Search Results (9)

Since the 21st century, Russia has pursued the construction of world-class universities as a core reform goal in higher education, aiming to address the inadequacies of its post-Soviet higher education system in adapting to international competition. This study systematically examines the historical evolution, strategic framework, key characteristics, and practical challenges of Russia’s efforts over more than two decades. Russia’s practice has gone through three distinct stages: foundational construction (2003–2012), marked by joining the Bologna Process and establishing federal and national research universities; in-depth advancement (2012–2020), driven by initiatives such as the “5–100 Plan,” Global Education Program, and regional flagship universities; and adjustment and optimization (2020–present), represented by the “Priority-2030” plan. These efforts have formed a strategic framework centered on system construction, internationalization, balanced development, and operational support. Key characteristics of Russia’s practice include the integration of strategic stability and tactical flexibility, the complementarity of tiered and classified development, and the coordination of government leadership and university autonomy. However, challenges persist, such as underperformance in global rankings, insufficient funding, uneven resource distribution, and severe talent drain. Full article

The school-to-work transition is one of the trickiest steps in the life cycle of an individual because when young people complete their education and enter the labor market, they have to compete to attain a job while lacking the job experience or skills required by employers. Across European countries, the school-to-work transition shows very different characteristics and durations, stemming from, among other factors, (1) the different provisions of services at the country level to help young people become oriented in the labor market, (2) different historical backgrounds, and even (3) the different capacities of education systems to provide the skills required by employers, despite the efforts to homogenize the national education systems, which started with the Bologna process. In this paper, we aim to compare various programs implemented within formal education at the macro-level in Italy, Moldova, and Latvia, three rather different countries in Europe, that have the goal of helping young people during various stages of this transition. The conclusion we can draw is that each of these countries needs to adopt a coordinated and integrated strategy of reforms aimed at (a) preventing early school drop-outs; (b) incentivizing the attainment of a university degree; (c) reforming school curricula; (d) closing the gap between education systems and labor market requirements; and (e) improving the services that help young people during the school-to-work transition. Full article

This study looks at how well bachelor’s degree holders in Spain match into jobs five years after graduation. Based on workers’ self-assessment, education–job mismatch is defined as the discrepancy between the formal qualifications that individuals earned at Spanish universities and those that are required by jobs. By estimating a multinomial logit model, this research identifies fields of study that are associated with increased likelihood of a particular educational mismatch status. Results indicate that university graduates from highly specialized bachelor’s degree programs are more likely to work in a graduate job that is related to their field of education. In particular, graduates with degrees that entail specific human capital, such as health sciences degrees and hard science and engineering degrees, are more likely to be well-matched in their current jobs. In contrast, the results show a higher likelihood of over-qualification (recent graduates who are in non-graduate jobs) for social and legal sciences degrees and arts and humanities degrees. Gender appears to play no role in the matching process; however, the subject-specific knowledge that graduates have gained from their time in higher education is important. As a novelty, this study also identifies, for a sub-sample of workers, the process through which a good match is achieved—that is, how individuals self-select to accept jobs in which they can achieve a good match. The regression results are based on micro data from a nationally representative random sample of the first cohort of undergraduates after the Bologna curriculum reform. Full article

Emphasizing the existence of information asymmetries between, e.g., young academics and potential employers, signaling theory has shaped our understanding of how high-ability students try to document their superior skills in a competitive environment such as the labor market: high-ability individuals benefit from a relative cost advantage compared to low-ability individuals when producing a credible signal of superior ability. When this cost advantage decreases, the signal’s value also decreases. We analyze how the signal ‘international qualification’ has changed due to increasing overall student mobility, driven by the effect of a massive change in the institutional framework, namely the implementation of the Bologna reforms. Using a large and hitherto not accessible dataset with detailed information on 9096 German high-ability students, we find that following the Bologna reforms, high-ability students extended their stays and completed degrees abroad (instead of doing exchange semesters). No such changes in behavior are to be observed in the overall student population. We conclude that completing a degree abroad is the new labor market signal for the ‘international qualification’ of high-ability students. Full article

This paper presents a microeconomic analysis of the occupational choices that individuals make after graduating from higher education. Specifically, a binomial logit model of the self-employment decision, which can be seen as a special case of a model of utility maximization, is estimated for a large, nationally representative sample of Spanish bachelor’s degree holders. The estimation of the logit model allows one to analyze the influence of the university degree and individual sociodemographic characteristics on the probability of becoming self-employed five years after graduation. Results show that graduates in Odontology, Physiotherapy, Architecture, Law, Fine Arts, Pharmacy, and Psychology are the most likely to become self-employed. Surprisingly, financially literate individuals (economics and finance-related undergraduate degree holders) are less likely to start their own businesses. The paper also shows that women are less likely to be self-employed than men, but those graduates whose mothers obtained a university degree have an increased likelihood of being self-employed. The paper highlights the need for career guidance for undergraduates contemplating a career in self-employment. Full article

