<Title> Education - White paper on Croatian education</Title>

<META name="description" content=" ">

<META name="keywords" content="Pastuovi, Nikola , National development lifelong learning principles pre-school compulsory primary secondary teachers reform adult , chapter 9 , CRO , ENL , T02 ">
<!--PICOSEARCH_SKIPALLSTART-->

9. CHANGES IN TERTIARY EDUCATION

9.1. Objectives of higher education

Higher education is a constituent part of the lifelong education system. Outputs of secondary
education are inputs for tertiary education, and the quality of higher school production
depends on their quality. Tertiary education outputs are inputs for the world of labour and the
system of further formal and non-formal education.

General objectives of higher education are sustainable national development optimizing, and
the production of new knowledge, the knowledge which is not directly ordered by its
environment and does not have to be of direct social benefit. Such pluralistic determination of
higher school objectives has substantial implications on the social positioning of science and
higher education and their financing. As higher educational institutions are not only places
where the existing highly professional and scientific knowledge is being mediated, but places
where new scientific and highly professional knowledge is produced, systems of higher
education and sciences are mutually so closely related that it is necessary for them to be
developed in harmony.

Higher education has a big impact on national development and it is being increased in
correlation with the growth of society complexity. Investments into science and higher
education are long-term conditions for the high rate of the growth of national revenue and
they are strategically considered to be a priority. However, higher education is not only
economically cost efficient, but is also condition for a democratic social development and
self-actualization of people, as they help in the development of human potentials. Objectives
of higher education are, therefore, multidimensional and they consist of contribution to
the development of economy, democracy and culture and to the individual development
of citizens, which means that higher education influences all main components of
national development. This is why higher education is not expenditure, but highly
profitable investment, so it should be positioned on top of the national priorities of
developed countries.

Strategy for the development of Croatian tertiary education has to be based on the estimation
of long-term requirements of national developments, and on the comparison of Croatian

56
higher school system with systems of developed countries and developmental tendencies of
European tertiary education. For this purpose, it is necessary to use the outcomes of
International Evaluation of European Rector Conference (CRE) and the Salzburg Seminar in
2000 and the results of the Self-evaluation of the University, which were used in the
Document of the Zagreb University Iskorak 2001. According to the recommendations of the
international expert teams, University in Zagreb needs a developmental strategy, so that it
could on equal terms get involved into the process of creation of European higher school
space. Although this evaluation has not included other Croatian universities, many of its
results can be used for a diagnosis and planning of the Croatian higher education as a whole.

Developmental tendencies of European university education are being formulated in

European university conventions, beginning with the document called Magna Charta
Universitatum in 1988, followed by the Sorbonne Declaration (Paris, 1998) and, a year later,
by the Bologna Declaration (Bologna, 1999), which Croatia joined in May, 2001. These
conventions are a good foundation on which the project of harmonizing of Croatian higher
school with European higher school can be based, so we are going to use it in our elaboration
of the development of tertiary education.

9.2. The necessary growth of tertiary school production in Croatia

Changes in higher education have their quantitative and qualitative aspect. The first term
refers to the capacity of higher education, which is manifested in the annual production of
graduate students. Qualitative aspect refers to the characteristics of higher school system,
which influence the training of graduate experts for their successful professional and social
functioning. These are: characteristics of programme, staff and technology subsystems of
higher education, system organization and management, finances and linking with
environment. While designing changes in tertiary education, it is necessary to assess the
existing state and to propose the appropriate increase in higher school production and its
quality.

Global unspecified quantitative needs for tertiary educated people in Croatia, meeting of
which is the condition for faster social development and more successful participation in
European Union, can be roughly established by means of international comparison. The share
of people with tertiary undergraduate and postgraduate education in active population in

57
Croatia is around 13% (data based on representative sample, not on the entire population,
Priopenje, 2001). The proportion of population aged 25 65 with tertiary qualifications in
the developed European countries varies from as low as 15% (Austria, the Czech Republic,
Hungary), to above 30% (Ireland, Belgium, Finland; OECD, 2000a, p 33). Regarding our
developmental ambitions, Croatia should as soon as possible increase the share of
working population with tertiary education to 20%, which will, at the time when it is
achieved, still be less than in the European Union countries and some other OECD
countries. If expansion of higher education is considered a national priority, it is possible not
only to achieve, but also to exceed higher education growth rate of 0,5% per year. This is
what has been demonstrated by younger European Union member states, such as Greece,
Ireland and Spain, which have experienced the highest growth rate of the proportion of highly
educated people in active population, and by Slovenia, which plans to increase the share of
tertiary educated population by the end of this decade, aiming at around 25%. Croatia has in
the last ten years increased the percentage of the persons with tertiary education for about 4%
(from 9,3% in 1991 to 13,3% in 2001) and we believe that it is possible to realize the
additional 6% increase by 2010. In European Union countries, around 50% of young
generation people who have completed secondary education enroll various forms of tertiary
(university and non-university) education, and this is the standard which Croatia should
approach in the near future. Expansion of tertiary education is a strategic objective of all
developed countries, and it is particularly important for the development of small countries,
such as Croatia is. However, direct objective of the change in Croatian tertiary education is to
increase the efficiency of studying and to improve the quality of undergraduate, graduate and
postgraduate studies, which implies structural changes in the system. At the same time, it is
necessary to create conditions for the increase in the capacity of higher education and to
spread the network of university and nonuniversitiy institutions according to a polycentric
model.

