The research problem that formed the basis of the investigation reported upon in this thesis relates to the challenges and opportunities that arise from the retention of World English Speaking (WES) student-teachers as they seek to gain entry into the teaching profession in Australia. Two key questions guided the exploration of this problem. How do the curriculum, teaching and assessment practices in teacher education assist and/or hinder WES student-teachers’ retention? What problems, if any, do they have in becoming Australian teachers? These are examined from the perspective of the WES student-teachers themselves, their teacher educators and the WES school teachers involved in supervising them during their practicum. Facing acute teacher shortage in some subjects and some areas in Australia, this research project investigated issues affecting retention of WES student-teachers to meet the requirements of Australia’s ethnically diversified school communities. Methodologically, this study used an evidence-driven, conceptually informed, valuerational approach to education research. A case study design provided the basis for a cross-sectional, retrospective, non-experimental plan which was used to collect and analyse data. The subjects, teacher educators and WES student-teachers were contacted via the university teacher education program; while WES school supervising teachers were selected from schools where WES student-teachers did their practicum. Theoretically it explores the power and limitations of current theorisation of teacher shortages in terms of global cultural flows, specifically the trans-national mobility of knowledge workers. This thesis situates their experiences in the context of current and projected teacher shortages as well as testing current theorisation about global cultural flows of people in terms of the trans-national mobility of knowledge workers. This thesis argues that while teacher-educators recognise the difficulties in engaging educationally with WES student-teachers, and WES student teachers and their supervising teachers are aware of and able to identify other difficulties they confront becoming “Australian teachers”, the possibilities for making productive responses is constrained by cultural as much as economic factors. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis analyses the effects of the Bologna Process on the implementation of Quality Assurance standards in Turkish higher education. Using a qualitative case study approach, this thesis explores the changes and policies that have been adopted to promote quality assurance at the institutional, national and international levels. In order to better understand how quality assurance systems are shaped within the Bologna Process, I conducted interviews with eight Turkish Bologna experts. The experts provided first-hand experience and knowledge of the QA systems implementation process. Further, I performed a detailed document analysis to examine the policies related to the quality assurance system. Through these methods, I uncovered a number of unique challenges faced by the Turkish higher education system in the implementation of a sound quality assurance system. One of the most significant challenges relates to the fact that the Council of Higher Education has still not established a fully functional national QA agency in accordance with the European Standard and Guidelines. This discrepancy affects the implementation of a uniform QA system at all levels. The findings suggest that the Bologna Process, which aims to improve transparency in the European Higher Education Area, has had positive impact on QA systems in Turkish HE. The positive effects demonstrate the capacity of the Turkish HE to respond to an increasing need for a highly qualified workforce. With an improved adaptability on the part of the institutions, graduates of Turkish universities will be able to comparably compete with those from other European institutions. / Graduate / 0745 / 0515 / sbugday@uvic.ca

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In this thesis I examine the question: how do Kazakhstan academics respond to the reforms of higher education (HE) carried out as part of Europeanisation? I study the local academics' accounts of the process of implementation of the Bologna Process and of wider Western education standards within local post-Soviet practice, since the beginning of the twenty-first century. This local policy implementation is examined within the framework of educational policy borrowing, grounded in works by Steiner-Khamsi, Silova, and Phillips. Thirty-eight interviews were conducted in four HE institutions in different regions of Kazakhstan and analysed through the application of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) based on work by van Dijk and Fairclough. Using the method of CDA, I explore how power relationships and abuses of power play out between the educational authority and the academics in the politically driven reform environment, and how academics respond to this in their views of the reforms. I found that participants overall are critical of the reform process. They respond with three discourses, identified as nostalgia and loss, progress and modernity and chaotic reform. While the discourse of nostalgia implicitly connects to the 'better' Soviet education, as an ideological belief inherited from the past, and the discourse of progress reflects the spread of the ideology of European modernity, they both appear in connection to the central discourse of chaotic reformation. I found that chaos, which is a prime characteristic of the reforms in Kazakhstan HE, is linked to clashes between political/educational motivations and Soviet/Western approaches. These findings support my main argument that the specific post-Soviet context should be taken into account in studies of education in the 'Second World'. These 'context models' are influential on how Western standards are implemented in the reality of post-Soviet education.

This diploma thesis deals with topic of Bildung as tradition of ideas, it's predecessors and followers. In first part thesis provide terminological background to correctly grasp the wide of term Bildung. This is because the term is handed differently by different thinkers. The second part concentrates on genesis and evolution of tradition of Bildung. This part starts with J. A. Comenius and his humanist opinions about nature of world, continues with I. Kant and his ethical and pedagogical ideas to W. von Humboldt and J. H. Newman. These two thinkers are presented as two main figures of Bildung tradition in nineteenth century. Third part is concerned about shifts and changes that terms knowledge and education underwent in twentieth century. The third part deals with theories of T. W. Adorno and K. P. Liessmann which are built around topic of crisis of knowledge in contemporary world.

In 1999, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Italy jointly signed the Bologna Declaration and proposed to establish an open European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The Bologna Process promoted the integration of higher education in Europe, and counteracted the integration of European politics and economy. Currently, 48 countries have joined the Bologna process. The influence of the Bologna process has also developed from Europe to other countries in Asia, Africa, and North America. The Bologna Process has established six goals at the beginning: credit system, degree system, student mobility, lifelong learning, quality assurance and European research area. From 1999 to 2000, the Bologna Process has accomplished these goals and put forward a plan for the new decade. The dissertation takes 2010 as the node and divides the Bologna Process into policy objectives and policy subjects through the policy network analysis framework, and analyze the correlation between policy subjects through the neo-functionalism. The result shows that the Bologna process will further deepen its goals in the next decade and attract more countries to join in the context of globalization. However, due to differences in economic and political backgrounds, there will be an differentiate integration based on their own...

