IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/vrs/enviro/v4y2016i1p53-59n5.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Key processes shaping the current role and operation of higher education institutions in society

Author

Listed:
  • Piróg Danuta

    (Institute of Geography, Pedagogical University of Cracow, Podchorążych Str. 2; 30-084 Kraków Poland)

Abstract

The concurrent processes of globalisation, computerisation, and integration shape and constantly modify developmental factors and generate multidirectional social changes. Among social life fields, one of them has been particularly sensitive to the impact of those processes and has remained in clear feedback relationship with them is education, including university-level education. This article aims to present some reflections on the key processes which influence the environment of higher education institutions’ activity and on what their impact specifically is. The factors taken into account include: the transformation of the political and economic system, integration with the European higher education area, the market shift of education, evolving social demands towards higher education institutions and society’s attitude towards work. As knowledge has become an asset largely affecting the quality of life of people and society, universities have changed their focus from searching for and exploring truth, good and beauty in the world towards becoming innovation centres, transferring knowledge as offering their educational services. In this article, those trends have been exemplified in relation to geography degree programmes, and shown through an evolution of the model of the university. Based on a review of the literature, it seems that the processes discussed also concern geography degree programmes, and the future operation of these programmes closely depends on whether they can maintain their care for high quality education coupled with genuine efforts to ensure the smooth transition of graduates into the labour market.

Suggested Citation

  • Piróg Danuta, 2016. "Key processes shaping the current role and operation of higher education institutions in society," Environmental & Socio-economic Studies, Sciendo, vol. 4(1), pages 53-59, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:vrs:enviro:v:4:y:2016:i:1:p:53-59:n:5
    DOI: 10.1515/environ-2016-0005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1515/environ-2016-0005
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1515/environ-2016-0005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Malcolm Abbott & Chris Doucouliagos, 2009. "Competition and efficiency: overseas students and technical efficiency in Australian and New Zealand universities," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(1), pages 31-57.
    2. Tracz Mariola & Hibszer Adam, 2013. "Geography studies in Poland after 1989 — selected issues," Miscellanea Geographica. Regional Studies on Development, Sciendo, vol. 17(3), pages 19-25, September.
    3. Romero, Laura & Rey, Elena del, 2004. "Competition between public and private universities: quality, prices and exams," UC3M Working papers. Economics we046423, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Norman Gemmell & Patrick Nolan & Grant Scobie, 2017. "Public sector productivity: Quality adjusting sector-level data on New Zealand schools," Working Papers 2017/02, New Zealand Productivity Commission.
    2. Awadh Pratap Singh & Shiv Prasad Yadav & Preeti Tyagi, 2022. "Performance assessment of higher educational institutions in India using data envelopment analysis and re-evaluation of NIRF Rankings," International Journal of System Assurance Engineering and Management, Springer;The Society for Reliability, Engineering Quality and Operations Management (SREQOM),India, and Division of Operation and Maintenance, Lulea University of Technology, Sweden, vol. 13(2), pages 1024-1035, April.
    3. Cremer, Helmuth & Maldonado, Dario, 2013. "Mixed oligopoly in education," IDEI Working Papers 766, Institut d'Économie Industrielle (IDEI), Toulouse.
    4. Mehdi Rhaiem & Nabil Amara, 2020. "Determinants of research efficiency in Canadian business schools: evidence from scholar-level data," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 125(1), pages 53-99, October.
    5. Fu, Tsu-Tan & See, Kok Fong, 2022. "An integrated analysis of quality and productivity growth in China’s and Taiwan’s higher education institutions," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 234-249.
    6. Ziad R. Ghandour, 2019. "Public-Private Competition in Regulated Markets," NIPE Working Papers 02/2019, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    7. Tommaso Agasisti & Sabine Gralka, 2019. "The transient and persistent efficiency of Italian and German universities: a stochastic frontier analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(46), pages 5012-5030, October.
    8. Sabine Gralka, 2018. "Persistent inefficiency in the higher education sector: evidence from Germany," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(4), pages 373-392, July.
    9. Joan Rosselló Villalonga, 2013. "Stratification of Public Universities and Students’ Segregation," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 205(2), pages 99-124, June.
    10. Thomas Bolli & Mehdi Farsi, 2015. "The dynamics of productivity in Swiss universities," Journal of Productivity Analysis, Springer, vol. 44(1), pages 21-38, August.
    11. Joan Roselló Villalonga, 2017. "Does Decentralization in the Provision of Higher Education Increase Quality of Education?," Hacienda Pública Española / Review of Public Economics, IEF, vol. 220(1), pages 13-55, March.
    12. G. Sav, 2012. "Stochastic Cost Frontier and Inefficiency Estimates of Public and Private Universities: Does Government Matter?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 18(2), pages 187-198, May.
    13. G. Thomas Sav, 2012. "Cost Efficiencies and Rankings of Flagship Universities," American Journal of Economics and Business Administration, Science Publications, vol. 3(4), pages 596-603, January.
    14. Joan Rosselló, 2007. "Does a public university system avoid the stratification of public universities and the segregation of students?," DEA Working Papers 26, Universitat de les Illes Balears, Departament d'Economía Aplicada.
    15. Nihat Kamil Anil & Gulnur Eti Icli, 2013. "MBA sudents' satisfaction and loyality: state vs. private universities in Turkey," Tržište/Market, Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Zagreb, vol. 25(2), pages 177-198.
    16. Rim Lahmandi‐Ayed & Hejer Lasram & Didier Laussel, 2021. "Is partial privatization of universities a solution for higher education?," Journal of Public Economic Theory, Association for Public Economic Theory, vol. 23(6), pages 1174-1198, December.
    17. Gralka, Sabine, 2018. "Stochastic frontier analysis in higher education: A systematic review," CEPIE Working Papers 05/18, Technische Universität Dresden, Center of Public and International Economics (CEPIE).
    18. Gawellek, Bastian & Sunder, Marco, 2016. "The German excellence initiative and efficiency change among universities, 2001-2011," Working Papers 142, University of Leipzig, Faculty of Economics and Management Science.
    19. De Donder, Philippe & Roemer, John E., 2009. "Mixed oligopoly equilibria when firms' objectives are endogenous," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 27(3), pages 414-423, May.
    20. Omphile Temoso & Lindikaya W. Myeki, 2023. "Estimating South African Higher Education Productivity and Its Determinants Using Färe-Primont Index: Are Historically Disadvantaged Universities Catching Up?," Research in Higher Education, Springer;Association for Institutional Research, vol. 64(2), pages 206-227, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:vrs:enviro:v:4:y:2016:i:1:p:53-59:n:5. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Peter Golla (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.sciendo.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.