9.3. Efficiency of tertiary education in Croatia

As there has so far been no systematic research in higher school efficiency in Croatia, our
analysis will be reduced to a limited number of exact indicators, which will be supplemented
with estimations and qualitative analyses. This particularly relates to so-called external
(social) efficiency of the system, which manifests itself in the contribution of tertiary
education in economic growth and other aspects of national development.

58
Internal efficiency of tertiary education is expressed primarily by indicators of the efficacy of
studying, and, after that by indicators of the level of educational achievements. Efficacy of
studying is being expressed by data related to average duration of studying and the percentage
of graduate students in relation to the number of enrolled students. According to the data
obtained from the National Bureau of Statistics, only 13% of students graduate on time. The
average studying time on university studies is around 7 years, and on nonuniversity studies
around 5 years. This shows that tertiary education in Croatia has insufficient internal
efficacy, which means that decrease in dropping out and shortening of the studying time could
increase the share of highly educated people in active population. The causes of such a low
efficacy of studying in Croatia are not sufficiently looked into. We can only assume that these
causes lie in sub-optimal conditions of learning, unfavourable working and living conditions
of students (especially the ones who study and work at the same time) and in insufficient
motivation of students, due to their uncertain employment.

In order to determine the internal efficacy of the system, it is necessary to implement a cost-
benefit analysis, which would relate the total costs of studying to the achieved results.
However, without any analysis, according to the existing efficacy, it is obvious that studying
in Croatia is inefficient, and, thus, - expensive.

External (social) efficacy of tertiary education, which is manifested in its contribution to

the economic growth and other dimensions of national development, can be only estimated,
because there has been no systematic research in that problem. External efficacy can be
indirectly estimated according to indicators of the degree of utilization of highly educated
people in the environmental subsystems, primarily in economic subsystem. Economic effects
of education depend not only on quantity and quality of educational outputs (internal
efficiency), but on compatibility of educational production with the needs of economy and
public services, regional and organizational distribution of highly educated people and
utilization of their work potentials in organizations whose employees they are, as well. Data
regarding unemployment of graduate students, suboptimal regional distribution of highly
educated people, the share of non-expert criteria in conducting staff policy when it is about
attractive vacancies and especially the data regarding so-called brain drain, without any
detailed analyses demonstrate a low level of utilization of top-quality human resources in
Croatian economy and society as a whole. This considerably decreases economic efficiency

59
of higher education and contributes to social instability. Sociologic researches conducted in
the past years in Croatia explain this phenomenon more by characteristics of social processes
in educational environment than by education itself (Rogi and Zeman, 1998).

Dissatisfactory internal efficiency and efficacy of high education, as well as of any other
segment of lifelong education, can be explained by conditions in programme, technology,
staff and organization subsystems, in the quality assurance system, or managing and
financing of higher education. This is why we shall briefly feature only the most important
aspects of the state of particular elements of the system, in which we are restricted due to the
shortage of systematic research in higher school issues in Croatia.

9.4. Condition and changes in programme subsystem

The state of programme subsystem can be evaluated from the perspective of the lifelong
education. As scientific and highly professional knowledge, due to accelerated pace of the
production of new knowledge, increasingly become obsolescent, knowledge of highly
professional and scientific staff has to be permanently renewed. Bearing that in mind, it is
necessary to reassess all the phases of lifelong education of higher education: undergraduate,
graduate and postgraduate study and permanent training of highly educated professionals.

If we compare the global structure of programme-related subsystem of Croatian higher

education with advanced international structural solutions and developmental tendencies, we
can conclude that the representation of particular phases of lifelong education in the
system of training of highly educated staff is suboptimal in Croatia. Undergraduate
university study is overburdened; it has too few optional programmes and it is not
interdisciplinary enough. Graduate and postgraduate study is under-represented and the
permanent non-formal training of highly educated staff is insufficiently systematic. Non-
university (vocational) studies are underdeveloped.

Changes in programme-related subsystem should follow the guidelines stated in the

Bologna Declaration, i.e. Convention on European Institutions of Higher Education in
Salamanca (Salamanca, 2001), which is an orientation which leads to harmonization of the
European higher education space, into which Croatia would like to be included. It is
concisely expressed in the model: not less than 3 years of undergraduate studies + 2

60
years of masters or specialist studies + 3 years of doctoral studies or subspecialization.
Thus, undergraduate studies either qualify for direct employment or serve as a preparation for
subsequent graduate and postgraduate studies. In specific cases, university can decide to
structure the curriculum in the form of a 5-year continuous programme, which directly results
in a graduate degree.

