Age and ageing in higher education: exploring the benefits and costs of higher education distribution over the lifecourse

On 5 December, Professor Tom Schuller, Director of Longview, a UK ‘think-tank’ promoting the value of longitudinal and lifecourse research, delivered a lecture entitled Changing demographics of higher education: policy implications for research, teaching and learning. This was the seventh in a lecture series hosted by the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC) DCU, with support from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA). The welcome address was given by the President of DCU Professor Brian MacCraith. The event was chaired by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research and Development, with participants and expert panellists Professor Brendan Whelan, Research Advisor, the Longitudinal study on ageing (TILDA), Professor Mark Morgan, Cregan Professor of Education and Psychology, St Patrick’s College Drumcondra and Trudy Corrigan, Lecturer in the School of Educational Studies and DCU Intergenerational Learning Programme Coordinator.

Professor Mark Morgan, Trudy Corrigan, Professor Brendan Whelan, Professor Maria Slowey, Professor Tom Schuller, Professor Brian MacCraith

At the times of economic uncertainty, public concerns and youth unemployment, a strong case should be made for a lifecourse perspective with its focus on both individual and societal wellbeing. This was an opening remark of Professor Schuller. The demographics, as the overall theme of the lecture was approached from two angles: i) ageing of population and its overall impact on higher education, ii) sociological implications of ageing on universities as expressed in changing patterns of gender enrolment trends, access policy and curriculum provision. Reflecting on massification of higher education Professor Schuller remarked that, while an investment in education is considered to be a good thing on the individual level, there are at least three important questions that arise. These include the ‘lag’ question (change in relative advantage), the distribution question (of benefits and costs of higher education) and the generation question (issues of equality, efficiency and tension)’.

Speaking of ageing and higher education Prof. Tom Schuller highlighted that the current focus should not be just on older students but also consider the lifecourse as a whole. Therefore, it would be worthwhile to explore issues around paid/unpaid work across the lifecourse, family systems and the extent of their provision of financial and caring supports to both older and younger relatives and, new understandings of pathways from one life stage to another. Supporting his last point Professor Schuller has given an example of an alternative mapping of the key lifecourse transition stages. To note, this was also one of the recommendations of his recent co-authored publication Learning Through Life, namely a proposed new model of ‘educational lifecourse’: ‘up to 25’, ‘25-50’, ’50-75’ and ‘75+’ years. Reflecting on this important Report, Prof. Schuller raised another question: Considering the current trends of younger people staying longer in education and staying at home, could one of the priorities be rethinking the employment regarding the work entry?

The theme gender and higher education was the second identified in the talk. The speaker has argued that one of the broad social trends relates to ‘performance’ - the fact that the women make up of the most of entrants and graduates of higher education institutions in OECD countries. Additionally, young women seem to be more likely than men to finish upper secondary education in every OECD country (with the exception of Germany and Switzerland). In turn, the monetary ‘reward’ of completing the higher education seems to be higher for men across a number of OECD countries.      

Speaking of the general challenges and issues facing higher education nationally and abroad in the times of demographic changes, Professor Tom Schuller spoke of ‘rebalancing’ of resources over the lifecourse and possible changes in curriculum content and provision to match demographics. He concluded the event stressing that research on transitions and trajectories of people over their lifecourse to understand patterns and variation is now high on the agenda, in addition to a need of a greater experimentation in the use of the human capital in the workplace.

Professor Tom Schuller is currently Director of Longview, a UK ‘think-tank’ promoting the value of longitudinal and lifecourse research, and a consultant on social and educational research. He is a visiting Professor at Birkbeck College, University of London and the Institute of Education; a Senior Research Fellow with the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education; Research Associate with SKOPE (University of Oxford); and a Visiting Research Fellow with the UK Commission on Employment and Skills.    

Changing demographics of higher education: policy implications for research, teaching and learning

HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHALLENGING TIMES: QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONED

Professor Tom Schuller, Director of Longview, London
Monday 5 December
12.00 to 14.00 (Tea and coffee from 11.30, light lunch available after seminar)
Gallery Room, The Helix, DCU
[Seminar Flyer PDF]

The main speaker for this event is Professor Tom Schuller. Professor Schuller is Director of Longview, a 'think-tank' promoting longitudinal and lifecourse research, and a consultant on social and educational research. From 2008-2010 Tom directed the independent Inquiry into the Future for Lifelong Learning, sponsored by the UK's National Institute of Adult Continuing Education. With Sir David Watson, he co-published the Inquiry's main report, Learning Through Life, in September 2009 to a warm reception from researchers and from all political parties. From 2003-2008 he was Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) at OECD, with responsibility for CERI's projects relating to some 30 countries. Before that Tom was Dean of the Faculty of Continuing Education and Professor of Lifelong Learning at Birkbeck, University of London; and co-director of the Research Centre on the Wider Benefits of Learning. He chairs the Governing Board of the Working Men's College in London, Europe's oldest adult education institute. He is a Visiting Professor at Birkbeck College, University of London and the Institute of Education; a Senior Research Fellow with the National Institute for Adult Continuing Education; Research Associate with SKOPE (University of Oxford); and a Visiting Research Fellow with the UK Commission on Employment and Skills.

