Regional engagement and service mission of universities: North American perspectives. Friday 4 March, 2011

Hans G. Schuetze, University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver, Canada
Friday 4 March, 2011, 12.30 to 14.00.
Blue Room, Second Floor The Helix, DCU

The main speaker for this event is Hans G. Schuetze, University of British Columbia (UBC) Vancouver, Canada. Professor Hans G. Schuetze is a fellow and former director of the Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training, UBC, and also a senior honorary research fellow, University of Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom. He has worked as a consultant on educational policy for the OECD, UNESCO, the EU, the Canadian government, the British Columbia provincial government as well as several other education policy bodies. His fields of research and expertise encompass the economics and the organization of post-secondary education and training, comparative education, lifelong learning, and, more generally, the role of education and training in cultural, social and economic development.

Professor Schuetze will present a lecture entitled 'Regional engagement and service mission of universities: North American perspectives'. This will be followed by an open discussion chaired by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research, DCU, with participants and discussant Professor Ronnie Munck, DCU in the Community.

Does higher education create public good(s) and should it be publicly funded? Simon Marginson, 21 February 2011

We are pleased to announce that the second seminar in the HERC seminar series will take place on Monday 21 February, 12.00-14.00 in DCU. The main speaker for this event is Simon Marginson, Professor of Higher Education at the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Professor Marginson provides advice for the OECD and the governments of Ireland, Australia and several countries in the Asia-Pacific region, and writes principally about globalization, higher education and education policy.

He will present a lecture entitled 'Does higher education create public good(s) and should it be publicly funded?'. This will be followed by an open discussion chaired by Professor Maria Slowey, Director of Higher Education Research, DCU, with participants and expert panellists including Professor Patrick Clancy, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, UCD, Professor Ellen Hazelkorn, Director of Research and Enterprise, DIT and Professor Shinichi Yamamoto, Director, Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University, Japan.

This series is co-sponsored by the Higher Education Research Centre at DCU, the Dublin Region Higher Education Association and the Higher Education Authority

Please feel free to forward this flyer to interested colleagues. There is no fee for attendance, but booking is required as places are limited to facilitate discussion. A light lunch will be provided. RSVP to: HERC@dcu.ie.

Date for your diary

The next event in the seminar series HIGHER EDUCATION IN CHALLENGING TIMES: QUESTIONING THE UNQUESTIONED will take place on Monday 21st of February, 2011.

Professor Simon Marginson will speak and his presentation will be followed by a panel discussion and audience debate. Professor Marginson is Professor of Higher Education in the Centre for the Study of Higher Education at the University of Melbourne – for more information on his work, please see his staff web page. We will post the lecture title, abstract and panellist names as these become available.

Further events are planned for March, April and May of 2011. Suggestions for speakers and topics continue to be welcome at HERC@dcu.ie.

Lively debate at HERC seminar series launch

On 8 December, the Higher Education Research Centre at DCU launched the first in a seminar series entitled Higher education in challenging times: questioning the unquestioned. Coordinated by Professor Maria Slowey, DCU, with support from the Higher Education Authority and an Alliance involving eight higher education institutions in the Dublin area (Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance) this series aims to promote debate with all interested parties on the future of higher education in Ireland. This first event was introduced by Professor Brian MacCraith, President of DCU.

Highlighting the BRIC countries’ rise in global prominence, an overview of the Brazilian higher education system suggested both stark differences and challenging alternatives at a time when UK and Ireland policymakers are considering radical overhauls of established HE systems. Leading educationalist Professor Nelson Maculan described a Brazilian higher education system with more than 3.5 private higher education institutes to every public institute. With entry to public institutions frequently requiring higher grades than the private institutions, approximately 64% of the undergraduate population is educated privately. While this system is opening up access to higher education, Professor Maculan noted that it is also creating significant issues around quality, levels of completion and, importantly, a situation where less well off sections of the population effectively pay twice for HE: once through taxation to support the public institutions where they are underrepresented, and again for fees in private colleges.

Professor John Field, Professor Nelson Maculan, Professor Maria Slowey, Dr. Carmel Mulcahy, Dr. Tom Boland, Professor Bahram Bekhradnia

A lively discussion followed Professor Maculan’s presentation led by the expert panel. Tom Boland, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority, Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Oxford, and Professor John Field, Professor of Lifelong Learning at the Stirling Institute of Education were well placed to offer perspectives on the different HE systems in Ireland, the UK as a whole and Scotland in particular. Their discussion took off from the lecture to propose how the panelists’ HE systems might respond to current crises to meet the needs of their societies within the limitations of public funding. Dr. Carmel Mulcahy from the School of Education Studies in DCU concisely described the many challenges faced by practitioners in Irish higher education institutions in this time of upheaval, and argued that education for sustainable development will be central to solutions to these challenges.

The audience, drawn from the policy and practice communities of the Irish HE system, was asked to suggest topics and speakers for upcoming events in this series, ensuring it will respond to the most relevant and timely debates in the HE community.

Events so far scheduled for 2011 include lectures by Professor Simon Marginson, University of Melbourne, Professor Sir Peter Scott, Institute of Education, London, and Professor Sir David Watson, Principal of Green College Templeton, Oxford.

Seminar Series Launch 8 December 2010

Higher education in challenging times: questioning the unquestioned

The series was launched on Wednesday 8 December with a seminar entitled 'Globalisation and higher education: policy and practice in a BRIC country' by the renowned educator and scientist, Professor Nelson Maculan. A welcome address was given from Professor Brian MacCraith, President of Dublin City University. Introductions were made by Professor Maria Slowey, DCU who acknowledged the  support of the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA). We were also honoured to have the Brazilian Ambassador Pedro Fernando Brêtas Bastosin in attendance.

Professor Nelson Maculan

The seminar was followed by an open discussion with participants and expert panellists including Dr. Bahram Bekhradnia, Director of the Higher Education Policy Institute, Oxford, Dr. Carmel Mulcahy, School of Education Studies, Dublin City University, Tom Boland, Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority, and Professor John Field, Professor of Lifelong Learning at The Stirling Institute of Education. 

Professor John Field, Professor Maria Slowey, Professor Nelson Maculan, Dr. Bryan Maguire