The main practical implication of this model is flexibilization of higher education. It is

being manifested in a bigger heterogeneousness of studying, which implies inclusion of
shorter (three-year) vocational studies into undergraduate studies, disburdening of university
undergraduate studies by removal of vocational contents, and a bigger share of freely chosen
subject-courses, due to which the study loses the quality of completion at undergraduate level,
which it offers at graduate and postgraduate level. This leads to expansion and intensification
of graduate teaching education, which offers a variety of specialist and vocational
programmes, designed according to the requirements of specific orderer. Doctoral studies,
which should be organized as three-year studies, provide highly scientific competences. At
the same time, it is necessary to encourage the development of university interdisciplinary
studies at undergraduate, and particularly at graduate and postgraduate level. This model will
enable our system of university studies to become internationally compatible, which the
present-day model is not (in general, the completion of our university studies is achieved at
undergraduate level, and because of that it is overburdened, as opposed to other countries,
where it is obtained at graduate level). Intensification of graduate and postgraduate studying
requires a change in its organization. Regular students should be provided with full time
regular graduate and postgraduate teaching, which is analogous to the organization of regular
undergraduate studies. It is necessary to drastically reduce the course-like form of
postgraduate studies.

While conducting graduate and doctoral studies, it is necessary to engage staff potentials of
scientific institutes, which would require appropriate systemic solutions. Cooperation with
distinguished international universities would be of particular benefit here. This would
accelerate the establishment of new studies and guarantee contemporariness of the
programmes. International exchange of university professors would contribute to the quality
of teaching. Some postgraduate studies could gain international significance and be partially
conducted in foreign languages. There are some deficient postgraduate programmes which are
considered to be a priority and for which there are no prerequisites for their fast putting into

61
function, and we believe that in these cases our students should be provided with
scholarships which would enable them to study abroad. It is necessary to introduce special
measures which would stimulate the start of interdisciplinary postgraduate studies directed to
some significant transdisciplinary programmes which are not being covered by any
particular science alone. Excellence centers should be formed around groups of most
distinguished professors.

Coordination of Croatian higher education with European higher education implies

implementation of European Credit Transfer System (ECTS system), which would enable
recomposition of the programme and mobility of students within a university and among
universities in Croatia and abroad. This stimulates and enables exchange of students and
university professors, and facilitates participation in the programmes of European Union
(Socrates-Erasmus).

Postgraduate non-formal education of graduate students, which is a huge and extremely

important area of activity of higher educational institutions, is underdeveloped in
Croatia. It is being realized in formats of non-formal education, which are realized through
refreshment programmes, which refer to the novelties in the field of profession and science,
and through programmes by which attendants are being trained for implementation of
scientific insights or for solution of various practical problems in various areas of social life.
In developed countries, these programmes make a significant part of higher school activities
and they are the source of significant financial resources.

Apart from their teaching and scientific activities, higher educational institutions have an
expert activity, which has its educational (advisory) component. Cooperation between
universities and economy and noneconomic organizations comprises some practical problems
solving, which contributes to the development of companies and the regional development, as
well as to the development of higher school institutions. Partnership relation and interaction
with environment stimulates applied researches, establishment of the targeted graduate and
postgraduate vocational studies and the development of expert and instructive activities.

9.5. Technological changes in higher education

62
Educational technology in broader sense implies means and procedures which enable the
realization of educational production, i.e. inputs in education are being converted into
desirable outputs. Such an understanding of educational technology embraces all the
elements of a curricular system: objectives of learning, programmes, implementation and
evaluation of educational outcomes. Educational technology in narrow sense refers primarily
to means and procedures of implementation of the programme and it serves to increase the
efficiency of learning-teaching process. In our analysis, the concept of educational
technology is used in this, narrower sense, taking into account its being conditioned with
other elements of curricular system (objectives, programme and evaluation).

Changes of educational procedures can be roughly divided into the ones which are feasible
with the existing teaching aids and materials and the ones which are connected with the
changes in the available resources. Changes which are possible with the existing
equipment and means consist primarily of the changes in the approach to teaching,
which has to be directed towards learning by insights, i.e. through in-depth information
processing. Such a learning is faster, the learned knowledge lasts longer and its transfer value
is bigger. This implies implementation of appropriate learning methods: learning through
research, experiential learning and other methods that maximally activate students, by which
the focus of the learning-teaching process is transferred from teaching to independent
learning. Domination of ex-cathedra teaching should be replaced by the bigger representation
of seminar work, exercises, research, fieldwork, mentor teaching and independent learning.
What is particularly encouraging here are the new opportunities which are being
opened by the implementation of new information and communication technology
(ICT). By its application, all human activities can be improved, and it enables advancement
of the functioning of the whole system. In education, its value is particularly big in
educational process.

Application of ICT is possible in the very educational process by means of computer

simulations, virtual experiments and self-evaluation. Furthermore, implementation of ICT has
made the existing global knowledge in a specific area available to teachers and students. At
the same time, implementation of this technology enables a two-way communication on
distance, i.e. electronic communication between students and teachers, or distant learning,
which has become a new format of studying. In this context, the role of a teacher has

63
changed, and the teacher is in the process of learning increasingly becoming a mentor and a
facilitator.

In order to actualize new technological opportunities in higher education, it is necessary to

make information-communication technology available to teachers and students, and to train
both teachers and students on how to appropriately use this technology. In the future, all those
who have completed secondary school will be informatically literate, but for the time being,
there still are teachers who are illiterate in this respect. Teacher in-service training dealing
with information-communication technology is a part of teachers permanent education in the
field of educational competence, which is generally neglected. Such an in-service training is
being supported by the strategy of informatization of education, which is planned in the
context of informatization of society (Budin, 2001) and informatization of university (Iskorak,
2001).

