The idea of connection, deployed in Cowen's historicized perspective on comparative education, is compared with that used by some feminist theorists, Writings on intersectionality, empowerment and solidarity have influenced scholarship on gender and education. The perspective termed "what connects" for work in gender and education is elucidated, drawing out some normative and methodological ideas that constitute its core., The Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) project is presented to show aspects of what connects in practice.
Spanish students undertake both the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) and the national University Entrance Examination (PAU), yet the extent to which these assessments reflect comparable constructs remains uncertain. This study examines the association between PISA outcomes and subsequent PAU performance across Spanish regions, with the aim of assessing the degree of alignment between an international competence-based framework and a high-stakes national examination system. Regional aggregated data from the PISA 2015 and 2018 cycles and the corresponding PAU cohorts of 2017 and 2020 were analysed using correlation and linear regression models, including socioeconomic context as a control variable. The results indicate a robust and consistent relationship between performance in PISA mathematics and achievement in Mathematics II in the PAU, suggesting that the competencies assessed at age 15 retain predictive validity for later academic outcomes in this domain. By contrast, the relationships between PISA reading and science domains and their corresponding PAU subjects are weak or non-significant, pointing to a limited overlap between the constructs measured. These findings reveal a pattern of alignment that is restricted to mathematics and absent in other domains, likely reflecting differences in assessment design, curricular orientation, and evaluation practices. Overall, the study demonstrates that the coherence between PISA and PAU is partial and domain-specific rather than systemic.
We analyze the effects of attendance early childhood education and care (ECEC) on on-track grade progression during the first years of primary schooling. We use a subsidized expansion of the ECEC program as a natural experiment to establish a causal relationship. The results show that students in municipalities that applied for subsidies have a lower probability of grade repetition. These effects are particularly pronounced for boys and children with a migration background.
This article explores the motivations, experiences, and impacts of Erasmus + study stays based on interviews with 17 Czech students and analysis of publicly available surveys from over 800 students who have completed a study stay abroad. While many were motivated by language learning and exploration, students faced emotional and practical challenges before, during, and after their stay. Despite these, they reported greater self-confidence, independence, and intercultural competence. The study highlights overlooked behavioral and emotional aspects of mobility and suggests ways to strengthen support throughout the process.
Building on Cowen's idea of "reading the global", this article analyzes the emergences of Area Studies (AS) in British, American, and Chinese universities during different historical periods of significant change in the world order. Drawing on relevant literature, I first demonstrate the metamorphosis of this field over time from classical to contemporary forms and currently toward more critical perspectives. Subsequently through an analysis of key policies and institutions, I argue that AS has emerged from competitions among great powers, reflecting a realist "reading of the global".
This introductory article emphasizes the importance of enhancing cross-cultural cooperation and culturally responsive leadership in higher education, with an example from a European University Alliance. As universities increasingly engage across borders, the ability to navigate cultural complexity is essential for building inclusive, sustainable partnerships. Despite the growing focus on internationalization, there remains a knowledge gap concerning the lived experiences, leadership and management practices, and institutional strategies that support meaningful cross-cultural engagement. This article draws on the contributions to this special issue to highlight key challenges and insights related to governance, collaboration, policy framework, and innovative models for internationalization. It also underscores the value of interdisciplinary approaches and the inclusion of socially, culturally, and economically diverse scholars. By synthesizing the themes and findings of the included manuscripts, this article contributes to a deeper understanding of how higher education institutions can strengthen cooperation and develop culturally responsive practices that support long-term transformation.
A continuous effort to put in relation and to combine 're-thinking' and 'new thinking' is one of the characteristic features of most of the writings of Robert Cowen, interweaving and combining a discussion of the state of the art of each of the themes addressed, including the relevant trends historically emerged in the area, with a theoretical reflection on the possible trajectories and new prospects for further evolution. This aspect runs through all Cowen's production, and can also be seen in his most recent work, up to his very last essays, that focus precisely on the future of comparative studies (Cowen 2022, 2023). This paper will try to investigate the connection between those two moments of 'thinking' addressed by Bob Cowen, coessential to each other, intending to propose some lines of development with regard to the possible role of the comparativist and the responsibility of comparative education, from a theoretical as well as an ethical-political point of view: thus gathering a legacy, and at the same time taking up a challenge for the future that cannot be evaded.
