Populism and Higher Education Curriculum Development: Problem Based Learning as a Mitigating Response

Abstract

This book explores the extent to which populism and the populist agenda is influencing curriculum content and learning methods in higher education. Against a background of increasing inequalities and a rising tide of nationalism and populism, this book raises concerns that populism – and its various manifestations – represents a grave challenge to learning. Using problem based learning as a case study, the editors and contributors draw on a range of cross-disciplinary studies from various regions to examine how regional, national and organizational perspectives emphasise different aspects of PBL. In doing so, they question whether PBL provides an effective response to external influences, or offers a counter force to a ‘populist’ higher education agenda. Has the learner become the centre of the process, or are they simply a reflection of the external forces shaping curriculum? This book will appeal to scholars of problem based learning, as well as populism and the role of higher education in society.

Romeo V. Turcan is Professor of International Entrepreneurship and Organization Studies at the Department of Business Studies at Aalborg University, Denmark. His main research interests relate to cross-disciplinary organisation theory building, legitimation of new sectors and new ventures.

John E. Reilly is a higher education consultant with wide European and international experience. He is a member of the UK Bologna Experts team, having full understanding of the Bologna process and the European Commission modernization agenda.

Full text

Populism and Higher
Education Curriculum
Development: Problem
Based Learning as a
Mitigating Response
Edited by
Romeo V. Turcan · John E. Reilly

“Writing in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic it is arresting to read a book
that identies the challenge of a totally dierent type of pandemic– populism–
and the threat which it poses to the academic world. As the authors say, ‘it is
dicult to escape the conclusion that the majority of graduates may be as vul-
nerable to populist rhetoric as nongraduates precisely because they are not
engaged in a process of consciousness raising through their curriculum’. is
represents a grave indictment of Higher Education to which the book oers
insights from a variety of perspectives arguing that the curriculum and the learn-
ing process need to respond in a vigorous way engaging both teacher and learner
with the ood of ‘isms’. is view is echoed by European Rectors in their Vienna
Declaration that there is an urgent need to combat manifestations of populism
and ‘strive to prevent and work against’: ‘post-truth explanations– increasing
inequalities, nationalism, racism, anti-Semitism, intolerance, polarisation, and
radicalisation as well as pseudo-science and pseudo-facts and other threats to
democratic and scientic culture’. Problem Based Learning may not be the total
antidote but if it is rigorous it does instill a recognition that all evidence needs
to be interrogated systematically and thoroughly and that solutions to complex
problems can rarely be encapsulated by simple slogans. is is a timely, thought
provoking book precisely because it is searching for a type of academic vaccine
to the undermining threats of populism, which will require wholehearted
engagement to achieve.”
—Ilan Alon, Professor, University of Agder, Norway
“In the post-truth and populism era, this book takes current controversial top-
ics, including BREXIT, globalization and the counter forces of nationalism and
protectionism, sustainable development, the impact of Articial Intelligence–
and asks whether a genuine research based, problem oriented, learner-centred
approach provides a way forward. A must read for scholars and entrepreneurs
that feel and experience the challenge.”
—Christian Felzensztein, PhD, International Scholar & Entrepreneur,
Spain, and Former Dean´s Chair, New Zealand
Populism and Higher Education Curriculum
Development: Problem Based Learning
as a Mitigating Response

“John Reilly and Romeo Turcan have crystallised what people working in and
around higher education have begun to feel. In this book, the seismic shifts
aecting the top tiers of academe are laid bare and their consequences on the
sector explored. e range of voices brought together in the volume lead to rec-
ommended priorities and possible pathways for those engaged in curriculum
design, learning development, research, and research dissemination.”
—Dr Simon Haslam, Visiting Fellow, Durham University
Business School, UK
“Timely, sharp and inspiring! In today’s chaotic world, this book dispels the
clouds to let us see the sun. Authors provide unique opinions and answers to
major issues with which universities globally have to contend with in the tsu-
nami of populism. Besides educators, every one of us should turn our attention
to the message this book is conveying.”
—Prof. Dr. Xiaotian Zhang, Associate Vice President, Shanghai
University, China

Romeo V. Turcan • John E. Reilly
Editors
Populism and Higher
Education Curriculum
Development:
Problem Based
Learning as a
Mitigating Response

ISBN 978-3-030-47375-4 ISBN 978-3-030-47376-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-47376-1
© e Editor(s) (if applicable) and e Author(s) 2020
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Editors
Romeo V. Turcan
Aalborg University Business School
Aalborg University
Aalborg, Denmark
John E. Reilly
Higher Education Consultant
University of Kent
Kent, UK
is project has been funded with support from the European Commission. is communication
reects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use
which may be made of the information contained therein.

