Naslov
The reconfiguration of the Croatian higher education area: discourses and practices

Autori
Doolan, Karin

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Sažeci sa skupova, sažetak, znanstveni

Skup
Developing policy in different cultural contexts: learning from study, learning from experience Conference organised by the IPSA Research Committee on Public Policy and Administration

Mjesto i datum
Dubrovnik, Hrvatska, 10.06.2011. - 12.06.2011

Vrsta sudjelovanja
Predavanje

Vrsta recenzije
Nije recenziran

Ključne riječi
higher education policy; ethical retooling; Bologna process

Sažetak
The paper addresses key aspects of both the discursive and practical reconfiguration of Croatian higher education over its ‘transition’ years. The discursive reconfiguration is referred to in terms of an observed ‘ethical re-tooling’ (Ball 1997) of Croatian higher education from a discourse of academic freedoms in the university and knowledge as being about personality development, to a market-like discourse in which universities and individuals are expected to undergo an economic introspection in order to respond to the demands of a knowledge-based economy. Student protests in Croatia are mentioned as an act of resistance to such discursive, and resulting practical changes, with special attention given to the students’ manifesto and its refutation of a neo-liberal understanding of education as a private good. The practical changes critically discussed include the implementation of Bologna process objectives which can be traced in Croatia to the academic year 2005/2006 with the enrolment of the first ‘Bologna generation’. A particular focus of this section is on the observed national educational policy indifference towards the ‘social dimension’ as spelled out in Bologna documents, as well as the formulaic implementation of other Bologna objectives which have often passed unaccompanied by crucial context-specific changes, such as university integration, which act as prerequisites for substantive systemic reform. Developing educational policies responsive to these practical and discursive complexities in a creative and original manner, sensitive to local specificities, rather than the more common method of uncritical policy borrowing, is discussed as a challenge for higher education policy making in Croatia.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Sociologija

POVEZANOST RADA