institutions, emerging short-cycle (vocational) higher education and the related change in the meaning of higher education belong among the most noticeable of recent developments. Particular trends have often been presented in the context of the transition from the centrally planned economy and totalitarian communism to market economy and liberal democracy. However, it should be noticed that in many of these economically and politically troubled countries market remains an option only to the minority who in addition to a regular job also have a regular income. It is not an option for most academics, for example, many in the Ukraine only receive cash compensation twice a year. Democracy is not exactly abundant even in the most democratic regions and many ideologies developed by the new and old nationalist technocrats have changed little. Democratically elected dictators is another feature of several countries. Considering all of that, one cannot ® nd too much evidence to support the governments' claims on high priority for education, nor do the visible signs support the politically determined discourse on successful transition from communism to capitalism.

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