To our families

vii
is book tackles the audacious supposition that ‘radical reform of cur-
riculum, learning and teaching philosophies and methods and mission is
essential because of unprecedented and multifaceted external develop-
ments for which graduates need to be prepared’. From the outset we are
presented with a wide-ranging, thought-provoking call to arms for those
who have longed for reform, a re-energised active academia with a more
visible role in the management of the teaching and learning agenda
within universities and in society in general. Given the events of the
spring of 2020, these issues seem uncannily prescient and the authors ask
searching questions of the role of universities and the academy in prepar-
ing students with suciently robust and enquiring minds, not just to
survive but to embrace a world of increasing and sometimes conicting
demands and expectations of them.
e world of academia, once the natural home of creativity and experi-
mentation, collides with the ‘real’ world which is characterised by uncer-
tainty, blurred reality, neoliberalism, marketisation, populism, and
increasing costs yet dwindling resources. e authors explore the chal-
lenges posed for curriculum by the plethora of external drivers which tug
at the heart of academia and usher in new drivers—industry, employers,
technological advances all pushing for creativity and distinctiveness,
Foreword

viii Foreword
against a backdrop of increasingly directive regulation and a demand for
comparability and uniformity of not just how but what we can measure
to indicate its ‘value’.
While the text acknowledges the role of social sciences in embracing
and making sense of these agendas, it also suggests that there is room for
further criticality in the scientic disciplines where evidence-based think-
ing is linked to the validity of data, especially in data science. e com-
mitment to graduate skills is a feature of many institutional approaches
to curriculum development, with critical and creative thinking seen as
core skills, albeit often interpreted in terms of subject-specic skills. e
European Higher Education AreaStandards and Guidelines for Quality
Assurance states that ‘Institutions should ensure that the programmes are
delivered in a way that encourages students to take an active role in creat-
ing the learning process’. is Delphic prose is open to interpretation,
but it poses a further challenge to understandings of academic autonomy
and relations between learner and teacher in the new learner-centred
paradigm. Students are as susceptible to populism as other members of
society.
e book explores aspects of the ‘populism tsunami’ and the challenges
to navigating the surfeit of demands for creativity and problem-solving.
For a dyed-in-the-wool professional administrator like myself, I am
heartened by the scintilla of hope oered for the academy to survive the
impact of such turbulence.
Director of Education Policy and Quality MaureenMcLaughlin
University of Warwick
Coventry, UK

ix
e academic world faces a tsunami in which knowledge and evidence-
based understanding and decisions are in danger of being swept away by
the deluge of populist propaganda and assertion masquerading as the
new truths. e populist pandemic represents a major challenge to learn-
ing and teaching in all disciplines and the failure of the academic body to
foster the societal engagement of learners and engage actively itself means
that the challenge is now a red alert or in government parlance at a ‘criti-
cal’ level requiring an urgent and exceptional response. Hence the need
for, and purpose of, this book.
We identify a range of issues with which universities globally have to
contend. ese ‘forces’ pose grave challenges to conventional curriculum
content and learning and teaching, and the mind sets of students and
graduates. We argue the need for their active engagement with the global
experience that ‘isms’ triumph over evidence and identity relations rein-
force beliefs even if they run counter to evidence. While the message is
universal, those who shape curriculum in dierent regions and countries
will need to address their specic manifestation of political, scientic,
cultural and social ‘populism’.
What actually drives curriculum content and structure, and learning
and teaching methods? is book explores how Problem Based Learning
(PBL) is shaped by non-academic, external social and political factors
Preface

x Preface
and in particular the extent to which the curriculum and learning and
teaching need to respond to populism and the populist agenda.
e range of examples considered aect curriculum content and teach-
ing and learning: PBL philosophy, methodology and tools: increased gov-
ernment (including international organizations such as the EU, OECD,
UNESCO) directives and interventions; mass participation; gender poli-
tics; the impact of social media; the impact of populism; the need to
adjust to widening participation and social inclusion; resurgence of
nationalism; the rhetoric of entrepreneurism; the skills agenda; the impli-
cations of the shift to student-centred learning; the inuence of league
tables; quality assurance structures; employers demands; emphasis on
skills; privatization in and monetization of higher education; work-based
learning and placement learning; international competition; funding
including high tuition fees.
Does PBL provide an eective response to any or all of these and many
more external inuences? Does PBL oer a counter force to a ‘Populist’
agenda for higher education? Does it work in dierent ways in dierent
subjects and dierent countries?
e original contributions explore external and internal ‘interventions’
that should result in curriculum change. ey evaluate whether PBL pro-
vides an eective response and equips graduates in all subjects to cope
with populist swings of focus and preoccupations. e contributions
from dierent countries and regions indicate how national and regional
perspectives as well as internal organization emphasise dierent aspects of
PBL and demonstrate whether in practice the learner has become the
centre of the process or is simply a vehicle to reect the requirements of
the external forces shaping curriculum.
is book has grown outof a project implemented in the Republic of
Moldova funded by the European Commission under the ERASMUS+
programme: Introducing Problem Based Learning in Moldova: Toward
Enhancing Students’ Competitiveness and Employability (PBLMD).1
PBLMD implemented PBL-based teaching and learning methods in
Moldova in six BSc study programmes from six dierent, specialised uni-
versities. Each university team was free to choose the level of pilot
1 www.pblmd.aau.dk—is the ocial website of the PBLMD project.