Professional communication programs must be aware of the complexities and nuances of contemporary global communication and adapt their instruction to reflect these realities. Thus, there is a need for research efforts in global communication that provide insight into this type of communication. This dissertation is a study of the language of collaboration and cooperation in professional and global contexts. Using Burke’s theories of identification and terministic screens, cooperation theory, activity theory, and a brief historical perspective on the European Union, I conducted a rhetorical analysis of Bologna Process documentation to study how this large and diverse membership is evolving and moving toward identification. Specifically, I explored the answers to three questions: How were the common goals of the Bologna Process rhetorically developed in the ministerial communiqués? In what ways was the goal of democracy or equal representation demonstrated in the documentation? How did members negotiate between self-interest and the best interests of the group? In professional communication where specificity and clarity often dominate conversations regarding effective writing, the Bologna Process demonstrates the opposite. Vague terminology is one of the most noticeable rhetorical aspects of the ministerial communiqués. Preliminary readings may deem such documents as political documents intended to deceive readers or mask accountability, but further analysis into the rhetorical situation of the Bologna membership indicate vague terminology can be seen as a way of giving members ownership of the Process and investing in the welfare of the group. Further analysis also indicates that vague terminology and document hierarchy can create a democratic environment by encouraging social connections. Because working groups must continually reinterpret the language in the ministerial communiqués, the abstract and ambiguous terms in the communiqués invites participation from all members to debate and discuss the language from a standpoint of self-interest as well as the group’s interest. Effective collaboration and cooperation may not always be the result of clear directives as is often taught in professional communication courses. Instead, the Bologna Process documentation demonstrates that vague terminology may be a rather effective strategy for diplomacy and for encouraging democracy, especially with diverse multinational group members.

AbstractThe purpose of this essay is to extend our knowledge about Educational Science and internationalization in higher education. At the beginning of our studies we were informed that the International Student Council offered the possibility to write an essay about Internationalization on home ground at Malmö University. We found the subject very interesting and started to discuss how we could plan the essay. The point with our work was to investigate and clarify how Internationalization at Home (IaH) is implemented at some of the programmes at Malmö University. We have collected information about how selected groups of students at Malmö University understand internationalization in their education. We have selected student groups from professional programmes primarily aiming for the Swedish job market. We have made the following conclusions from our survey:Most of the students:- are informed about internationalization at Malmö University- think international competence is important for the career-don’t choose to study abroad even if they take it into consideration- don’t know the concept of IaH- wish the information about internationalization should be easier to obtainWe looked after and selected literature about IaH and some theoretical literature about social processes. We wanted to provide a better knowledge for the work of the International Office at Malmö University. Finally, we presented the results in an international conference. The results of the essay were that most of students at Malmö University agreed that internationalization of higher education is very important and wanted by students. The students understand that IaH is a great concept in the reforming process of education.

This thesis explores the process of the Bologna reform in the Ukrainian higher education system. Bologna is one of the most well-known and influential European projects for cooperation in the field of higher education. It aims to create an internationally competitive European Higher Education Area (EHEA) through a range of such objectives as the adoption of a system of credits, cycles of study process, diploma supplement, quality assurance, qualifications frameworks, student-centred education, lifelong learning and the promotion of student and faculty mobility. Through an in-depth examination of higher education actors and policy instruments in the case of the implementation of Bologna in Ukraine, this thesis aims to a) analyse the process of the Bologna reform in Ukraine; and b) examine Bologna as a case of Europeanisation in the post-Soviet context. The study is qualitative and applies two main methods: interviews with key policy actors and text analysis of selected policy documents. These data are analysed through the perspective of policy learning, with a particular reference to the concept of layering. The findings suggest that the Bologna reform in Ukraine has been primarily developing as an interrelationship between policy continuity and change. On the one hand, the study found that most of the key powerful actors and networks in the country, established before the introduction of Bologna, have retained their prior influence. As a result, Bologna has – to a large extent – simply reproduced established relationships and pre-existing higher education policies. The Ministry of Education and Science has been the primary actor pushing for this kind of policy continuity. On the other hand, Bologna has also been partially changing some aspects of the old higher education instruments and the established relations among the actors. These changes have been taking place due to the involvement of civil sector organisations which increasingly became crucial as policy brokers in the process of this reform. The study suggests that the old practices and innovations in Bologna have been interacting in layering – a gradual messy and creative build-up of minor innovations by different higher education actors in Ukraine. The accumulation of these innovations led to more fundamental changes – the beginning of the emergence of a more shared higher education policy-making in the previously centrally governed Ukraine. These findings shed some light on the broader process of Europeanisation in the post-Soviet context. The Ukrainian case thus suggests that at least in the post-Soviet context, Europeanisation is the process in which change and the continuity are not mutually exclusive, but rather closely interconnected.

Thesis deals with current development of higher education and its quality assurance in the Czech Republic and the Europe. The aim of the thesis is to analyze current quality assurance and accreditation process in the Europe area and the Czech Republic and how far the proposed amendments to the Act will meet the criteria of the European Association for Quality Assurance (ENQA).