Teaching technology at higher educational institutions includes university units equipment

necessary for scientific research. Namely, higher school teaching is partially carried out
through students participation in research projects. In other words, the problem does not lie in
exercises only, which are imperative in scientific, technical and biomedical science studies,
but in the facultys equipment necessary for the conduction of scientific researches in which
students take part. Without appropriate equipment, implementation of the principle of
the unity of teaching and research is not possible. Regarding depreciation and obsoleteness
of the equipment at some faculties, it is not realistic to expect a significant improvement in the
quality of teaching unless there are investments into new equipment, which is necessary for
the implementation of researches and for lowering of tariffs barriers for their acquisition.

9.6. Staff subsystem of tertiary education

For internal efficiency of higher education system, and especially for its quality aspect
(quality of teaching), the most important factor is higher school teachers being appropriately
trained. Competence of higher school teachers comprises two main components:
scientific and educational competences. Scientific competence implies competence for
scientific production, while educational competence is the teachers competence which
enables him/her to successfully mediate scientific and highly professional knowledge and
academic values to students. In this matter, scientific competence of university teachers has

64
traditionally been considered to be more important than their educational competence. Indeed,
people believe that researching competence guarantees the educational one. In accordance
with it, scientific competence is conditio sine qua non for the acquisition, maintenance and
promotion of teachers in scientific-educational occupations, while educational competence is
something which is taken as desirable, but not crucial for a successful teaching at higher
educational institutions. This is why the system of evaluation of scientific competence of
higher school teachers is much more developed than the one for their educational competence.
Acquisition of educational competence does not even exist in Croatia as an organized system,
and its evaluation is reduced to an inaugural lecture and subsequent polling of the students on
the quality of teaching.

The reasons for insisting on scientific competence of teachers lie in the fact that this
competence is considered to be an assurance of scientific relevance of the contents of
teaching, and in the fact that higher educational institutions are the biggest plants of scientific
production, in which university teachers are scientific workers. In this context, the validity
of the system of evaluation of scientific production of scientists is essential for the
maintenance and advancement of scientific production, and, in this way, the scientific
relevance of the content of higher school education. This is why the validity of the system of
evaluation of scientific production of university teachers is extremely important.

Evaluation system of scientific competence of teachers at Croatian universities is not faultless.

The key questions here are scientific validity and international compatibility of the
criteria lying beneath categorization of journals in particular scientific fields, and the
criteria for the selection and scientific promotion of the teachers. In that matter, national
particularities should not be an obstacle for an independent measurability and international
compatibility of the value of the published scientific papers, because otherwise we would be
supporting the scientific self-containment, which is fatal for scientific progress in any field.
Closedness of the field hinders scientific prominence of the staff in these fields and a valid
scientific selection. This reduces the quality of teaching as far as its scientific relevance is
concerned. On the basis of the conducted scientometric analysis of the scientific productions
of Croatian scientists, it can be concluded that it is necessary to review procedures and
classification of Croatian scientific journals, according to recognized international standards,
and to establish a valid system of science and higher education evaluation, based on
international standards (Silobri, 1999). When it is about scientific promotion, evaluation

65
system can also be enhanced by a strict implementation of the criterion of obligatory
publishing of a given number of papers in internationally recognized journals abroad (referred
in CC) and by acknowledging of the index of being internationally quoted.

The degree of educational enableness of university professors in Croatia is unknown,

because there is no systematic research on that. This is not accidental, because the importance
of this component of professors competence in our university community is underestimated.
Before 90s there was some nonsystematic psychological and didactic training of younger
university teachers (mostly university assistants); however, such practice has in the last
decade been abandoned. Regarding the indisputable benefit of being acquainted with the laws
of learning and teaching and the new teaching technology for a successful educational
process, it is necessary to provide higher school teachers with opportunities for a
systematic acquisition and development of their educational, and not only scientific
competences. In this, we should follow the successful practice of the leading international
universities (including our neighbour, Slovenias, too). Creation of new curricula and
textbooks and implementation of new teaching technology would be significantly facilitated
by the knowledge on how people learn and in what way they could be best helped while
learning. This is why pre-service and in-service training in the field of education should be
equally compulsory as they are in the field of research. For that purpose, it is necessary to
establish an organization which will systematically conduct this training.

When it is about staff subsystem, we have to warn about unfavourable age-related structure
of teachers. Despite introduction of junior researchers, the age-related structure of university
teachers is too high, so rejuvenation of university is certainly one of its developmental
priorities. Improvement of quality of staff-related subsystem can be accelerated by in-service
training of younger teachers on worldwide reputable universities and by intensification of
exchange of university teachers.

9.7. Organizational subsystem of tertiary education

The most important organizational changes in higher education on strategic level contain
diversification of tertiary education and changes in organization and management of
university, which optimize the relationship between integration and decentralization within
the framework of a united university. On organizational level, diversification of higher

66
education comprises introduction of programmes of various duration, i.e. development of a
binary system in tertiary education (establishment of two subsystems of higher education).
This concept corresponds to developmental trends of European high education, and in Croatia
it was acknowledge by the Law on high educational institutions in 1993. This is why higher
education in Croatia is obtained by university and nonuniversity studies. There are
significant problems related to the development of nonuniversity studies and in the
improvement of organization and management of university.