xi Preface
implementation of PBL: subject, module, semester, study programme,
department, faculty, or university. However, the early stage of develop-
ment and implementation revealed the extent of ‘taken-for-granted’
understanding and beliefs about PBL.
Implementing PBL in an emerging, developing economy underscored
the extant institutional voids at macro, meso and micro levels that ques-
tioned our assumptions and expectations about PBL in advanced econo-
mies. It revealed the nature of these assumptions and expectations. e
explicit assumptions and expectations were generic and dicult to under-
stand how to apply and implement at all levels in a university, hence dif-
cult to see their practical value. Tacit assumptions and expectations were
challenging to document, thus dicult to ensure their transferability to
other study programmes due to specicity of their scope and
applicability.
While universities have always needed to react to external develop-
ments, they have been more in control than they are today. Curriculum
is being shaped and to an increasing extent, dominated by powerful non-
academic and non-accountable forces.
Inevitably, this book cannot cover all the non-academic and non-
accountable forces that, to an increasing extent, shape curriculum.
However, we argue that the genuine learner-centred approach exempli-
ed in problem- and research-based problem focused learning oers
eective pathways for tomorrow’s learners and an eective preparation
and response to the ‘Populist’ world with which graduates will have to
contend. To achieve this goal requires a radical re-appraisal of methods of
learning and teaching and curriculum content. e book should there-
fore be seen as a beginning of an exploration of the relationship between
PBL and populism and other external challenges in higher education
which it is hoped will encourage further scholarly and policy debates.
Aalborg, Denmark RomeoV.Turcan
Kent, UK JohnE.Reilly

xiii
is book would have not been possible, in the rst place, without the
nancial support from the European Commission through the
ERASMUS+ programme that in 2015 funded a national project aimed at
“Introducing Problem Based Learning in Moldova: Toward Enhancing
Students’ Competitiveness and Employability (PBLMD)”.
We express our gratitude to all the contributors who submitted inter-
esting, thought-provoking chapters on aspects of PBL and Populism,
which we hope will help to reveal some of the complexities of the topic.
We appreciate and thank Mary Eleanor Mensah, a research assistant at
the eory Building Research Programme (www.tbrp.aau.dk), for her assis-
tance and support in multiple aspects of the book production process,
including, but not limited to, coordination and management of the com-
munication between the contributors and the editors, coordination of the
review process, formatting the papers, including hyperlinking the references.
We thank Rebecca Wyde of Palgrave Macmillan for her assistance and
guidance during this book project.
We are indebted to our families for their extraordinary support
throughout this project.
JohnE.Reilly
RomeoV.Turcan
Acknowledgements

xv
Contents
Part I Setting the Scene 1
1 Politics and Curriculum Content in a Global Perspective:
Addressing the Populism Tsunami 3
John E. Reilly and Romeo V. Turcan
Part II Populism in Globalized World 41
2 Making Sense of Emerging Populist Agendas 43
Peter Scott
3 Challenges for the University: Recovering Authentic
Liberal Culture During Ascendant and Populist
Neoliberalism 71
Nikhilesh Dholakia, A. Fuat Fırat, Aras Ozgun, and
Deniz Atik
4 e Origins of the Current ‘Crisis’ Facing British
Universities: Ideology or Incrementalism 97
John Baldock

xvi Contents
5 e Paradox of Democracy 115
Samuel Rachlin
6 Modern Border Security 147
Rt Hon Bruce George, OBE
Part III Problem Based Learning as a Mitigating Response 159
7 Management, Philosophy and Consciousness in the
Shaping of Problem-Based Learning 161
Michael Fast and Woodrow W. Clark II
8 Is University Management Part of the Problem or Part of
the Solution for Problem-Based Learning Development
and Critical inking? 183
Birgitte Gregersen
9 e Socially Engaged University: e Complexities of
Business Relations Under the New Political Paradigm 205
Olav Jull Sørensen
10 Stakeholder Politics and PBL Curriculum: A Learner’s
Perspective 243
Maria Kriegsbaum and Bernadett Deák
11 Internships: Meeting Stakeholder Demand for Vocational
Curriculum? Benets and Costs of PBL-Based Practice
Learning 265
Jesper Lindgaard Christensen