ABSTRACT
Almost all OECD countries have ageing populations. This has major implications for education and lifelong learning, some of which are more obvious than others. Professor Schuller will argue that the implications are not only to do with how to cater for the learning needs of older people. We need a fresh look at the lifecourse as a whole, and the relationships between age groups and generations. We also need to take more seriously the research challenges - and opportunities - posed by such a fresh look.

The lecture will be introduced by Professor Brian MacCraith, President of DCU with expert panellists Professor Brendan Whelan, Research Advisor, the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing (TILDA) and previously Research Professor at the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), Professor Mark Morgan, Cregan Professor of Education and Psychology, St Patrick's College Drumcondra and DCU and Acting Director 'Growing up in Ireland' and Trudy Corrigan, Lecturer in the School of Education Studies DCU and DCU Intergenerational Learning Programme Coordinator.

There is no fee for attendance, but booking is required as places are limited to facilitate discussion. A light lunch will be provided. Please confirm your attendance for this event by registering at the following page
http://www4.dcu.ie/ovpli/herc/tom_schuller_register.shtml

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HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHALLENGING TIMES: QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONED is a lecture series organised by the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC) at DCU and co-sponsored by the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA) and the Higher Education Authority

IHERD - OECD Programme on Innovation, Higher Education and Research for Development

IHERD (Innovation, Research and Higher Education for Development) is a recently launched four-year OECD programme supported by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). The main objective is to increase strategic and coherent investments in innovation, higher education and research relevant to development on a global level.

Advisory Committee and Secretariat of IHERD

The programme spans two Divisions within OECD: the Country Studies and Outlook (CSO) Division in the Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry (DSTI) and the Programme on Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) in the Education Directorate (EDU). The work of IHERD is supported by an International Advisory Committee, of which Professor Maria Slowey from DCU is a member.

‘The primary objective of the IHERD programme is to increase the policy relevance of research and to promote evidence-based policy making in higher education, research and innovation for development. This will be achieved through stimulating a shift in the research agenda by reviewing existing research, by commissioning new research and by fostering links with leading researchers and research institutions in the IHERD field.’ (OECD Programme on Innovation, Higher Education and Research for Development, 2011).

‘Has the state really retreated from direct regulatory interventions in higher education in exchange for ‘steering from a distance’- or is the emperor only changing his clothes?’

This was the central question posed on 3 October by Professor Dirk Van Damme, Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of OECD in his lecture Governing Higher Education: the limits of public regulation and institutional autonomy in a connected world. This event was the sixth in a lecture series hosted by the Higher Education Research Centre (HERC) DCU, with support from the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA). The welcome address and introduction was given by Professor Brian MacCraith, President of DCU and the lecture was followed by discussion chaired by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research and Development, DCU, with inputs from Tom Boland, Chief Executive of the HEA, Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, University of Western Cape, South Africa and participants drawn from the policy community, researchers and higher education leaders.

Working out the balance between state regulation and institutional autonomy is an important topic internationally for universities and other higher education institutions. The debate is particularly lively just now when higher education is going through a period of major reforms (including the Bologna Process, EU’s Lisbon Agenda, EU2020, and the EC’s modernisation policy). It can be argued that, on one hand, universities are social institutions supported to a significant extent by public funds and therefore, should be accountable. But on the other hand, universities have a number of distinctive missions which require a high degree of autonomy from the state. Speaking of the general trends in the state policy developments internationally, Professor Van Damme drew attention to a series of new policy instruments-output funding, quality assurance, accreditation and accountability- are more likely to increase state regulatory intervention in higher education research and innovation policies. This is primarily evidenced by initiation of reforms on performance-oriented funding, increased competition and introduction of accreditation processes.

Dr Pat Phelan, Associate Registrar, University of Limerick posing a question to (R to L) Professor Dirk Van Damme, Head of the Centre for Educational Research and Innovation (CERI) of OECD, Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research and Development, DCU, Tom Boland, Chief Executive of the HEA and Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, University of Western Cape, South Africa

Elaborating on the notion of a ‘distant state’ Prof. Dirk Van Damme stressed that ‘public policy rationales for state intervention and regulation have become very powerful in an age where higher education has moved to the centre of gravity in modern knowledge societies’. These rationales are indeed very well known - ‘massification’ of higher education, the notion of contribution of research and innovation to countries’ economic growth and the role of higher education in social progress.

Why have public policies in higher education remained so strong and interventionist? The reasons in his view are that higher education remains a public policy field precisely because the stakes are so high ‘that no government is willing to allow universities to depart from public policy objectives which are seen as crucial for a nation’s future prosperity and progress. Effective and equitable systems of knowledge production, knowledge transfer and knowledge distribution are key to societies’ progress’. But also, Professor Van Damme continued, it is essential that universities continue to use the opportunity for autonomy in effective and productive ways. He further identified some of the areas where institutional autonomy could be more strongly exercised: academic staff policies, human resource, research priority setting and programme and curriculum development. Highlighting the profound consequences of state regulation on higher education research agenda, government and leadership, Dirk Van Damme spoke of the need to increase an institutional ‘connectedness’, to develop strong strategic leadership and vision and developed the concept of ‘network governance ‘.

