Suchergebnisse

The study examines some recent developments in Hungarian higher education funding with some historical and international outlook. Its purpose is to present the causes of the anomalies that we are experiencing today (such anomalies include, for example, new institutional indebtedness and their central support, as well as instructor layoffs at some universities, and a sudden increase in tuition fees). The anomalies are surprising because, according to the government, the introduction of the Chancellor's system was successful in consolidating higher education. The paper states that the last ten years of Hungarian higher education were characterized by the transformation of the financing system, in addition to the reduction of state resources. In international comparison, the government support for domestic higher education compared to GDP is significantly below the average of developed countries. The government tried to deal with institutional management difficulties and indebtedness with the introduction of the Chancellor's system. (which drastically reduced autonomy), and by providing ad hoc, hand-guided cash grants. However, the financial condition of the institutions is permanently bad, which is obviously at the expense of quality, as the institutions are forced to dismiss older and more experienced trainers, and the conditions of education also deteriorate. Without widening public resources and widening economic freedom, the situation will continue to deteriorate. It is becoming increasingly evident that the idea of a government strategy to make Hungarian higher education institutions world-class is unrealistic. ; A tanulmány a hazai felsőoktatás-finanszírozás néhány újabb történését vizsgálja meg, némi történelmi és nemzetközi kitekintéssel. Célja bemutatni azt, hogy a napjainkban tapasztalható anomáliák – mint például az újabb intézményi eladósodások és azok központi kisegítése (miközben a kancellári rendszer bevezetésével állítólag sikeres volt a felsőoktatás konszolidációja), elbocsátások egyes tudományegyetemeken, hirtelen tandíjemelés – mire vezethetők vissza. Az írás megállapítja, hogy a hazai felsőoktatás elmúlt tíz évét az állami források beszűkülése mellett a finanszírozási rendszer átalakulása jellemezte. Nemzetközi összehasonlításban a hazai felsőoktatás kormányzati forrásai (az állami támogatások aránya a GDP-hez viszonyítva) jelentősen elmaradnak a fejlett országok átlagától. A mindezek nyomán kialakult intézményi gazdálkodási nehézségeket a kormány a kancellári rendszer bevezetésével – s ezzel együtt a gazdasági autonómia radikális és az akadémiai (oktatási és kutatási) autonómia vele járó nem jelentéktelen korlátozásával –, valamint eseti, kézzel vezérelt konszolidációs pénzosztogatással próbálta kezelni. Az intézmények kondicionális helyzete azonban tartósan rossz, ami nyilvánvalóan a minőség rovására megy, hiszen az intézmények az idősebb és tapasztaltabb oktatók elbocsátására kényszerülnek, és az oktatás feltételei is romlanak. Félő, hogy az állami források bővülése és a gazdálkodási szabadság kiszélesítése nélkül a helyzet tovább romlik. Egyre nyilvánvalóbban irreálissá válik a kormányzati stratégiának nevezett anyag azon célkitűzése, amely szerint minden magyar felsőoktatási intézmény világszínvonalú kell legyen azokban a diszciplínákban, amelyek a saját kiemelt területéhez tartoznak.

Political parties are often conceptualized as unitary actors that have consistent preferences. This 'hidden assumption' often turns out to overlook heterogeneity within parties and, therefore, intra-party dynamics in explaining attitudes. Concerning devolution and federalisation, parties or MP's belonging to the same region are also often implicitly considered as having homogeneous viewpoints and attitudes. Relying on an original MPs survey carried out during the Belgian political gridlock of 2010-2011, this article uncovers some of the key dimensions of the intra-party dynamics through the analysis of MPs' preferences towards institutional reform in Belgium. Far from being explained by party or community lines, our results demonstrate how MPs' political and sociological background, national/regional identity, political career and inter-community relations strongly shape their preferences.

While a great deal of attention is devoted to the Pacific region as the new chessboard of international politics, Pakistan remains a key actor in terms of both threat and potential. Two observations back this argument: first, Pakistan's fundamental roles as a state are challenged by its ongoing conflict with India and internal insurgencies. Second, due to a power-status gap, Pakistan experiences difficulties in holding specific self-conceived roles. In addition to hampering its socio-economic potential, these developments prevent Pakistan's quest for normalization in the system. As a consequence, we argue that engaging with Islamabad should be a priority for Washington so as to prevent the country from further aligning with Beijing, thus reinforcing China's regional leadership and status as peer-competitor to the United States. Indeed, as the potential for deviance in the international system arises from its normative dimension, the US, as the global leader, counts among its roles that of norm-setter and primary socializer for most states. Our research proposes to look at an old puzzle with new theoretical insights. By addressing the question of Washington's engagement towards non-conforming states, we aim to document a set of socialization processes as intervening variables linking American global role as leader and primary socializer to Pakistan's process of social integration (normalization/deviance). Drawing from sociology and social psychology, the paper seeks to explore the ability of the leader to act as a primary source of role location and status recognition towards non-conforming states so as to integrate them (back) into the US-led system.

At the very moment that humanity is facing a broadening ecological crisis, and that both policy makers and civil society are calling for a transition towards more sustainable societies, modern science seems incapable of providing operational solutions for managing this transition. In this context, both Noble prize laureates and high-level science officials have stressed the need of an in depth transformation of the modes of organization of scientific research for governing the transition to sustainable societies. However, existing analyses of on-going initiatives show that most of the barriers to a major, consolidated effort in sustainability science will not be removed without far-reaching institutional change. To address this challenge, this paper proposes an incremental institutional change approach, based on a gradual institutionalization process of existing initiatives. The analysis in this paper shows that strategic research for sustainability and reform of research funding mechanisms will only be effective if they are supported at the same time by reforms of career and training paths at higher education institutions. To promote this vision, the paper proposes a set of capacity building measures that can be undertaken at the level of research funding, higher education institutions and networking.