xvii Contents
Part IV Problem Based Learning Supporting Global Agendas 291
12 PBL: A Teaching and Learning Concept Is Facing
Articial Intelligence 293
Ralph Dreher and Gesine Haselo
13 PBL and Social Inclusion 313
Soa Daskou and Nikolaos Tzokas
14 Establishing a Link Between Meaning and Success Via
PBL: Rethinking Entrepreneurship and Communication 347
Kim Malmbak Møller, Mads Lauridsen, and Jeppe Spedtsberg
15 Storytelling Sustainability in Problem- Based Learning 369
Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen and David M. Boje
16 Liquid Times – Newness and Uncertainty: An Innovative
AAU PBL Response 393
Romeo V. Turcan
Part V Concluding Remarks 421
17 In My End Is My Beginning 423
John E. Reilly and Romeo V. Turcan
Index 443

xix
DenizAtik is Assistant Professor of Marketing, University of Texas Rio
Grande Valley, and founding co-editor of Markets, Globalization &
Development Review. Atik’s research interest concentrates on transfor-
mative consumer research and macromarketing studies, especially theo-
ries of fashion, sustainability, and vulnerable consumers. Her work has
been published in well-recognized academic journals in the eld of mar-
keting. She also served as visiting professor at universities in the USA,
Japan, Italy, France, Kazakhstan, and Turkey.
JohnBaldock is Emeritus Professor of Social Policy at the University of
Kent where he was formerly Pro Vice Chancellor for Education and
Student Experience. His academic career has focused on both teaching
and research. He has experience of teaching in universities at both under-
graduate and postgraduate levels. His research and publications are
mainly in the areas of public policy, ageing and comparative social care of
older people.
David M. Boje, PhD is Regents Professor at the Department of
Management, New Mexico State University, US and Professor at the
Aalborg University Business School, Aalborg University. He teaches qual-
itative storytelling science methods at Cabrini University in Philadelphia.
Boje gives invited keynote presentations on storytelling science, water
Notes on Contributors

xx Notes on Contributors
crises, and the global climate crisis, all around the world. Boje is Regents
Professor and Professor Emeritus at New Mexico State University. He is
a Director European School of Governance (EUSG) where Louis Klein is
dean. He is member of the editorial board of the e Systemic Change
Journal that is an ongoing conversation about ways of Governing the
Anthropocene, and helping to set up a Gaia Storytelling Lab. He created
the eld of “antenarrative” research.
JesperLindgaardChristensen, PhD is Associate Professor in Industrial
Dynamics at the Aalborg University Business School, Aalborg University.
Jesper’s research focuses on SME development and entrepreneurial
nance, economic geography, innovation systems, the dynamics of spe-
cic industries, entrepreneurship, and innovation policy. His work
appeared in journals such as Small Business Economics, Industry &
Innovation, European Planning Studies, among others. Moreover,
Jesperhas extensive (25 years) experience in policy analyses and policy
advice. He teaches innovation and entrepreneurship and supervises PhD
students. Jesperis on the Board of the DRUID research network.
Woodrow W. Clark II is Managing Director, Qualitative Economist
and Executive Producer, is an internationally recognized, respected
expert, author, lecturer, public speaker and consultant on global and local
solutions to climate change. His core focus is on economics for smart
green communities. During the 1990s, he was the First Manager of
Technology Transfer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, which
was aliated with the University of California and U.S.Department of
Energy. He was one of the contributing scientists for United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel Climate Change, awarded 2008 Nobel Peace
Prize and Researcher for UN FCCC.From 2000 to 2003, Clark was
Advisor, Renewable Energy, Emerging Technologies & Finance to
California Governor Gray Davis. In 2004, Clark founded, and manages
Clark Strategic Partners, a global environmental and renewable energy
consulting rm. From 2015 to 2017, Clark taught courses at University
of International Relations in Beijing and lectured on “Environment
Economics” and “Circular Economics”. Clark was appointed member of
the Editorial Board for the Energy Review Journal in China. His book e
Green Industrial Revolution translated into Mandarin as Green

xxi Notes on Contributors
Development. He was selected as member of the UN Paris Accord B20
Finance Task Force supported in 2016 by China, which ended in 2017
due to the USA withdrawing from the UN Paris Accord.
SoaDaskou is Senior Lecturer in Marketing at Nottingham Business
School of Nottingham Trent University. Prior to joining NTU, Daskou
was the Director of Programmes of Plymouth Business School, and
worked as a Relationship Development Manager for the University of
Plymouth, responsible for the development, establishment and quality
control of an academic partnership with a Hellenic college. She has also
served as the Coordinator of the MBA and Bachelor of Science in Business
Administration programmes of the Hellenic American College in Athens.
Her academic career commenced at the University of Strathclyde, and
over the years she has contributed to academic programmes of Emory
University (USA), the University of Abertay (UK), and Université Marc
Bloch (France). Her research focuses on ethical consumption, entrepre-
neurial thinking, consumer issues, disordered eating and mindful con-
sumption, customer satisfaction and loyalty, relationship marketing and
CRM.Her work is published in the European Journal of Sport Science, the
International Journal of Economics and Business Research, the Journal of
Financial Services Marketing, the Global Business & Economics Review,
and the Journal of Relationship Marketing. Soa is President of the
International Advisory Council for the Marketing Profession (IACMP)
since 2010, which is an advisory body to the International Institute of
Marketing Professionals.
Bernadett Deák holds an MSc in Economics and Business
Administration from Aalborg University with a specialization in
International Business Economics. She conducted her MSc thesis research
in Canada at Laval University on the diusion of Fintech innovations
and their impact on the modern nancial ecosystem. She is Operational
Manager at Nordic Start-up Awards, where she manages partnerships and
international strategies across Nordic countries. She is also developing
strategies related to CRM and marketing at a seed-stage, peer- to-peer
lending Fintech start-up in Copenhagen.