Kazakhstan has implemented numerous policy reforms to improve its research environment since 1991, experiencing both positive changes and critical challenges. In this study, we conduct a comprehensive investigation of the country’s research environment. Our materials include statistical data, science policy reports, bibliometric data from Scopus, and interview responses. Using descriptive statistics and regression analysis, we analyze the country’s publication capacity, key characteristics, and science funding by the government. We critically review significant policy reforms and conduct interviews with subject matter experts. Our findings suggest there has been an increasing number of publications and growth in citations since joining the Bologna process in 2010, and that there is a high positive correlation between the volume of science funding and publication output, development levels across fields of science, and focus from science on commercialization of science. The challenges relate to publishing in international journals, government financing and commercialization, researcher capacity, scientific areas, and international collaboration. Our contributions to scholarly communication and science policy are two-fold. First, we present the relationship between several factors/policies and the research environment. Second, we reveal the main challenges Kazakhstan and its academic community have experienced which can be considered by stakeholders, including the government, academic institutions, researchers, and other developing countries. Full article

Purpose: The purpose of this retrospective study is to identify potential predictors of academic success or failure in Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) programmes in the field of biomedicine. Based on these, the policies and structure of academic programmes granting PhD degrees in biomedicine might be improved. Literature review (State of the art): At the present moment, most European and all of the EU doctoral education systems in biomedicine are regulated by the Salzburg principles of the Bologna process. Almost all the programmes formally comply with regulations, but the degree to which rules are applied varies greatly. The European Research Council (ERC) and various stakeholders’ associations, such as the Organisation for PhD Education in Biomedicine and Health Sciences in the European System (ORPHEUS), have recognised this and in their policies, they recommend regular evaluation of PhD programme structures. One such evaluation that was conducted at our institution motivated us to search for quantifiable factors that can help the process of PhD programme structural reform. Since the literature is scarce on this matter, we decided to conduct analysis of our own data and thus study the relationships between recommended EU policies and real-world data. Methods: Biology of Neoplasms is a PhD programme founded under Bologna process rules. It enrols students with Doctor of Medicine (MD), Doctor of Dental Medicine (DMD) or similar degrees in the biomedical field. A large portion of enrolled PhD students work full time in medical practices. A retrospective analysis was conducted on students who enrolled between 2006 and 2017. In order to quantify academic success, outcome measures of graduation (completion) rate, time to graduation, average impact factor of published papers comprising a PhD thesis and the ratio of the latter two were formed. Age, sex, employment institution, mentor experience and tuition subsidy were considered as potential predictors. Results: A total of 124 students were enrolled in the study—38% male. Out of the total, 21 (16.94%) students discontinued the study programme and 22 students graduated (17.7%). The average impact factor (IF) of published papers was 2.66 ± 1.51. Mentor experience (Odds ratio (OR) = 6.7) and student employment in academia (OR = 11.7) were significant predictors of successful graduation. Stricter criteria for graduation had no effect on graduation in newly enrolled students. Likewise, sex, tuition subsidy and age did not affect graduation rates. Surprisingly, time to graduation was not affected by any of the considered predictors. On the other hand, students that were mentored by experienced mentors and employed in academia outperformed their peers in terms of impact factors of publications related to their thesis. Conclusion: Characteristics such as gender, age at enrolment and even tuition paid by the institution do not have a significant impact on completion rate. Experienced mentors and employment in academic institutions seem to be the factors that predict a successful completion of a PhD programme. Furthermore, our results give a quantifiable support to the ORPHEUS and ERC recommendations and policies. These conclusions can be easily applied to any PhD programme formed under the tenets of the Bologna process. Full article

Background: The reform of the Spanish higher education studies from the Bologna Declaration did not entail the necessary changes in the teaching methodologies used. The clinical preceptor emerged as the main guiding professional in the practical training of nursing students. The aim of this qualitative study was to understand fourth-year nursing students’ and newly qualified nurses’ (NQNs) perception on their lecturers’ and clinical preceptors’ effectiveness. Methods: Exploratory, descriptive qualitative study was carried out at a Spanish University. By convenience sampling and according to defined inclusion and exclusion criteria, twelve newly qualified nurses and twelve fourth-year students of the Degree in Nursing were included in order to contrast the results. A thematic analysis of data was carried out, to later be coded by two researchers. Results: Two main themes were identified: the good lecturer and the good clinical preceptor, with several subthemes in each. These included the characteristics that both should have, both in teaching, nursing and interpersonal-relation skills. Conclusions: The need of preceptorship training programs has been highlighted in our context. Educators all over the world should be properly qualified in order to train and educate competent nurses for the future. Full article

Recent decades have seen the rediscovery of a significant number of texts authored by Italian women between 1560 and 1630. And yet the commonplace that the Counter-Reformation silenced women writers has persisted. One figure useful for teaching a more nuanced vision of post-Tridentine Italy is the Bolognese nun Diodata Malvasia (c. 1532–post-1617). She authored a pair of histories recounting her convent’s efforts to maintain their way of life amidst an era of convent reform, employing strategies that capitalized on their education, familial and civic connections, and position of spiritual privilege. Malvasia’s writings demonstrate the ways in which women not only published in this period but began to speak with increasing authority. I offer some possibilities for how Malvasia’s chronicles can be used to teach students about women writers’ agency in post-Tridentine Italy, as well as the complex thinking with which one must approach a regime like the Counter-Reformation. Full article