Globalization and postmodernism have determined the need to realign the epistemological corpus of the comparative discipline of Education to integrate the gnoseological requirements of these discourses into our knowledge. Additionally, resolving the scientific vulnerabilities of Comparative Education and achieving a post-relativist phase in the construction of the discourse of our science is necessary to combat the serious absence of Teleology in Western education. It requires the collaboration of interdisciplinary work within the teleological sciences of education, particularly with philosophy and theology to create a firm foundation. By establishing robust foundations between the sciences that transcend the evolving theoretical paradigms imposed by successive historical cycles, the development and consolidation of the comparative education discipline can achieve greater stability, coherence and intellectual rigor.
In "Comparing Futures or Comparing Pasts", Cowen criticizes current theories for being static, depending on notions of equilibrium, and being able only to incorporate a limited range of dimensions. He argues instead that there should be efforts to study transitions, with the belief that features of educational systems are revealed in processes of sudden change that remain hidden when those systems are not changing, or changing only slowly. This paper takes inspiration from Cowen's idea of "transitologies" which he presents as part of a critique of comparative education's failure to deal with non-linear systems. This paper takes up the challenge of representing non-linear relationships between different aspects of systems. It suggests that catastrophe theory offers an interpretation of changes in educational policy that go at least some way toward the demands that Cowen makes of future theory. Catastrophe theory is presented and described, and illustrated using the decisions made in countries to join or leave the OECD PISA programme.
This article proposes academic mythography as a concept for analyzing universities as webs of ideas in action. Drawing on critical university studies and cases from Scandinavian history of ideas, it shows how disciplinary histories, affective attachments, institutional structures, and scholarly self-presentations shape universities at each current. This scripture orients imaginaries of the past and future, defining values, virtues, desirable knowledge, and who can embody them. Ultimately, academic mythography exposes political, ethical, and cultural dimensions of universities.
This article analyses the enactment of non-state universities in Cyprus and Greece suggesting that the participation of the private sector in the higher education of the two countries cannot be explained solely by Europeanisation or the diffusion of the "neoliberal university". It is specifically argued that while a colonial legacy emerging out of a rivalry between church and state over the control of education (1931-1959), fostered openness to the private sector's participation in Cyprus, such participation faced strong resistance in Greece as it was associated with the dismantling of the "democratic university" that was established as a response to post-Civil War authoritarianism (1949-1974).
This study examines foreign interference risks in international joint education programmes, focusing on teaching and assessment quality. It highlights governance, cultural, and agency disruptions, advocating for robust quality assurance frameworks to ensure sustainable, high-quality transnational education.
This article reports the experience of a team of teachers from four universities in four different countries, that have collaborated to deliver four Blended Intensive Programmes (BIPs) on international social work. We describe the development and delivery of each BIP and how they informed subsequent iterations. We consider factors that promote or limit opportunities for cross-cultural collaboration, the experiences most valued by students and the implications for academic and administrative staff.
The purpose was to analyze the motivation of future music teachers to the educational process in Kyrgyzstan and China. The methodology included an analysis of state standards and the collection of data on students at two universities. It was found that in both countries there are differences in approaches to the improvement of student motivation. Chinese standards are more focused on developing practical skills and the ability to make independent decisions, while in Kyrgyzstan the main focus is on academic knowledge. This study highlights the need to adapt curricula to increase students' motivation and readiness to teach music.
This study examines how social space is produced within the context of language education for adult migrants and refugees. Drawing on ethnographic observations of classroom interactions in Finland and Germany, and utilizing Henri Lefebvre's theory of moments (2002/1961) and the production of social space (1991/1974), the study explores markers of social affiliation and atmosphere that are essential for active participation in a new linguistic environment.