xxii Notes on Contributors
NikhileshDholakia is Professor Emeritus, University of Rhode Island
(URI), and lives in the Central Valley region of California. He is also the
founding co-editor of Markets, Globalization and Development Review.
Dholakia’s research deals with globalization, technology, innovation,
market processes, and consumer culture. His current work focuses on
social and cultural aspects of interactive media, sentient-autonomous
technologies, and global–transglobal interchanges and linkages.
RalphDreher is full Professor for Technical Vocational Didactics (TVD)
at the University of Siegen. He completed his vocational education in car-
mechanics before studying Mechanical Engineering, Pedagogic and
German Language. After his Master-Diploma, he wrote his PhD esis
in the eld of simulation-added and multimedia-supported Technical
Training. He worked as Technical Teacher and Researcher for developing
and evaluating TT-TVET–Programs for Technical Vocational Teachers in
Germany, China and Bangladesh. After working as afull professor at the
University of Wuppertal, he founded the TVD-Chair in Siegen.
MichaelFast is Docent at UCN Business, University College Northern
Denmark, with responsibilities in developing research at Business. He is
former Associate Professor in Organizational Sociology and International
Business in the Department of Business and Management, Aalborg
University. He was research group leader of ORCA (Organizational
Renewal Creativity Applied), Program coordinator: BSc Economic
Business Administration, MSc in Organization and Strategy, MSc
International Business, Member of the Study Board Business and
Economics, Aalborg University. His main research elds and teaching for
the last 30 years are organizational sociology, leadership philosophy, phi-
losophy of science, methodology and qualitative methods. He has worked
with the ontology and epistemology of Phenomenology, Hermeneutics,
Symbolic Interactionism and Critical eory, as well as with empirical
studies of understanding organizations and movement. e teaching areas
above are at dierent levels on BSc, MSc, MBA, as well PhD courses in
Philosophy of Science and Methodology and include supervision of sev-
eral PhD theses. Fast holds a BSc in Business Administration and an MSc
in Organization from Aalborg University, Denmark, and a PhD in
Organization and Internationalization from Aalborg University Denmark.

xxiii Notes on Contributors
A.FuatFırat is Professor of Marketing at the University of Texas Rio
Grande Valley. He completed his PhD in Marketing at Northwestern
University. His research interests cover areas such as macro-consumer
behavior and macromarketing; postmodern culture; brands and brand-
ing; transmodern marketing strategies; gender and consumption; mar-
keting and development; and interorganizational relations. He has won
the Journal of Macromarketing Charles Slater Award for best article with
co-author N.Dholakia, the Journal of Consumer Research best article
award with co-author A.Venkatesh, and the Corporate Communications:
An International Journal top-ranked paper award with co-authors
L.T. Christensen and J. Cornelissen. He has published several books,
including Consuming People: From Political Economy to eaters of
Consumption, co-authored by N.Dholakia, and is the founding editor of
Consumption, Markets & Culture.
RtHonBruceGeorge, OBE (1942–2020) wasLabour MP for Walsall
South, served as MP for 36 years from 1974, retiring in 2010. He was a
Member of the House of Commons Defence Committee from 1979 and
Chairman from 1997 and was also a member of the Privy Council. In
Parliament, Bruce George specialised in subjects such as Defence, Foreign
Aairs, Arms Control, Policing and Private Security. He was a member of
the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly since its foundation in 1991, serving
as Rapporteur, later Chair of the First Committee and Vice President
since 1999. In July 2002, Bruce George was elected President of the
OSCE Parliamentary Assembly. He was Leader of the British Delegation
to the Parliamentary Assembly and led numerous OSCE election moni-
toring missions including Bosnia, Kosovo, Albania, Georgia and Ukraine.
He was a member of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from 1982,
chairing its Political Committee. He rst opened up the Assembly to
Eastern and Central Europe and for many years chaired the Assembly’s
Mediterranean initiatives. He was the rst Chair of the Mediterranean
Special Group and former Rapporteur to the Special Working Group on
Transatlantic Relations. Bruce George was educated at the Universities of
Wales and the University of Warwick, specialising in Politics and
Government. He taught at various Polytechnics and Universities teach-
ing British Government, Public Administration and Comparative