9.7.1. Nonuniversity studies in the system of higher education

Vocational studies are being carried out at 7 polytechnics, 8 independent public higher school,
7 independent private accredited higher schools, and 7 public schools which are a constituent
part of university. The share of students enrolled in university and the ones in polytechnics
(vocational studies), whose study is paid by the Ministry of science and technology, is 73% :
27% (without part-time students and the ones who are enrolled on ones-own-needs basis).
What is planned is the increase in the number of students enrolled in vocational studies, so
that the proportion of the students enrolled in university and the ones enrolled in vocational
studies approaches 60%:40%. Its apparent that vocational higher school studies have become
a very important part of the system of higher education, which is the characteristic of higher
education in developed countries. However, this intensifies the problem of their quality and
optimal organization.

Differentiation between university and nonuniversity studies is based on the share of

scientific, i.e. vocational component in their curricula. Vocational studies are based on
scientific insights, but they prepare students for the practice of a particular profession for
which there is a need in the labour market, and not for scientific research. Vocational studies
are flexible, because they, facilitating shorter programmes (lasting 2 to 4 years) respond faster
to the changeable needs of labour, and thus contribute to the easier employing and meeting of
the staff-related needs of economy and noneconomic activities. University studies train both
for the needs of labour, and for scientific research (targeted scientific training is being carried
out through university postgraduate doctoral studies).

67
Development of vocational studies in Croatia is facing numerous problems regarding staffing,
finances and legislation, which reflects on the quality of studies. In the first place, operational
criteria for distinguishing between nonuniversity and university studies are not clearly defined
and the implementation of the existing implicit and explicit distinguishing criteria in practice
is not consistent. From the viewpoints of the carriers of vocational studies, physical (special),
staff-related and financial division between vocational and university studies is not well done,
employment of teachers is more difficult on vocational studies, there is a marked lack of their
own space and equipment, degree titles are inappropriate, as well as legal solutions by which
vocational studies issues are being stipulated, etc.

In order to create the prerequisites for a good quality development of vocational studies in
Croatia, it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the vocational studies issues in the
context of restructuring of the system of higher education as a whole. As vocational and
university studies are two complementary components of tertiary education,
reconceptualization of one provokes and calls for redefinition of another one. Decisions on
the destiny of particular polytechnics or high school are to be made on the basis of analysis of
experiences abroad regarding this type of higher school, analysis regarding our needs for such
a study, and on the basis of a valid estimation of the conditions which should enable a good
quality realization of vocational studies programme.

9.7.2. University organization and management

As analyses and documents of international organizations dealing with education show, the
problem of optimal university managing, besides problems related to financing and quality
assurance, is one of the most prominent ones. This problem is being intensified in the
conditions of a crisis, which higher school systems of various countries are facing nowadays.
One of these countries is Croatia, which still has not introduced efficient changes, changed
which would be in harmony with European trends. There is an appropriate theoretical
framework for these changes, which enables understanding of the changes in the policy of
higher education and formulating the answers to the problems related to tertiary education
institutions managing, with a special reference to the relation of environment towards them
(Ledi, 2001).

68
There are three main sources of higher education control: state, market and professional-
academic community. Longitudinal studies of the changes in higher education show that the
weight of the control is being transferred from the state and academic community onto the
market. However, in the countries with centralized systems of decision-making, the state
controls universities by means of the model of rational planning and control, especially if it
perceives higher education as the key factor of national development. However, such a model
is not efficient in the conditions of a crisis in higher education. In such a situation, a more
appropriate model is self-regulation, which enables institutions to adapt to the local
conditions. This, naturally, presumes autonomy in relation to the state and responsibility of
higher educational institutions for the quality of their production. This is why, alongside
autonomy and entrepreneurial behaviour, it is necessary to introduce internationally
recognized and comparable system of quality assurance, which will enable mutual recognition
of diplomas and mobility of teachers and students.

When it is about higher educational institutions managing, there is a dilemma between two
concepts of managing: traditional collegianism and managerism taken from the practice of
business management. The drawback of collegianism is slowness in making and enforcing
decisions, while managerism, because of the tradition of collegianism, provokes resistance in
academic community, which insists on its autonomy and is not willing to assume
responsibility for its self-regulation. Inclusion of Croatian higher education into European
space of higher education will demand certain changes in higher education institutions
managing and their training for a new way of functioning. In this context, it is possible to
problematize the phenomenon of integration of university, which is very important if such big
universities as the one in Zagreb is are to function well.

An integrated university, the one which joins various scientific disciplines and professions,
can ensure unique standards of action while introducing study programmes and carrying out
research projects, while recruiting new staff and promoting the staff employed with its
participants, and while ensuring a common infrastructure necessary for good quality research
and teaching. According to conducted evaluation studies, Croatian universities are neither
integrated enough nor autonomous enough in relation to the state. In this matter, this problem
of insufficient integration is the most prominent at the biggest Croatian university the
University of Zagreb. Further growth of the needs for highly educated staff and the increase in

69
the complexity of higher education, which is achieved by scientific development, will
additionally sharpen this problem of insufficient integration.

Problems which stem from the size and complexity can be, as a matter of principle, solved in
a number of ways. One of them is the division of a big entity into several smaller and more
homogenous units (breaking up of a big university into several smaller universities). The
second one lies in realization of potential advantages which a big university has and
minimalization of its disadvantages by means of optimization of its organizational structure.
The advantage of division of a big university into several smaller universities lies in
simplification of their functioning. Disadvantages of that division would be the loss of a
useful scientific and educational complementarity and multiplication of those capacities and
infrastructure, which every university, no matter how big it is, must have. This solution is
therefore more expensive, which is, in conditions of limited resources, a significant
drawback.

