Browse by: "2008"

Framed in terms of the Third Mission, the “enterprise” or “entrepreneurial” university has increasingly become normalised in public policy; however there remains much contention about the implication of third stream activities. There is little rigorous evidence as to whether the Third Mission adversely affects teaching and/or (basic) research. Martin and Etzkowitz (2000) note there is some anecdotal evidence that the Third Mission has had a positive impact. Indeed, it is to this debate that this paper seeks to contribute. It considers how the Third Mission can positively reinforce teaching and research activities and how this is arguably more significant than the Third Mission itself. Indeed, it proposes that triangulating teaching, research and third stream activities should reinforce the respective dynamics of each through their recursive and reciprocal development. Conceptualising institutional engagement with the third stream holistically in terms of entrepreneurial architectures may enable universities to stimulate institutional development beyond the Third Mission. The paper concludes by reflecting upon and looking towards the future of higher education policy and the management of higher education institutions.

Research universities throughout the world are part of a larger effort by countries to bolster science and technological innovation and compete economically. The United States remains highly competitive as a source of high-tech innovation because of a number of market positions, many the results of long-term investments in institutions (such as research universities) and in research and development funding, and more broadly influenced by a political culture that has tended to support entrepreneurs and risk taking. In essence, the United States was the first mover in pursuing the nexus of science and economic policy. The following essay attempts to place universities within this larger political and policy environment by discussing market factors that have influenced knowledge accumulation and high-tech innovation in the United States. It also gives an assessment of their current saliency in the face of globalisation and the growing market position of competitors, such as the European Union. The article also provides observations on major US state-based high-tech initiatives intended to create or sustain knowledge-based economic areas, and discusses the prospect of a major new federal initiative to increase national research and development funding.

In most countries, current human rights monitoring mechanisms are primarily based on reporting of individual cases, by victims or NGOs, to Human Rights Institutions or tribunals, as well as on judicial decisions.As it has been mentioned in Chapter 1, this form of monitoring can certainly be very effective and useful for purposes of advocacy on individual cases, but it cannot provide information on the dimension and trends of specific forms of human rights violations.

This paper explores four interrelated issues: access and equity, the role and the legitimacy of the emergent, market-driven private sector in higher education, the relationships between reforming public services in general and changing public and private higher education, and entrepreneurialism of the emergent private sector in higher education. The four issues are closely related in those transition countries in which the market orientation of public institutions is strong, and in which new private institutions have considerable share in student enrolments.

An ageing public service increases fiscal burdens while decreasing immediate capacities to deliver services. In the long run, however, it also offers an opportunity to downsize the public sector workforce if necessary and to change employment conditions and the management of government employees where this is deemed reasonable. This article reviews the experience of nine OECD countries in this field and presents some possible strategies for facing the wider ageing challenge.