xxiv Notes on Contributors
Politics. He wrote eight books on security and defence subjects and
authored over 200 articles, book chapters, monographs and policy papers
including extensive writing on OSCE issues.
Birgitte Gregersen is Senior Associate Professor in Economics at
theAalborg University Business School, Aalborg University, Denmark.
She has researched and published within studies of systems of innovation
emphasising the role of the public sector for innovation, university–
industry linkages, innovation policy, and sustainable development. Her
current research is centred on systems of innovation with a special focus
on policy learning, institutions and learning capabilities from a sustain-
able development perspective. She is member of the IKE-research group,
the international networks DRUID and Globelics, and she has partici-
pated in various larger national and international joint research projects.
She has more than 40 years of experience with Problem Based Learning
(PBL) at bachelor and master’s levels, and she has several years of experi-
ence in university governance, including positions as vice dean, study
director and as Head of Department of Business and Management,
Aalborg University.
GesineHaselo is Researcher and Project Coordinator at the Chair of
Technical Vocational Didactics at the University of Siegen and the
Technical University of Dresden, Germany. She has experience in teacher
education for technical vocational education and training (TVET) and
has been involved in several international research and development proj-
ects in sub-Saharan Africa and Europe. Her research interests include
curriculum development and international TVET development. In her
doctoral thesis, Gesine has developed a further education system that
allows students to progress from Bachelor to Master and PhD.
Kenneth Mølbjerg Jørgensen, PhD is Professor of Organization at
theAalborg University Business School at Aalborg University and guest
professor of digitalization and work-integrated learning at University
West in Sweden. His research interests comprise power, storytelling, eth-
ics, sustainability and learning in organizations. He is currently involved
in regional projects concerning sustainability. He is the head of the Gaia
Storytelling Lab at e European School of Governance (EUSG).

xxv Notes on Contributors
Kenneth has authored, co-authored and edited numerous books, articles
and book chapters in, amongst others, the Scandinavian Journal of
Management, Business Ethics—A European Perspective, CBS Press, Sage
and Nova.
Maria Kriegsbaum is MSc graduate in Economics and Business
Administration from Aalborg University with a specialization in
International Business Economics. She conducted her MSc thesis research
while she was posted at e Embassy of Denmark in Indonesia. Together
with the Trade Council at the Embassy, she conducted a study on param-
eters for successful market entry for Danish companies in Indonesia. She
is a business consultant in Demant A/S where she is involved in a project
deploying a new global ERP system across business entities.
MadsLauridsen is graduate student at Copenhagen Business School.
His research interests range from sales knowledge, strategy, data science,
and public policy. In business, his experiences are primarily in sales and
project management in the private sector. He holds a BSc in Economics
and Business Administration from Aalborg University.
KimMalmbakMøller is Assistant Professor in Management Philosophy
and Organizational Development at the Aalborg University Business
School ofAalborg University. His main research areas are cross- disciplinary
and phenomenological approaches to learning, management philosophy,
epistemology, organizational culture and ethics. He received his cross-
disciplinary PhD in the study of cognition at Aalborg University, from
where he also holds an MSc in Organization and Strategy and a BSc in
Sociology.
Aras Ozgun is Media Studies scholar with interdisciplinary research
interests that branch out from the intersections of media theory and cul-
tural studies, political theory and philosophy, sociology, and digital media
arts and practices. He studied Political Science (B.Sc.) and Sociology
(MS) at Middle East Technical University in Ankara, and Media Studies
(MA) and Sociology (PhD) at the New School for Social Research in
NewYork. He teaches media theory and digital media arts courses at the
Cinema and Digital Media Department at İzmir University of Economics,
Turkey, and Media Studies Graduate Program of the New School for

