Abstract
As a paradigmatic wicked problem, reform in higher education seems particularly well suited to a large-scale, participative, systemic foresight exercise. The article discusses the structure of and the challenges raised by such an exercise for the future of Romanian higher education carried out between 2009 and the end of 2011. We analyze the broader discursive context of higher education reform in Romania and beyond, as well as the more specific context in which said exercise was initiated. We then focus in additional detail on the structure of the exercise, providing a justification for its appropriateness, analyzing the complex process underlying it, and commenting on several of the challenges encountered which, we argue, are rather typical for such structural participatory endeavors.
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Notes
- 1.
A neat definition of a “wicked problem” is offered by Loveridge’s (2009, pp. 18–19) discussion of “situations”: “Problems are usually presented as being well structured or of becoming so given enough attention; this is typical of the reduction process used in much of conventional science. Reduction has been usurped into other endeavors, e.g. social studies, Economics, Politics, where it has never been appropriate even as its appropriateness in scientific inquiry has been modified. Perhaps the most unfortunate aspect of reductionism … lies in the assumption that a problem solved is a problem ‘done with’, a product of the application of compartmentalization, typical of the organization of science, teaching, government, companies and much of human societies: it is this defect that directs attention to situations and not problems. Situations are neither solvable nor well structured in the manner expected of problem solving. Instead, situations can be recognized from their many elements and their interrelatedness, and their apparent lack of structure. Well-specified causal relations may be present, but may not dominate, leaving many interrelationships to depend on the appreciative setting or behavioral pattern … of the appreciators. … As a further characteristic, the insoluble nature of situations means they are dynamic, occur in cascades and are never ‘done with’ (according to problem solving), but simply change their context and content after every intervention, appearing to become unrecognizable from their initial form over a period of time, though the initial form remains buried in the stream of new contexts.”
- 2.
This is, of course, a trend as old as industrialized modernity itself. As Ernest Gellner noted several decades ago, “the major part of training in industrial society is generic training, not specifically connected with the highly specialized professional activity of the person in question, and preceding it. Industrial society may by most criteria be the most highly specialized society ever; but its educational system is unquestionably the least specialized, the most universally standardized, that has ever existed. The same kind of training or education is given to all or most children and adolescents up to an astonishingly late age. … The kind of specialization found in industrial society rests precisely on a common foundation of unspecialized and standardized training.” (Gellner 2006, p. 26)
- 3.
Miller (2004, p. 43) defines the context of a learning-intensive society thus: “The shift away from uniform products forces the addition, at different points in the production process and drawing on different inputs, of new knowledge (or at least new for those involved). ‘Inventiveness’ is constantly, as opposed to intermittently, required. Certainly, the work undertaken in the ‘industrial era’ production processes, characterized by a division between conception and execution, always demanded skill and considerable understanding. What is distinctive about a ‘learning intensive economy’, should it come to pass, is that the dividing line between conception and execution dissolves.”
- 4.
A study published by the Executive Agency of the National Council for Qualifications and Professional Training for Adults (UECNCFPA) shows that graduates believe that only about one third of their skills and knowledge were attained during their undergraduate studies, as opposed to the 55% obtained at their place of work. Furthermore, for 76% of the employers in this study it did not matter whether a potential employee had an M.A. degree besides the B.A. or not (UECNCFPA 2010, p. 5).
- 5.
These partners include the National Council of Rectors (Romania), the Romanian Academy, the Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Forderung der angewandten Forschung e.V (Fraunhofer ISI) – Foresight Group, the Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS), the UNESCO-European Centre for Higher Education, the European Universities Association (EUA). More information is available on the project’s portal, www.edu.2025.ro.
- 6.
Out of the respondents, 85% held a PhD or equivalent degree, and 26% were high-ranking decision-makers in their respective institutions.
- 7.
The workshop was held in Sinaia in December 8–11, 2009.
- 8.
Held on January 24–29, 2010 in Bucharest.
- 9.
The nine panels were Governance, Leadership, Management; Research, Innovation, and Intellectual Property Protection; Academic Profession; Regional and Local development; Knowledge Society; Ethics and Social Values; Globalization/Internationalization; Qualifications and Competences; and Quality of Education. Each of the panel had three or four associated subthemes.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to thank the several reviewers and respondents to an earlier draft of the article, and particularly Mert Bilgin, Jim Dator, Riel Miller, Fabrice Roubelat, and Ziauddin Sardar.
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Andreescu, L., Gheorghiu, R., Zulean, M., Curaj, A. (2012). Systemic Foresight for Romanian Higher Education. In: Curaj, A., Scott, P., Vlasceanu, L., Wilson, L. (eds) European Higher Education at the Crossroads. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3937-6_50
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