Efficacy of a complex (heterogeneous) university can be improved by its multi-level

organization, i.e. of some kind of decentralization, through which a unique university would
cease to be a mere sum of numerous scientific-educational, artistic and other units with
strongly expressed legal entity, becoming their suprasummative organic integration. It may
become that, providing that it optimizes the distribution of activities which are performed
within university on three levels: on the central university level, the level of certain higher
school areas and the level of fundamental university units, such as faculties, departments and
institutes.

Nowadays, there are two levels of university organization (the level of university and the
level of its constituent members: faculties, academy, institutes), faculties being legal
entities that are to a large extent autonomous in relation to university, and insufficiently
autonomous in relation to the state (Ministry of Science and Technology). The proposed
changes contain transfer of particular competences from faculty to university and
strengthening of its autonomy in relation to the Ministry of science and technology, and
interpolation of scientific field level into organizational model of university. Areas can be
classified according to UNESCO classification of high education areas, International
Standard Classification of Education (ISCED), i.e. their combining in such a way that

70
particular areas listed in the Classification, according to their scientific relatedness, unite into
few broader scientific field units.

Division of competences for carrying out specific activities within this three-level model of
university organization should be such that it enables to a better coordination and more
rational management of a big university, so that all university members would be gaining, and
none of them losing. In this matter, the existing level of financial and operational
independence of constituent members shouldnt be vitally decreased, so that they would
retain their initiativity and innovativity, ensuring thus the necessary level of interactive
instrumentalism with environment. Constituent members of the university should continue to
freely dispose of their original revenues. It is important to stress that order and velocity of
changes should be optimized, because universities are ready to accept that quality and those
types of changes which are not going to substantially change the sensitive equilibrium of the
relations within it. When the changes are substantial and dictated from outside, university
typically responds with resistance.

Since university education is based on science, it is necessary to review organizational

relationship between university and scientific institutes, as specialized scientific-researching
organizations. The link between research and teaching can be accomplished by making
scientific-research institutes (institutes, research centers) and researching staff a part of
teaching process, which will enable a more rational utilization of the existing scientific
resources. We propose integration of public scientific institutes into universities, under
condition that scientists participate in academic life and teaching process.

For implementation of these organizational concepts, it is necessary to fulfill some legislative

prerequisites. Law on high education institutions and Law on scientific-research activity
should define the framework within which the desirable changes could be implemented. In
this context, it is essential to appropriately regulate the issues of legal entities of particular
levels of university and the distribution of authority. Stipulations of law should be coordinated
with the Constitution and with European university conventions, particularly with Magna
Charta, which was adopted in Bologna, 1989.

71
9.8. University autonomy

The Magna Charta Universitatum (Bologna, 1988) promotes fundamental principles which
support the mission of university in all European countries. These fundamental principles,
proclaimed in Magna Charta of European universities, are as follows:

1) University is an autonomous institution, which realizes its objectives through research

and teaching. Research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of
all political authority and economic power.

2) University teaching and research must be linked, and teaching must not lag behind the
changing requirements of society and scientific advances.

3) Freedom in research and freedom in teaching are the fundamental principles of

university life, and both governments and universities, each in their own scope of
authority, must respect that principle. Its rejection of intolerance and a constant
openness to a dialogue, makes the university an ideal meeting-ground for teachers
who are capable and willing to enrich their knowledge and pass it on to their students.

4) University is the trustee of European humanist tradition; it continuously tries to attain

universal knowledge, to fulfill its vocation and to go beyond all geographical and
political frontiers and to affirm the vital need of various cultures to know and to
influence each other.

As we can see, the fundamental principle of university functioning is its autonomy. Measures
which have to be undertaken in order to realize this principle in Croatia can be established by
an analysis of the relation between the state and state university in Croatia. The state of the
autonomy of university in Croatia is presented in the paper Autonomy of university and
freedom of scientific-research activity (Flego, 1999). In the conclusion of his paper, the author
says: In the Republic of Croatia, on the normative level, there is no autonomy of university,
nor academic self-management. Legislative and/or executive authorities crucial for 1)
selection of heads of university institutions (university governing councils, rectors, deans);
they participate in 2) production of curricula; in 3) selection of teachers; and in 4)
determining the enrolment students quotas.

72
Declaration Iskorak 2001 of Zagreb University proclaims the following (we shall quote only
the part of Declaration which is referring to the autonomy of university): University in
Zagreb has established a standard university autonomy, because it ensures the necessary
degree of independence from external influence. Autonomy of university in European sense
implies the right and responsibility of university to make independent decisions: 1) on
internal organization, 2) on curricula and conditions of their implementation, 3) on selection
of teachers and other university staff, 4) on proposing and establishing budget within the
limits of governmental resources, 5) on acquisition of additional income within general
recommendations of the government, 6) on medium-term and long-term strategy and
investments into development, and 7) international university cooperation.

