Marvin Erfurth and Natasha Ridge
This chapter offers a contemporary overview of philanthropy in education as an emerging research field. Although the education sector has traditionally been a popular recipient of…
Abstract
This chapter offers a contemporary overview of philanthropy in education as an emerging research field. Although the education sector has traditionally been a popular recipient of philanthropic investment, the scale and scope of funding and policy involvement on the part of philanthropy are growing. In addition, and potentially amplified by COVID-19, big- and in particular tech-philanthropies are emerging as increasingly influential players in national, regional, and global educational contexts. This chapter describes how most existing education research on philanthropy is mainly US- and higher education-focused which has resulted in a narrow geographic and thematic scope whereby contemporary developments remain either overlooked or under-researched. It discusses venture philanthropy inside and outside of the United States, a greater diversity of geographic perspectives, and an increasing dependence of academia on philanthropic funding as emerging research areas that bear great potential to being explored further.
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Increasingly driven by the global education industry (GEI), a neo-liberal perspective dominates education reform agendas in transitioning economies (Ball, 2012; Steiner-Khamsi…
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Increasingly driven by the global education industry (GEI), a neo-liberal perspective dominates education reform agendas in transitioning economies (Ball, 2012; Steiner-Khamsi, 2016; Verger, Steiner-Khamsi, & Lubienski, 2017). The drive to equip a competitive workforce for a knowledge economy frames efforts to build stronger pathways between education and work. These efforts tend to be led by global consultancies and often overlook local challenges. Although recent literature on policy borrowing in education has highlighted the drawbacks of analyzing education out of context, countries in the Global South continue to import education models across contexts (Steiner-Khamsi, 2016). The case of Saudi Arabia, a transitioning economy with agendas heavily influenced by international management consultancies highlights the challenges faced by a profit-driven GEI. This essay argues that current approaches to education reform in the Global South fail to address existing social and cultural challenges in the local context. The standardization of education policies and provision has led to several negative consequences in education reform efforts. Through presenting the case of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) reforms in Saudi Arabia, the essay argues that engaging international education consultants in the process of education reform fails to address the local concerns of TVET and instead imports a new set of challenges to implementing a thriving further education sector in the Kingdom.
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In focusing on the changing dynamics of education governance, this chapter draws on a few key concepts of policy borrowing research, notably the focus on reception and translation…
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In focusing on the changing dynamics of education governance, this chapter draws on a few key concepts of policy borrowing research, notably the focus on reception and translation of global education policy, and sheds light on the temporal and spatial dimensions of policy transfer. It is not sufficient to simply acknowledge that one and the same global education policies means something different to different actors in different contexts. In addition, to providing a “thick description” of why global education policies are received and how they are translated, a specific strand of policy borrowing research – well represented in this edited volume – examines the global/local nexus and acknowledges that local actors are positioned simultaneously in two spaces: in their own (cultural/local) context and in a broader transnational “educational space.” From a systems theory perspective, the broader educational space is Umwelt (environment) and therefore local actors interact at critical moments with the broader educational space. The policy bilingualism (or in the work of Tavis Jules, the “policy trilingualism” when the local, regional, and global is taken into the account) is a result of policy actors operating simultaneously in two spaces that are populated with two different audiences: local and global actors. The example of bonus payments in Kyrgyzstan, a local adaptation of global teacher accountability reform, is used to explain how the method of comparison is used as an analytical tool to understand the global/local nexus in the policy process.
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Liliya Satalkina, Lukas Zenk and Gerald Steiner
The dynamics of modern life lead to societal changes that affect innovation systems. Entrepreneurship is an important driver for fostering adaptive capacities of innovation…
Abstract
Purpose
The dynamics of modern life lead to societal changes that affect innovation systems. Entrepreneurship is an important driver for fostering adaptive capacities of innovation systems in such uncertain and complex environments. This study aims to gain a detailed understanding of how (innovative) entrepreneurship can promote innovation systems, leading to more sustainable societies. A particular focus is placed on migrant entrepreneurship in the digital economy, as a concrete implication of innovative entrepreneurship, and its role within the Austrian innovation system.
Design/methodology/approach
In order to develop a shared system understanding from a scientific and practical perspective, transdisciplinary multistage system modeling was applied. The transdisciplinary discourse involved 14 experts, and several system models were iteratively co-created during the course of the research.
Findings
The main result demonstrates the interrelationship between the innovation system and migrant entrepreneurship in the digital economy, which includes six core reinforcing loops: (1) the mindsets of entrepreneurs, (2) the role of international collaboration, (3) the role of entrepreneurial education, the financial sphere in regard to (4) government and (5) private funding, as well as (6) the impact of formal procedures.
Originality/value
The authors present and discuss the relational dynamics of this complex phenomenon as well as the applied transdisciplinary approach, with the aim of identifying a potential way to improve the sustainable impact of (migrant) entrepreneurship considering the case of the Austrian innovation system.
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Florin D. Salajan and Tavis D. Jules
Over the past few years, assemblage theory or assemblage thinking has garnered increasing attention in educational research, but has been used only tangentially in explications of…
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Over the past few years, assemblage theory or assemblage thinking has garnered increasing attention in educational research, but has been used only tangentially in explications of the nature of comparative and international education (CIE) as a field. This conceptual examination applies an assemblage theory lens to explore the contours of CIE as a scholarly field marked by its rich and interweaved architecture. It does so by first reviewing Deleuze and Guattari’s (1987) principles of rhizomatic structures to define the emergence of assemblages. Secondly, it transposes these principles in conceiving the field of CIE as a meta-assemblage of associated and subordinated sub-assemblages of actors driven by varied disciplinary, interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary interests. Finally, it interrogates the role of Big Data technologies in exerting (re)territorializing and deterritorializing tendencies on the (re)configuration of CIE. The chapter concludes with reiterating the variable character of CIE as a meta-assemblage and proposes ways to move this conversation forward.