xxvi Notes on Contributors
Public Engagement, USA.He writes on media, culture and politics, and
produces experimental digital media, photography and video works.
Samuel Rachlin is independent Danish journalist and writer with a
career as a foreign correspondent based in Moscow and Washington
DC.Most recently, he published e People and the Power Populism and
the New World Order (2017), In the Fog of the Cold War (2016), I, Putin.
e Russian Spring and the Russian World (2014), Me and Stalin (2011), a
collection of personal and political essays. He also writes a column for the
Danish daily Berlingske. Over the years, Samuel has also published his
columns in e International Herald Tribune and other international pub-
lications. He combines his work with lecturing and consulting and
divides his time between Washington DC, Copenhagen, and Trevi,
(Italy). An MA graduate of Copenhagen University in Russian Studies
and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, Rachlin is also
a Nieman Fellow from Harvard University. He is the recipient of
Columbia University’s Alumni Award for Excellence in Journalism and
won a nomination for the Cavling Prize, the Danish equivalent of the
Pulitzer Prize, for his work in the Soviet Union.
John E. Reilly has considerable experience in European and interna-
tional higher education and in the eld of governance and management
in higher education. His extensive knowledge of the UK, Europe, and
countries in many other regions (worked in East Africa and New Zealand,
undertook study visits in Australia, Hong Kong, and more recently in a
number of African countries) has given him a multi-cultural, transna-
tional understanding of issues and challenges arising in the eld of uni-
versity autonomy, governance, and management. He is a member of the
UK EHEA (Bologna process) Experts team, having a full understanding
of the Bologna process and the European Commission modernization
agenda. Other areas of interest on which he has written and made presen-
tations in international conferences include: student mobility (study and
work placement); academic recognition and the use of credits (ECTS);
joint degree programmes (Bachelor, Master, and Doctorate); the Bologna
process and European higher education modernization; the Tuning pro-
cess; governance and management in higher education and external and
internal quality assurance and enhancement (European Commission

xxvii Notes on Contributors
funded studies and publications with Ard Jongsma); University interna-
tionalization and transnational education; Education Policy Perspective
on Entrepreneurship. MA, Edinburgh University; Diploma in education,
Oxford University; MA, School of Oriental and African Studies,
University of London. MBE; Ocier dans l’Ordre des Palmes
Académiques; DCL.
Peter Scott is Professor of Higher Education Studies at the UCL
Institute of Education, and also Commissioner for Fair Access in Scotland.
Previously, he was Vice-Chancellor, Kingston University in London, and
a member of the board of the Higher Education Funding Council for
England. His most recent book, jointly with Gareth Parry and Jim
Gallacher, was ‘New Languages and Landscapes of Higher Education
(Oxford University Press 2017). He is a trustee of the Higher Education
Policy Institute (HEPI). He was chair of the council of the University of
Gloucestershire from 2011 until 2016 and was President of the Academic
Cooperation Association, the Brussels-based organisation that brings
together European agencies concerned with international Education,
from 2000 to 2008.
OlavJullSørensen is Professor Emeritus of International Business at
theAalborg University Business School of Aalborg University. He started
an International BusinessCentre in 1984 and was itsHead until 2016.
His main research interests are: the internationalisation of companies;
global value chains; internationalisation and innovation, and govern-
ment–business partnership. e topics are being researched in a devel-
oped market perspective as well as a developing/transition country
perspective. He has a deep interest in developing educational platforms,
building on problem-based learning and close collaboration with rms.
He has been a lead scholar in research, capacity building and educational
projects in Africa (Ghana, Tanzania); Eastern Europe (Lithuania) and
Russia, and Asia (Vietnam and China). He was a member of the Academic
Council for Social Sciences and the Council of the Department of
Business and Management at Aalborg University from 2010 to 2016; He
has been the director of the Sino-Danish Center (SDC)-Innovation
Management program in China from 2010 to 2016.

xxviii Notes on Contributors
JeppeSpedtsberg is graduate student at Copenhagen Business School.
His interests range from management consulting, nance, strategy, and
project management. He has business experience in sales, nance, and
management, having been the president of ‘Aalborg Management
Consulting Association’ for almost two years. He holds a BSc in
Economics and Business Administration from Aalborg University.
RomeoV.Turcan is Professor at theAalborg University Business School
at Aalborg University. Romeo’s research interests relate to creation and
legitimation of new sectors and new organizations; late- globalization, de-
globalization, de-internationalization; bubbles, collective behaviour; high
impact international entrepreneurship; and cross-disciplinary theory
building. Romeo is the founder and coordinator of an interdisciplinary,
inter-sectoral, inter-technology and international collaborative research
programme, eory Building Research Programme, www.tbrp.aau.dk.
Prior to commencing his academic career, Romeo worked in a range of
posts involving public policy intervention in restructuring, rationalizing
and modernizing business and public sectors such as power, oil, military
high-tech, management consulting, ICT and higher education. He
founded, started and as CEO led a branch of an international NGO.Since
2012, Romeo has been the main applicant and coordinator of four
EU-funded projects, incl., Marie S.Curie ITN, with a total value of more
than €7.3m. Romeo received his PhD and MSc from the Hunter Centre
for Entrepreneurship and the Marketing Department, respectively, both
at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, and his rst degree diploma of
mechanical engineer from the Air Force Engineering Military Academy,
Riga, Latvia.
NikolaosTzokas is Professor of Marketing and the Vice Dean Research
at the Mohammad bin Salman College for Business and Entrepreneurship
in KAEC, Saudi Arabia. His research focuses on value co-creation through
new product development, relationship marketing and knowledge man-
agement. For his research he received over £5m external funding from
sources such as the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
and the European Union Horizon2020. His research has been published
widely in international journals such as the JPIM, JMS, BJM and IMM
among others. Nikolaos earned an MBA from AUEB, Greece and PhD

xxix Notes on Contributors
from the University of Bath, UK.He joined the University of East Anglia
(UEA) in 2000; as a full Professor in Marketing and for the next 14 years
he held numerous leadership roles there including Dean/Head of the
Business School. From 2014 to 2019 he led the Faculty of Business at the
University of Plymouth as their Executive Dean, and served as elected
Council member of the Chartered Association of Business Schools
(CABS) as well as Chair of CABS International Committee.