It would be of common interest of both state and university to design an optimal legal
framework, which would recognize the role and the position of university in modern society
and which would be synchronized with positive European legislature. This is why we propose
a revision of Law on higher education institutions and Law on scientific-research activity,
which will appropriately operationalize the principles on which European university is based,
and enable its reform.

9.9. Quality assurance system in tertiary education

For a good quality production of any system, it is essential to control the quality of its
products and to detect the causes of its possible insufficient quality, so as to undertake
efficient regulatory measures. In order to achieve that, it is necessary not only to evaluate the
systems output, but also to evaluate all the components and processes in the system on which
the quality of their product depends. Development of higher education implies the
development of the system of assurance of its quality. Development of that system is an
indicator of the development of higher education.

According to the assessment of the University in Zagreb (Iskorak 2001), implementation of

the measures aiming at quality assurance of higher education, which are stipulated by
appropriate documents, is not efficient, and culture and quality policy in higher education is in
many aspects underdeveloped. Continuous assessment of quality is not entirely realized. In
university system there is no standardized efficient mechanism which recognizes and rewards

73
excellency and quality. Averageness and levelling are still the models which function at
universities (ibid, p 32).

As we have already said, quality of the system can be ensured if it is being monitored at all
levels and if all components of the system are being evaluated. What should be evaluated is
the way programmes are accepted and renovated, their implementation, criteria for selection
and promotion of teachers, sustainability of enrolment policy, criteria for the enrolment of
students and grading system for their attainment during their studying, flexibility of the
system, regarding students and teachers mobility, scientific productivity of teachers,
financing criteria for studies and scientific-research projects and all other factors of internal
and external efficiency. This is the way to gain insight into the quality of particular
components of the system and to evaluate the quality of the system of higher education as a
whole, without which it is difficult to rationally manage the process of its development.

The main obstacle to the improvement of the quality assurance system is the resistance of the
academic community to the changes in the field. The cause of this resistance is lack of
information regarding the need for changes, the effort that should be made in order to adapt to
the changes, and the fear of the rise of uncertainty and competitiveness, which usually follows
the improvement of the system of quality assurance and personal evaluation. Such resistance
can be reduced by comprehensive and timely informing of academic community on the needs
and usefulness of the changes for its own good, by support of appropriate state institutions,
appropriate standardization and by awarding the excellence. Strengthening of the spirit of
competitiveness within academic community, which is stimulated by introduction of inter-
university competitions on national and international level will contribute to the introduction
of the quality assurance system.

Competition is the most powerful tool of development in all elite activities. This is why it has
to be ensured in the system of higher education, and we have to provide conditions for the
establishment of private higher school institutions and for international presence of higher
school institutions in Croatian higher school space. The necessity will become introduction of
the elements of marketing into higher education, as well as ensuring conditions for self-
regulation of higher school institutions, which are good frameworks for the introduction of
competition into higher education.

74
9.10. Higher school financing

In 1999, allocations for higher education in Croatia amounted 1% GDP, and for science
0,43%. In other words, Croatian budgetary allocations for higher education and science taken
from GDP are among the lowest in Europe. Besides, in developed countries, economy directly
invests huge resources into research conducted at institutes and higher educational
institutions. As their GDP per capita is incomparably higher than ours is, the same percentage
of allocations from GDP, in absolute amount per student is much higher. From all these, we
can conclude that the existing level of monetary inputs into the system of science and higher
education in Croatia lead to their inevitable lagging behind the developed world. Regarding
the increasing importance education has for national development, the consequences of such
policy, if it proceeds, will on the long run be socially devastating. Such a developmental
trend has to be urgently reversed by higher budgetary allocations from GDP for science
and higher education, and a growth in other non-budgetary revenues. Besides, we must
increase the transparency of the ways of distribution and expenditure of available money.

Drawbacks of higher school financing in Croatia lie not only in insufficient resources, but in
the method (model) of its financing. Namely, cost-effectiveness of resources invested into
education depends on the appropriateness of the model. Analysis of financing of public
universities in developed countries shows that direct public financing is the most important
resource of the financing of public universities, funds being allocated to particular university
as a block grant. The amount of the resources primarily depends on the number of the
students enrolled, and on the calculations regarding the real price of studying per student. To a
smaller extent, state financing is conditioned by the quality of educational and scientific work.
Tuition fees of undergraduate studies cover only a small part of the expenses of studying and
are not an important source of income of public universities. University earns additional
revenues mostly through cooperation with economy in researches, by means of expertises and
advisory services, and through targeted graduate and postgraduate studies in accordance with
the needs of orderers, and with market prices. Higher educational institutions can earn
certain resources from publishing activity, from part-time studies, space renting, sponsorships
and donations, which are freed from taxations. Universities dispose with these resources
freely and in accordance with their mission and planned strategy of development.

75
Volume of resources which are being allocated for higher education and the share of these
resources in gross domestic product in developed countries is much higher than in Croatia.
First of all, expenses for higher education and scientific research are really perceived as a
long-term investment into social development, which places them high on the list of national
priorities. Allocations for higher education and science depend on economic development, so
there is a high correlation between economic power of a country and its investments into
universities. In this respect, there is no dilemma about what is in this relation the cause and
what the consequence, and investments into education and science run in harmony with
economic growth, amounting approximately 5 to 6% of GDP for the entire education.