Professor Van Damme is currently Head of CERI (Centre for Educational Research and Innovation) in the Directorate for Education at the OECD in Paris, where he is also responsible for the Teaching and Learning International Survey (TALIS). He holds a PhD degree in educational sciences from Ghent University and has been professor of educational sciences in the same university (since 1995). He has been professionally involved in educational policy development in a range of senior roles at European and national levels including, deputy director of the cabinet of the Flemish Minister of Education.

SAGE/EERA early research career award for Dr Ekaterina Kozina, a HERC postdoctoral researcher

The EERA (European Educational Research Association) comprises more than 20 national and regional Educational Research Associations from all parts of Europe. Each year EERA awards a small number of scholarships to support talented new researchers to attend the annual European Conference on Educational Research (ECER).

This year, SAGE Publishing supported one of these competitive scholarships. Following a three-stage selection process, the SAGE-funded Conference Bursary was awarded to Dr. Ekaterina Kozina, a postdoctoral researcher in the Higher Education Research Centre, Office of the Vice-President for Learning Innovation, Dublin City University.

The winner was honoured in the Opening Ceremony of the Annual Conference on Educational Research Early Researchers’ Conference on 12 September in Freie Universität, Berlin at which Ekaterina presented her paper: “Towards a Sociology of Teacher Socialisation: National Study into First Year Professional Experiences of Primary Teachers”.

EERA was founded in 1994 with the purposes of:

• encouraging collaboration amongst educational researchers in Europe,
• promoting communication between educational researchers and international governmental organisations such as the EU, Council of Europe, OECD and UNESCO,
• disseminating the findings of educational research and highlighting their contribution to policy and practice.

Colloquium on Lifelong Learners in Higher Education, University of Western Cape, 1-2 September

Increasing numbers of students have to seek employment opportunities in order to support themselves; they are enrolled either as ‘full-time’ or ‘part-time’ students, attending classes in the cracks of their work, community and family lives. They may attend in the day-time, after-hours, or in block periods. They are juggling multiple responsibilities of home, work and studies. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are often not equipped to support them adequately. The purpose of the colloquium was to understand the issues of working, ‘non-traditional’ students more deeply and raise questions about ways in which HEIs, both locally and internationally, are responding to their needs in order to promote and support lifelong learners.

Professor Brian O'Connell, Rector, University of Western Cape, Professor Maria Slowey, DCU, and Dr George Openjuru, Dean, School of Distance and Lifelong Learning at the launch of a Colloquium on 'Lifelong Learners in Higher Education', University of Western Cape, 1-2 September.

This colloquium brought together researchers, policy makers, employers and practitioners over two days on 1 and 2 September 2011 and was hosted by Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division of Lifelong Learning in the University of Western Cape (UWC). The first day took the form of an extended lunch time public lecture by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research and Development from Dublin City University, Ireland, who situated the issues in wider international contexts in her paper Lifelong Learners in Higher Education: International Trends.

The second day focused on one critical aspect of the topic, that is,  Lifelong Learners and part-time studies in Higher Education. This included experiences from students, institutional case studies, debates, and discussions both from South Africa and further afield. The two case studies were of Makerere University, Uganda, which was led by Dr George Openjuru, Dean, School of Distance and Lifelong Learning, and UWC, which was led by Jos Koetsier, DLL and Ms Sally Witbooi, Library and Information Systems, UWC. Rapporteurs from various sectors, included Ms Lynne du Toit, CEO, Juta (Publishing) and Co. Ltd, Mr Mark Espin, Student and Lecturer, Dr Mark Abrahams, UWC with a final summing up by Brian Williams, Chair of the Council of UWC.

This colloquium also served to promote collaboration between Dublin City University and the University of Western Cape in South Africa and to enhance existing research links between Professor Maria Slowey, Higher Education Research and Development, DCU and Professor Shirley Walters, Director of the Division for Lifelong Learning, University of Western Cape, South Africa. Professor Walters will visit DCU to participate as an expert panellist in the forthcoming HERC seminar on 3 October at the Helix in DCU. The main speaker for this event is Professor Dirk Van Damme, Head of CERI who will present a lecture entitled 'Governing higher education: the limits of public regulation and institutional autonomy in a connected world'. For more information on this event please visit our seminar page.

Date for your diary - 3rd October 2011

The next event in the seminar series HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHALLENGING TIMES: QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONED will take place on Monday 3rd October, 2011 in the Helix at DCU.

Professor Dirk Van Damme will give a presentation followed by a panel discussion and audience questions. Professor Dirk Van Damme is head of CERI (Centre for Education Research and Innovation ) at OECD . We will post the time, lecture title, abstract and panellist names as these become available.