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Higher Education in Scandinavia
Abstract
With the emergence of the knowledge-based society, higher education in Scandinavia1 has undergone substantial reforms. Socio-economic
restructuring and the globalization of markets have influenced infrastructure and development, while international trends
in higher education have inspired policies. Similarities in history, cultural and political conditions in the Scandinavian
states underscore common features in higher education, although there are many differences as well. This chapter focuses on
the development, structure and policy of university systems. Part I discusses general characteristics of the Scandinavian
countries, highlighting recent changes and future perspectives, while Part II provides individual country descriptions.
... In addition to the university funding, the Danish state allocates considerable resources to student grants (the highest among the OECD countries). Studies are tuition free with some few exceptions (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2004Schmidt, , 2005Schmidt, & 2006OECD, 2004; The Ministry of Education, 2002). ...
... The aim was to reorganise the Danish university system with regards to tasks, obligations, management, departmental structure and control. The Act gave new responsibilities to the universities as to exchange of knowledge and competences with society, in particular the business sector, engagement in public debate, dissemination of information and research cooperation with other higher education institutions (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2004Schmidt, , 2005Schmidt, & 2006OECD, 2004; The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, 2000). ...
... Throughout the 2000s, the Swedish focus on quality and institutional autonomy increased, with a continued and even reinforced emphasis on decentralised governance and quality improvements, now consistent with the Bologna agenda on constructing comparability across HE systems and enhancing competitiveness (Kalpazidou-Schmidt, 2007). The 2005 Widening Access reform included strong political efforts to expand HE and provided a particular focus for the internationalisation activities in that decade. ...
This article examines the national and European policy contexts that shaped the Swedish internationalisation agenda in higher education since 2000, the policy ideas that were mobilised to promote it, and the national priorities that steered higher education debates. The analysis highlights how domestic and European policy priorities, as well as discourses around increasing global economic reach and building solidarity across the world, have produced an internationalisation strategy that is distinctly 'national'. Drawing on the analysis of the most recent internationalisation strategies we argue that the particular Swedish approach to internationalisation has its ideational foundations in viewing higher education as a political instrument to promote social mobility and justice, as well as a means to develop economic competitiveness and employability capacity. In addition, internationalisation has been used to legitimise national reform goals, but also as a policy objective on its own with the ambition to position Sweden as a competitive knowledge nation in a global context.
... Nordic universities follow a Nordic adaptation of Humboldtian ideals of academic freedom and collegiality, but must also serve as fundamental cultural institutions, supporters of industrialization and providers of the "best education" to all capable citizens (Välimaa, 2001). Higher education institutions thus remain publicly-owned/ controlled and enjoy social trust (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2007). ...
... Second, combined to an adaptation of the Humboldtian tradition, these regimes contributed to freedom in access, free tuition, public investments and common standards among universities (Ahola, 2007). Nordic HES also have highly educated population, knowledge-intensive industries and massive public investments in academic research (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2007). ...
In the global race for academic prestige, early-career researchers (ECRs) play a pivotal role in countries’ research production. The objective of this paper is to analyse the perceived contribution of ECR to research production in Nordic higher education systems (HES). Based on 56 interviews with actors from different organisations in the Danish, Finnish, Norwegian and Swedish HES, the thematic analysis suggested the contribution of doctoral students and postdocs was essential, yet there was no convergence in actors’ perspective regarding the contribution of other contract researchers. The global theme “casualisation” linked organising themes and explained the underlying dynamics between ECRs and the research production process.
... Despite increased emphasis and financial incentives in STEM-education in Norway (Ministry of Education & Research, 2015;Schmidt, 2007), the Norwegian education sys- tem faces several challenges: students in Norway have low motivation, high dropout rates, and underachieve in science and technology (OECD, 2014). Reports on dropout in higher education suggest that 25% of the student mass never complete their bach- elor STEM-education degree (Ministry of Education & Research, 2016;Statistics Norway, 2015). ...
We investigate a model based on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) to predict academic achievement and dropout intentions among biology students in higher education in Norway. Students (n=754) from a representative national sample participated in this cross-sectional study. The results align with our hypotheses and SDT assumptions. The model explains a substantial amount of the variance in academic achievement and dropout intentions. Specifically, autonomous motivation and perceived competence positively predict academic achievement and negatively predict dropout intentions. Controlled motivation is unrelated to academic achievement and is a positive predictor of dropout intentions. Furthermore, significant indirect effects show that need-supportive teachers and students’ intrinsic aspirations positively predict academic achievement and negatively predict drop- out intentions, via autonomous motivation and perceived competence. We recommend teachers to support students’ need for autonomy, competence and relatedness, by providing choice and volition to facilitate autonomous motivation, and give students effectance-relevant feedback and optimal challenges to increase perceived competence.