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Tavis D. Jules and Sadie Stockdale Jefferson
Today, the global education market is one of the faster growing sectors, and it has attracted several new actors or what we call educational brokers who are now responsible for…
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Today, the global education market is one of the faster growing sectors, and it has attracted several new actors or what we call educational brokers who are now responsible for shaping national agendas. The newer actors in education are vastly different for the former players in that whereas previous actors engrossed national educational systems through the provision of technical assistance to meet international standards, best practices, and benchmarks, these newer players are for-profit entities that emphasize austerity, leanness, human resource maximization, performance targets, and competition. Therefore, in this new educational landscape, national governments are seen as “clients” who receive “expert” advice from “external consultants” that have an assortment of experiences across different sectors. Education governance is no longer a statist endowed but one that incubates in laborites of best practices resonates with existing case studies and results driven based on Big Date collected. We argue that educational brokers are responsible for the emergence of a hybrid form of education governance that use business and market techniques to reform strategies within the education sector. We conclude by suggesting that collectively educational brokers are using what we call “educational sub-prime mechanisms” – higher interest rates, reduced quality collateral, and less advantageous terms to counterweight higher credit risk – to manage educational portfolios and newer forms of educational risk.
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With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and the intelligent economy, this conceptual chapter explores the evolution of educational governance from one based on…
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With the advent of the fourth industrial revolution and the intelligent economy, this conceptual chapter explores the evolution of educational governance from one based on governing by numbers and evidence-based governance to one constituted around governance by data or data-based educational governance. With the rise of markets and networks in education, Big Data, machine data, high-dimension data, open data, and dark data have consequences for the governance of national educational systems. In doing so, it draws attention to the rise of the algorithmization and computerization of educational policy-making. The author uses the concept of “blitzscaling”, aided by the conceptual framing of assemblage theory, to suggest that we are witnessing the rise of a fragmented model of educational governance. I call this governance with a “big G” and governance with a “small g.” In short, I suggest that while globalization has led to the deterritorializing of the national state, data educational governance, an assemblage, is bringing about the reterritorialization of things as new material projects are being reconstituted.
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This chapter presents a very broad synopsis of the intensification of education governance. It opens by narrating the multifaceted nature of governance and in what way it has…
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This chapter presents a very broad synopsis of the intensification of education governance. It opens by narrating the multifaceted nature of governance and in what way it has developed as the axiom for professed policy problems that national educational systems are experiencing. The chapter chronicles the amplification of education governance and it explicates the metamorphosis and myriad typographies that “governance” has taken in responding to perceived endogenous and exogenous policy problems. It explains how managerialism and neo-corporate reforms sought to destabilize the activities of education governance and the results. In making this argument, it suggests that new public management policy prescriptions in education were part of the earliest form of disruptive innovation in education. It advances that educational managerialism, in hollowing out national educational systems, has generated the perfect breeding ground for the rise of newer modus operandi (or modes, styles, and arrangements) that governs and regulates education systems through the use of different techniques and mechanisms. The second half of the chapter discusses five different modus operandi that are inchoate in the post-managerialist era and highlights that in education, we have progressed beyond the movement from government to governance across national education systems and these systems are now employing additional modes of governance (vertical and horizontal) across different scales. The chapter concludes by drawing on the concept of a “Wicked Problem” (an unsolvable or difficult problematic, that is, fluid, paradoxical, and unfinished) to insinuate that education governance is an example of a wicked problem that has been and continues to be shaped by the ideological contours of endogenous and exogenous policy influences.
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Landis G. Fryer and Tavis D. Jules
This research examines higher education developments within transitory democratic spaces, using Tunisia as a case study. A document analysis of higher education policies in…
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This research examines higher education developments within transitory democratic spaces, using Tunisia as a case study. A document analysis of higher education policies in Tunisia shows a shift from an internal process of Tunisification to a focus on prescriptive global educational agendas. In examining higher education reforms during the past three decades in Tunisia, we attempt to understand the role of higher education in aiding and abiding the “Arab democracy deficit” through policies imposed upon the system through strict state intervention. We describe how higher education structures came to be, how policies were created, and detail how the issues and challenges stemming from higher education helped spread sentiments for the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution. Finally, we examine a lack of convergence, which enabled students to galvanize to overthrow a government criticized for its corruption and policy failures.
Phil Harris, Danny Moss and Nadja Vetter
Drawing on the work of Niccolo Machiavelli and his appreciation of management and power, this paper explores the contemporary role of public affairs in UK organisations and the…
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Drawing on the work of Niccolo Machiavelli and his appreciation of management and power, this paper explores the contemporary role of public affairs in UK organisations and the type of roles enacted by practitioners. The paper reviews how public affairs and, particularly, the corporate lobbying function have been treated by researchers and outlines recent research into the role played by public affairs practitioners based within a number of leading UK organisations. This study forms part of a longer‐term research programme designed to examine the functioning of in‐house public affairs departments within the UK. The paper explores how the role of public affairs practitioners can be conceptualised and suggests that public affairs and corporate lobbying have gained increasing recognition as strategically important activities, particularly within the more regulated sectors of industry.