Changing Roles of Universities in an Interdependent World

1. Tradition and innovation. Changing roles of universities in an interdependent world. Bernd Wächter, Director, ACA

2. On ACA • A (mainly) European federation of national organisations active in internationalisation of HE (DAAD, Tempus Public Foundation, etc.) • Promoting innovation and internationalisation • Studies on (international) HE trends, for example • European and global student mobility • English-taught programmes in Europe • Relative position of European HE in the world • Handbooks (on international and European associations) • International conferences and seminar • ACA Newsletter – Education Europe.

3. Quite a task • This is quite a task for • I take it you want me to take a look at the future. But:‘The future is one of the hardest things to predict’ (Woody Allan, Groucho Marx + a few dozen others) • As the title rightly assumes, there is no such thing as the university, there are universities (and very different ones) • I assume that you want me to take a global look (“interdependent world”) at higher education and its challenges and framework conditions

4. A reassuring thought • Our world is rapidly changing and so is higher education. • From close-by, we always tend to think change is far more intense and speedy than ever before. We are all a bit ‘hyped’. • But plus ça change, plusc'estla même chose (Jean-Baptiste Alphonse) • The university is, after all, together with the Icelandic Parliament and the Roman Catholic Church, one of the three oldest institutions in Europe. • But in order to survice, universities had to change permanently. But this applies to other institutions and to living creatures, too (check with Darwin).

5. Themes covered • The demographic challenge • Access • Diverse higher education systems • World-class universities (Jamil Salmi and others)

6. The demographic challenge • Demographic challenges everywhere. But not of the same sort • Europe: declining populations (with exceptions) • Africa, parts of Asia: strong population growth (with exception of China, with decline in the medium term) • European HE faces challenge of diminishing enrolment. Possible ways out: higher participation rate of age group and / or internationalisation (see later slides) and immigration. • Asian HE: challenge of creating more capacity at very high speed, to increase HE participation rates / attainment levels

7. Access / participation • Higher education participation and graduation rates differ immensely between countries. By whatever measure. • Participation rates in Europe (and the US) are higher than in the rest of the world, with exceptions (South Korea, for example). • Meaning: it will be difficult for European HE to keep the size of its HE sector by increasing participation. • Participation rates in Africa, Asia and partly Latin America will need to increase, to contribute to economic and social progress. • Next to the quantitative challenge, there is a qualitative one. It looks that Asia (China in particular), at any rate, is making rapid progress (in global rankings). Some predict that Chinese HE will outperform the US soon.

8. Diversity in higher education • OECD ‘mantra’: the higher the education level, the lower the risk of a person’s unemployability and the better his/her lifetime income. Higher education pays. • Will this still be the case in 20 years to come? And is it the case today everywhere and regardless of type of qualification (taxi drivers with Ph.Ds)? • One thing is clear: mono-institutional HE systems are less likely to be successful than ‘diverse’ ones (and far more expensive). I.e. such where classical research-focused universities co-exist with 4-year colleges / universities of applied science and institutions at sub-Bachelor level (e.g. Community Colleges in US)

9. World-class universities (1) • Everyone wants a world-class university. No country • feels it can do without one. The problem is that no • one knows what a world-class university is, and no one has figured out how to get one. (Phil Altbach). • The craze of global HE debates five years ago. • Clearly linked to the emergence of global university rankings in the 2000s (ARWU, Times Higher, etc) • Also linked to the many national ‘excellence initiatives’ that were launched across the world. • Craze about world-class universities in stark contrast to consensus on need for diversified HE systems.

10. World-class universities (2): defining characteristics • Internationalisation and concentration of talent (talent attracts talent). Freedom to select and to hire and fire. • Very-well funded (diverse funding sources, inclusive of public funds, endowments help) • Highly autonomous, with appropriate governance and management practises (strong steering core).

11. World-class universities (3): How to create them • Upgrading existing institutions (most common approach), supported often through ‘excellence initiatives’. • Merging existing institutions (to create critical mass, but often also to make savings). Not always successful, as in the corporate world. • Creating new universities (e.g. IITs in India since 1951). More often in emerging economies with low HE participation rates than in Europe or the US)

12. World-class universities (4): final remarks • Even those fascinated by world-class universities admit that they are not the solution to the challenges faced by HE generally • The instruments used to create them (mostly the ‘excellence initiatives) are selective and, potentially, undemocratic. The hope is (was?) that the competition over funding would raise quality levels generally. Has this happened? • A story from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH, Zürich).

13. Internationalisation (1) • Is the creation of world-class universities making internationalisation efforts superfluous? These universities do not aim to be international as such, but by being selective and attracting the best from everywhere, they are. • My answer: no. • The world-class segment of institutions is untypical for HE in general. • Most universities and colleges in Europe have a long way to go to become truly international. Let alone in other parts of the world. • Internationalisation, in the form of attracting foreign students, for example, could also contribute to solving the challenge from declining numbers of domestic students in Europe.

14. Internationalisation (1) • Internationalisation, in the form of attracting foreign students, for example, could also contribute to solving the challenge from declining numbers of domestic students in Europe. • There is the need for European and global networks, such as yours. And there will be for a long time to come.

15. That was it… Thank you for your kind attention. www.aca-secretariat.be