... Nordic universities follow a Nordic adaptation of Humboldtian ideals of academic freedom and collegiality, but must also serve as fundamental cultural institutions, supporters of industrialization and providers of the "best education" to all capable citizens (Välimaa, 2001). Higher education institutions thus remain publicly-owned/ controlled and enjoy social trust (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2007). ...
In this book we aim to discuss and reflect on how HEIs are coping with the demands placed on them and how the various dimensions of change are intertwined. In particular, we aim to discuss the following questions:
How do governance regimes steer higher education institutions? This part of the book focuses its attention on how higher education and research institutions operate under different governance regimes at international, regional and national levels, and how that context shapes governance and management arrangements at institutional level.
How are institutions managing their quality and performance? This part deals with the systems institutions are developing to manage their quality and their wider performance to cope with the internal and external forces pressing them to constantly improve their levels of quality and wider performance in teaching, research and third mission.
How are higher education professionals responding to the transformations? This part is devoted to investigate the ways academic and non-academic professionals working in higher education and research institutions respond to the transformations occurring in their organisations, and changes in practices and functions performed by those working in higher education. It also explores the implication of higher education transformations on students.
... Nordic universities follow a Nordic adaptation of Humboldtian ideals of academic freedom and collegiality, but must also serve as fundamental cultural institutions, supporters of industrialization and providers of the "best education" to all capable citizens (Välimaa, 2001). Higher education institutions thus remain publicly-owned/controlled and enjoy social trust (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2007). ...
The current position of knowledge in our societies is unprecedented (Pestre, 2003), not only as a consequence of economic evolution, but also because of social, technological and geo-spatial transformations. New societal challenges require leading-edge expertise; technology makes knowledge accessible, transmissible and open; and, the locus of knowledge moves from local and national to global networks (Välimaa, 2014).
... De-commodification and cooperation with other societal actors seem to be central to this regime type. Following principles of the Reformation, higher education is assumed to serve the public good and higher institutions are either publicly owned or monitored (Kalpazidou Schmidt, 2007). Public research funding takes the form of large block grants, which for instance cover 50% of public-sector research costs in Sweden (Brundenius et al., 2011). ...
Academic research systems (ARS) play a fundamental role in post-industrial societies. Using the lenses of comparative political-economy, this article (1) explores correspondence between 16 OECD countries and 12 ARS indicators, and (2) examines the extent to which Esping-Andersen’s welfare regime typology explains this correspondence. The non-parametric correspondence analysis is stable and 67.4% of the variance is explained by three dimensions: Academic Centrality, Research Workforce and Responsiveness to Market Forces. The first and most important dimension distinguishes social-democratic from liberal regimes. Findings point to interplays between welfare mix, productivism and the socialization of risks and ARS' centrality and responsiveness. http://www.palgrave-journals.com/hep/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/hep201525a.html
Two major waves of growth of enrolment rates in higher education in economically advanced countries have stimulated discourses and measures to restructure patterns of the higher education system. In the 1960s and 1970s, when enrolment rates over 20 % became customary, attention was paid to the increase of shorter and often more vocational study programmes, whereby many countries added “non-university” institutions to the hitherto dominant universities. Since the late 1990s, when the enrolment rates began to surpass 50 %, the spread of the term “tertiary education” and rankings indicate increased efforts to stratify higher education vertically even further. Moreover, efforts in Europe to create a bachelor–master structure and to underscore the visible utility of study programmes and research more strongly seemed initially to be part of an overall movement towards a worldwide convergence of national higher education systems. A closer look, however, reveals that the search for the worldwide best solution was popular at the beginning of both waves, but, after a while, national idiosyncrasies as well as specific policies regained momentum and led to a substantial variation across countries. Currently, we note more signs of a restabilization of this rather than signs of growing convergence.
