The Open World and Closed Societies : Essays on Higher Education Policies 'in Transition'

This book is about higher education reforms in the post-socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, seen through the eyes of somebody who has spent the last decade analyzing these reforms as well as negotiating and supervising reform projects in countries from Serbia and Montenegro to Mongolia. Analyzing the reforms in a broader political, economic and social context and relating these to global higher education developments, the book addresses the complexity of the processes and contradictions among the demands on higher education systems, which in many instances impede positive changes. Front Matter....Pages i-xvii From Lenin to Digital Rapture: The Everlasting Transition in East European Higher Education and Beyond....Pages 1-18 Higher Education Reform in Romania: Knocking on Heaven’s Door....Pages 19-33 Thirteen Years of Higher Education Reforms in Estonia: Perfect Chaos....Pages 35-51 Russian Higher Education After Communism: The Candy Man’s Gone....Pages 53-73 Market as Metaphor in East European Higher Education....Pages 75-87 Reaching Beyond Geometry—The Privateness of Private Universities....Pages 89-104 Exploring the Limits of Entrepreneurial Response....Pages 105-118 When East Meets West: Decontextualizing the Quality of East European Higher Education....Pages 119-129 Reproduction of the “State Nobility” in Eastern Europe: Past Patterns and New Practices....Pages 131-143 The Communication Community and the Scam of the Knowledge Society....Pages 145-166 Transnational Capitalist Class and World Bank “Aid” for Higher Education....Pages 167-181 Toward a Model of Higher Education Reform in Central and East Europe....Pages 183-198 Epilogue: The Unholy Trinity of Prince, Prophet, and Philosopher....Pages 199-201 Back Matter....Pages 203-241