At more than three decades past the collapse of the socialist system and the dissolution of the Soviet Union, there is certainly a need for reflection on the Communist past, as well as reviewing and analyzing its aftermath, in terms of higher education development and change. Despite the democratization and market economy rhetoric, supported by mantras of university autonomy, it is still unclear where different higher education systems move to. This study is a narrative review and critique that offers an insight into the ways in which scholars reflect on shifts in the unique cultural, social, political, and economic contexts for higher education that emerged and developed in the post-Soviet space. This study offers valuable methodological observations, particularly in contrasting data collection approaches across countries, and critically reflects on the limitations and inconsistencies in empirical approaches, especially with respect to institutional rankings, policy assessments, and the treatment of corruption. There is a sufficient volume of scholarly writings for those who want to learn more about post-Soviet transformation and educational change. These books and articles belong to the past and do not take us to the future, moving us instead from Stalinism to uncertainty. Scholarly works on post-Communist higher education rarely mention corruption, which is the single most serious deficiency of such works. A clear lack of attention to traditional components of academic corruption, such as bribery, extortion, embezzlement, fraud, nepotism, and plagiarism, undermines the completeness of scholarship. The focus on this specific region provides an opportunity to discover the shifts from a centralized and tightly controlled totalitarian system of higher education to some less certain forms of educational organization that vary from country to country. This focus also allows drawing implications for the field of comparative and international education worldwide.
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Armenian and Georgian universities experienced complex governance reforms. This study explores the development of university career centres through a new phenomenology of knowledge in policy. It uses document analysis and interviews with centre leaders to investigate Europeanisation policies, institutional roles, practices, and development paths. Findings reveal shared governance challenges and gaps between formal policies and actual institutional practices. Although career centres are well-placed to support higher education reforms, they remain marginal players. Enhancing their capacity to influence university governance is vital for aligning Europeanisation policy goals with implementation.
This article examines how globally rising new authoritarianism intervenes in academic life through a case study, Bo & gbreve;azi & ccedil;i University in Turkey. Drawing on in-depth interviews, campus observations, and documentary sources, it also critiques the limitations of the Academic Freedom Index in capturing context-specific threats to academic freedom. The study proposes an alternative framework that includes political participation and horizontal governance as core dimensions. The article argues that the emerging resistance to the violation of academic freedom not only challenges authoritarian tendencies and interventions but also actively redefines academic freedom.
Discussions on the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) often highlight its global influence. However, the role of non-EHEA countries-the "periphery"-in shaping its development remains underexplored. This article examines how the "periphery" has contributed to the EHEA's evolution. Drawing on world-system and decolonial theories and using critical discourse analysis of 26 EHEA documents (1998-2024), we argue that the "periphery" is not merely a passive recipient of EHEA policies but has played a key role in its construction. This argument is explored through three themes: (1) constitutive influence of the periphery on the EHEA's external dimension; (2) historical and structural role of the periphery in the EHEA's global status; and (3) the "periphery" as a consultative body shaping EHEA policy dialogue. Recognizing these roles challenges Eurocentric narratives and underscores the "periphery's" agency in co-constructing global higher education. These insights are crucial for informing international policy discussions and reform efforts within EHEA signatory states and beyond. By shifting the focus from EHEA's dominance to a more collaborative and nuanced relationship between the core and the periphery, this analysis offers a revised understanding of how global higher education is shaped beyond traditional core-periphery binaries.
This study establishes a field analytic approach for investigating and comparing the influence of the print news media on educational politics in England and Germany. We identify cases from each country where national, regional and local newspapers act as intermediaries between actors engaged in discussions about schools and then subject these to field analyses focused on the form and content of press coverage. This allows us to identify in each country the role of newspapers as sites of political debate, as political actors and as shapers of public opinion.
