The article analyzes the last two decades of higher education reforms in Slovenia. During the “period of transition”, they were led by national as well as international initiatives. At an early stage, the national initiatives were mainly based on criticisms of the last reform made by the former regime although the generation of new ideas and proposals was closely associated with international trends and good practices. Later, “Europeanization” came to dominate policy development, but national “struggles in the field of higher education” (Bourdieu, 1988) led to a substantial reinterpretation of the Bologna agenda. The dichotomy of productive adaptation and implementation of common European policies at a national level and the “provincializing” of higher education seems to remain a central issue when addressing the current problems.
COBISS.SI-ID: 9117513
There has been a long tradition of a belief in a continuous progress towards a “better world” as well as of a conviction that good is associated with knowledge and learning. On these bases, expectations have been made that (higher) education substantially contribute to a “better world”. The paper reconsiders this contribution from the aspect of the contemporary progressing internationalisation and globalisation of higher education. Concept of education is discussed in relation to the cosmopolitanism of the Enlightenment, the 19th and 20th Century nationalisms, the 20th Century internationalism, ‘Europeanisation’ process and the contemporary age of globalism. Against the “monocausal view” (U. Beck, 1997) of globalism the paper reaffirms recognition of a full range of educational purposes.
COBISS.SI-ID: 8800585