This article focuses on university governance and policies in the Nordic countries and discusses recent funding reforms and their effects on universities. Common trends are identified, namely a move from centralized, highly regulated to decentralized, less regulated approaches, changes towards formula and output based funding, increased linking of basic funding to performance indicators and a growing amount of competitive funding. The reforms, which intend to bring results as regards quality, productivity, efficiency and accountability, might however generate unintended negative effects such as institutions excessive focus on outputs, quantity instead of quality, politically prioritised areas and mainstream, low-risk research.
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to discuss how funding systems influence higher education institutions and their strategies and core tasks.
Design/methodology/approach
– Taking the results of a comparative study between Denmark, Norway and Portugal as a point of departure, the paper identifies and analyses the main features of these state funding systems, their strengths and weaknesses, and their impact on academia.
Findings
– The system‐level analysis offers an illustration of a trend across Europe. The paper shows that mixed funding models have been implemented in all three countries.
Originality/value
– Funding systems and their impacts do not come in neat packages. The systems demonstrate a mixed pattern of strengths and weaknesses. The impacts of the funding systems converge, although different mechanisms are employed. There are no clear cut differences in the perceived strengths, weaknesses and impacts of the two main types of funding systems – input‐based funding and output‐based funding – presented and discussed in the paper.
Policy analysis must be broadened beyond the realm of government actions to incorporate the negotiations that take place among university, industry, and government. In this special issue the emergence of trilateral initiatives and their bilateral precursors is identified. The individual contributions provide a method for understanding academic-industry-government relations as a new mode of science-policy making.
The paper outlines a model for the development of dynamic and innovative research environments in national innovation systems. The development model is based on an in-depth study and analysis of fifteen research environments selected by the Danish Council for Research Policy as examples of dynamic and innovative public research environments. According to the model, research environments follow certain stages with respect to epistemological, organizational and socio-cultural development that either enable them to advance from one stage to the next in the model or impede this advance. The consequence of the latter is either a static state or dissolution. In the long run only dynamic and innovative research environments survive. The analysis of the cases studied identifies several preconditions that have to be present in such research environments in order for them to emerge, develop and finally reach excellence. The results presented here may well be a valid tool for policy-makers, particularly in Europe where the framework conditions for public R&D are comparable to the Danish.
This volume offers an exploration of major changes in the way
knowledge is produced in science, technology, social science,
& humanities, arguing that a new mode of knowledge production
promises to replace or radically reform established
institutions, disciplines, practices, & policies. A range of
features - reflexivity, transdisciplinarity, heterogeneity -
associated with the new mode of knowledge production are
identified to illustrate the connections between them & the
changing role of knowledge in social relations.
Methodological difficulties inherent in attempts to describe
a new mode of knowledge production are discussed, &
implications of this mode for science policy & international
economic competitiveness, collaboration, & globalization are
treated. The book is particularly relevant for those
concerned with educational systems, the changing nature of
knowledge, the social study of science, & the connections
between research & development, & social, economic, &
technological development. The book is presented in 7 Chpts
with a Preface & an Introduction. (1) Evolution of Knowledge
Production. (2) The Marketability and Commercialisation of
Knowledge. (3) Massification of Research and Education. (4)
The Case of the Humanities. (5) Competitiveness,
Collaboration and Globalisation. (6) Reconfiguring
Institutions. (7) Towards Managing Socially Distributed
Knowledge. References accompany each Chpt. 2 Tables. W.
Howard (Copyright 1995, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all
rights reserved.)
The Triple Helix of university–industry–government relations is compared with alternative models for explaining the current research system in its social contexts. Communications and negotiations between institutional partners generate an overlay that increasingly reorganizes the underlying arrangements. The institutional layer can be considered as the retention mechanism of a developing system. For example, the national organization of the system of innovation has historically been important in determining competition. Reorganizations across industrial sectors and nation states, however, are induced by new technologies (biotechnology, ICT). The consequent transformations can be analyzed in terms of (neo-)evolutionary mechanisms. University research may function increasingly as a locus in the “laboratory” of such knowledge-intensive network transitions.
The theme for this article is dynamic and innovative research environments and the factors that characterise them. The focus is on the relationship between the organisation and management of research, research processes and environmental conditions on the one hand, and research quality and outcomes on the other. The article takes as a point of departure the results of an empirical study of 15 university and other public-sector research environments in Denmark. It identifies the features that characterise the framework of research, research processes, the working and social milieu of research environments and their influence on research in a smaller European country from a research-policy perspective. Innovative research environments could serve as references for research agents attempting to promote innovation and further develop a dynamic science base. Copyright , Beech Tree Publishing.
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