xxxi
List of Figures
Fig. 9.1 e essence of the Aalborg University PBL model 207
Fig. 9.2 A model of a socially engaged university.
(Source: Adapted from Sørensen [2016]) 209
Fig. 9.3 e relation between research-based and experience-based
knowledge 210
Fig. 9.4 Knowledge conguration at the company level 214
Fig. 9.5 Overlap of core competences of university, rm, and
government. (Source: Adapted from Sørensen [2016]) 217
Fig. 12.1 PBL as educational concept for gaining of personal
shaping-competence 304
Fig. 15.1 UN sustainable development goals. (Source: Rockström
and Sukhdev 2016) 379
Fig. 15.2 Reorganization of SDGs 380
Fig. 15.3 True storytelling. (Source: Boje etal. 2016) 383
Fig. 15.4 Mapping the strings of relations concerning responsible
consumption and production 385
Fig. 16.1 Paradox of change. (a) Feeling comfortable in own ‘black-
box’. (b) Stepping out and thinking outside the black-box 400
Fig. 16.2 PBL progression 412
Fig. 16.3 AAU PBL model and research-based teaching 414
Fig. 16.4 Teaching-based research and revised project work process 415
Fig. 16.5 AAU Holistic PBL model 416

xxxiii
List of Tables
Table 8.1 Illustration of third mission approaches at AAU and SDU 193
Table 9.1 Experience typology 215
Table 9.2 Interplay between rms and knowledge institutions:
a case of Aalborg University and Mekoprint 218
Table 12.1 Grading procedure for PBL sequences 306
Table 16.1 Evolution of graduate’s prole 398

xxxv
Vignette 1.1: A Brief Review of the Formal Learning Framework 7
Vignette 1.2: UNESCO Analysis of the reat of Nationalism: A
Feature of the Populist Agenda 11
Vignette 1.3: Expressions of Nationalism in Education 13
Vignette 1.4: Calls for HE to Address Radicalization, Extremism,
Fundamentalism 15
Vignette 1.5: Call for ‘Unusual’ Professions 19
Vignette 1.6: e Impact of Social Media on Learning 22
Vignette 1.7: Examples of Denialism 25
Vignette 3.1: Autonomy and Pluralism 74
Vignette 3.2: e Ideal-Type Liberal American University 77
Vignette 3.3: e Reagan Years: An Example of Neoliberal
Intervention in the Higher Education System 78
Vignette 3.4: Admission Schemes and Scams 81
Vignette 3.5: Non-Prot Organization: e Economic Form of
Private Universities in the USA 84
Vignette 3.6: Endowments: e Link Between Private Universities
and Finance Capital 85
Vignette 7.1: Challenges in Introducing Philosophy of Science 165
Vignette 7.2: Standardization: Universities as Production Factories 166
Vignette 8.1: Engaged Scholarship and PBL in Student Projects 190
Vignette 9.1: Human Experience as a Core Concept 212
List of Vignettes

xxxvi List of Vignettes
Vignette 9.2: e Employer Perspective on Firm-University
Collaboration: e Case of Mekoprint A/S 235
Vignette 10.1: Students’ Reections on eir PBL Learning Process:
Mekoprint Case 252
Vignette 10.2: Students’ Reections on eir PBL Learning Process:
ORANA Case 253
Vignette 10.3: Students’ Reections on eir PBL Learning Process:
Codan Case 254
Vignette 12.1: Digital Value Recreation 294
Vignette 12.2: What are the Consequences of Digitising Work
Processes? 298
Vignette 12.3: Competence Measuring with “COMET” 306
Vignette 13.1: e Purpose/Process of PBL and Perspectives of
Problem Solving and Problem Posing in Instruction 319
Vignette 13.2: PBL Examples at Beacon College 326
Vignette 13.3: PBL at Nottingham Trent University: e NBS
inkubator 329
Vignette 14.1: Entrepreneurial Meaning—A Phenomenological
Analysis of University Start-Ups 351
Vignette 16.1: Post-Brexit News Censorship in the UK 396
Vignette 16.2: Students and Companies’ Feedback on Student–
Company Fair: Towards a 3rd Generation of PBL 403
Vignette 16.3: An Overview of the Inter-institutional and
Interdisciplinary PBL Project 409