Framework for the Organisation of University TEMPUS QUASYS Dubrovnik, October 11 12, 2003 Aleksa Bje

1
Framework for the Organisation of
University(TEMPUS QUASYS - Dubrovnik, October
11 12, 2003)Aleksa Bjeli, National Council
for Higher Education

• Law three integrations
• 1 Croatian HE ? EHEA
• through Bologna process
• 2 Croatian research institutions Croatian
  HE institutions
• within EHEA ERA
• Law already title, etc
• Berlin Communiqué new step
• 3 Internal integration of Croatian
  universities
• prerequisite for 1 and 2

2
Autonomy in organising university

• Berlin (Higher education institutions and
  students)
• Aware of the contribution strong institutions
  can make to economic and societal development,
  Ministers accept that institutions need to be
  empowered to take decisions on their internal
  organisation and administration.
• Law (4.5)
• Autonomy of university at all university high
  schools in the Republic of Croatia, in agreement
  with this law, includes
• - determination of internal organisation
• - establishment of educational, scientific,
  artistic and professional programs
• - financial autonomy in agreement with this
  law
• - making decisions on approval of projects
  and on international cooperation

3

• Internal organization
• freedom (and responsibility) given by law
• Increased responsibility
• of universities towards society (and government)
• of university bodies towards their universities
• University of Zagreb
• functional integration through research and study
  programs ? structural grouping along scientific
  (and artistic) areas

4

• University bodies - distribution of
• academic decisions (quality assessment in the
  widest sense)
• governance (strategy, planning,)
• management (practical life)
• relations with environment (stakeholders, etc)
• Mostly (and roughly)
• Senate a, b
• University council (with its smaller executive
  body) c, b
• Senate University council (together) b
• University Board d, b
• Rector present in all parts

5
University vs society

• Berlin (EHEA and ERA two pillars of the
  knowledge based society) Ministers will make the
  necessary effort to make European Higher
  Education Institutions an even more attractive
  and efficient partner. Therefore Ministers ask
  Higher Education Institutions to increase the
  role and relevance of research to technological,
  social and cultural evolution and to the needs of
  society.
• Law (2.3) Higher education is based on
• - academic freedoms, academic
  self-management and university autonomy
• - openness of high schools towards
  public, citizens and local communities
• - European humanistic tradition and
  adjustment with European system of higher
  education
• Law (3.1) University accomplishes its mission
  in accordance with the needs of the community in
  which it acts.

6
Functional integration

• Berlin (Higher education institutions and
  students) Ministers further call upon
  institutions to ensure that the reforms become
  fully integrated into core institutional
  functions and processes.
• Law (53.2) University integrates the functions of
  its constitutive parts (further functional
  integration) and ensures, through its bodies,
  their unified and coordinated activities,

7

• U of Z functional integration
• - study programmes at university level
  (multidisciplinarity)
• - concentration of (today dispersed)
  disciplines into new units (departments,
  centres,)
• - mobility of staff within university
• - budget financing through block sum
• - university funds (contributions from
  additional incomes) for
• the development and new initiatives
• Practical (and open) problems Organisation of
  administrative etc services without
  centralisation, but through coherent linkage of
  existing units
• AIM strong constitutive units (faculties,
  departments, institutes) integrated into a
  strong university

8
EHEA vs ERA

• Berlin (European Higher Education Area and
  European Research Area two pillars of the
  knowledge based society) Conscious of the need to
  promote closer links between the EHEA and the ERA
  in a Europe of Knowledge, and of the importance
  of research as an integral part of higher
  education across Europe, Ministers consider it
  necessary to go beyond the present focus on two
  main cycles of higher education to include the
  doctoral level as the third cycle in the Bologna
  Process. They emphasise the importance of
  research and research training and the promotion
  of interdisciplinarity in maintaining and
  improving the quality of higher education and in
  enhancing the competitiveness of European higher
  education more generally. Ministers call for
  increased mobility at the doctoral and
  postdoctoral levels and encourage the
  institutions concerned to increase their
  cooperation in doctoral studies and the training
  of young researchers.
• Law (2.1) Scientific activities and higher
  education represent the activity of exceptional
  interest for Republic of Croatia and are
  constitutive part of international, particularly
  European, scientific, artistic and educational
  space.

9
institutes universities

• Berlin (Preamble) Ministers agree that efforts
  shall be undertaken in order to secure closer
  links overall between the higher education and
  research systems in their respective countries.
  The emerging European Higher Education Area will
  benefit from synergies with the European Research
  Area, thus strengthening the basis of the Europe
  of Knowledge.
• eLaw (27) Scientific institutes collaborate with
  high schools in the scientific work and in the
  performance of study programmes in accordance
  with scientific programmes of institutes and with
  scientific and study programmes of high schools.
• Steps
• - joint research facilities open public
  institutes
• - joint study programmes (particularly doctoral
  and specialistic)

10
Integrated programmes, joint degrees

• Berlin (Promotion of the European dimension in
  higher education) They (Ministers) note that
  initiatives have been taken by Higher Education
  Institutions in various European countries to
  pool their academic resources and cultural
  traditions in order to promote the development of
  integrated study programmes and joint degrees at
  first, second and third level.
• Law (76.1) University or professional high school
  can organize a
• study program together with domestic or
  external organization with a juridical status.
  Accreditation for such study is issued in the
  same way as for other study programs along the
  procedure regulated by this Law (art.51)

11
Summary (expectations)

• functional integration of universities
  (particularly through implementing Bologna
  scheme, generating multidisciplinary and
  polyvalent study and research programs, etc)
• improvement of the study standards and
  efficiency of studying (particularly through the
  national quality assessment network, better
  incorporation of students into university
  governance, etc)
• opening of universities towards societal
  environment (particularly through National
  council for Higher Education, University Boards,
  joint planning of study programs with interested
  stakeholders, etc)
• increase of cooperation with domestic and
  international institutions (universities,
  institutes, public sector in general) in
  generating and realizing of study programs
  (master and doctoral in particular)
• achieving active position of Croatian
  universities in the international competition for
  students, research programs, joint study
  programs, etc