On the basis of what has just been said, it can be concluded that resources for higher
education should be increased, and that the model of financing has to be changed. It should
be based on the calculation of real expenses of studying per student, for each programme of
study, which will give the price of specific studies. The price of a study should serve as the
basis when defining governmental resources allocated to a particular higher educational
institution, while stipulating tuition fees for students who pay for their studies and to
determine the possible participation of students in costs of studying (introduction of
participation of students in studying costs should be accompanied by financial support which
would the state give to such students). This would be the basis for the distribution of
governmental resources among higher educational institutions and the members of the
university. Financing according to cost-related criterion should be corrected by means of the
results of quality evaluation studies, when this system of evaluation is capable of that.

It may be useful to design an alternative model of distribution of budgetary resources

allocated for higher education, according to which resources are allocated to students, who
bring them to the educational institutions which they have chosen according to their personal
preferences. This encourages their competition and contributes to the quality of education.
This model of distribution of resources presumes a reliable external quality valorization.

9.11. Tertiary education and environment

Education has always been somewhat conditioned by the needs of environment and the
conditions which it provides. Connection with environment is not the same in all segments of
education and it can be said that higher education is the most independent of all, due to its

76
close relationship with science. However, this autonomy of university is what contributes the
most to the positive impact of higher education to its environment, because an autonomous
university is scientifically more productive than a non-autonomous. Science and higher
education are locomotives of social development and they are prerequisites for sustainable
development of the country, and it is important to know how environment influences the
functioning of higher education and which method of its activity is the most productive for it.

Environment of a higher educational institution is everything what is outside this higher

education institution and what influences its activities. It is necessary to distinguish general
and specific elements of environment. General elements are the ones which influence all
organizations (and not only the higher school ones) and are not critical for their survival.
These are, for instance, economic and cultural contexts. Specific elements of environment are
the ones which indirectly affect the ability of a higher school organization to fulfill its goals.
These are state, market and international space of higher education (so called power triangle
in higher education). This is why efficiency of higher education depends on characteristics of
political and economic organization of a country and the connection of higher school system
with international academic community. Activities of these aspects of environment are
interdependent. Decrease in the role of the state in regulation of higher education facilitates
and opens the possibilities for the activities of the market. Openness of the state facilitates the
linkage of national higher school system with international higher education space.

The market model of the regulation of higher education comprises establishing of

educational price, according to offer and demand in the market of study programmes, research
programmes and academic staff. If the market is to function, potential clients have to be
given opportunity to get valid information on the quality of educational and research
programmes and teachers and researchers, so that students and users of research can select the
study and research programme of their interest. Furthermore, any market competition
presumes the presence of a sufficient number of competitors (higher educational institutions
of the same kind), which compete for students and orderers of research. However, students
have to be bearers of the resources for their studying, and, selecting among higher educational
institutions, they will bring these resources to university or higher school they have selected.
At the same time, market has to be big enough, and it can be big enough even if the country
is small, provided the country is open and internationally competitive as far as the market of
knowledge and research is concerned, which, for the time being, Croatia is not.

77
Relation between higher education and economy is very important for the directing of its
educational and research activity and as far as additional funds providing is concerned. The
nature and intensity of that cooperation depend on how much are the partners both willing
and trained for such a cooperation. If economic development is based on the strategy of a
learning society and the knowledge - based economy, economy will make an interested
partner to higher education, a partner willing to invest into applied and developmental
research and specialist graduate studies which are on the line of its developmental plans.
Social climate in which education is a real social value, and not only a declared one is
particularly important for the development of higher education. This will be contributed to by
the activities of universities, which will be offering economy modalities of possible
cooperation of mutual benefit, such as the choice of masters theses and doctoral theses,
which are interesting for companies, participation of the representatives of economy in the
creation of top priority national research programme, support given to gifted students during
their studying and their employing after the completion of their studies, co-financing of
research projects and equipment, and so on.

Higher education is linked with other segments of educational system. Namely, secondary
education outputs are higher education inputs, and their quality determines the quality of the
production of higher education. This is why higher educational institutions, and especially
universities have to participate in the establishing of the system of external evaluation of
pupils achievements (for example, quality assurance of state matura exam), creation of
secondary school curricula and textbooks and quality assurance of pre-service training of
primary and secondary school teachers. Besides, universities are places of permanent training
of highly educated staff, i.e. their further formal and non-formal education, as a constituent
part of the lifelong education system. This function of additional training, higher educational
institutions realize in a cooperative relationship with services for education in companies and
other non-economic organizations and professional associations.

Since science is global, international scientific context and international standards in higher
education are a very important aspect of the environment of higher education. They have
been proclaimed in UNESCO World Declaration on Higher Education in 1998, the Sorbonne
Declaration on Harmonization of the Structure of Higher Education in Europe, 1998, the

78
Bologna Declaration, 1999, the Convention on European Institutions of Higher Education,
Salamanca, 2001 and The Prague Statement from May, 2001, signed by Croatia, too.

International cooperation is particularly significant for the development of higher education in

Croatia and realization of international standards. Small countries, if they want to keep pace
with the world, have to strive to strengthen international cooperation, not only in research, but
in education as well. This contributes to internationally recognized quality of university,
which can be achieved by compatibility of curricula of studies, students and teachers
exchange and by establishing international standards in the system of quality assessment.
Because of this, integration of Croatian universities into the programmes of European Union,
such as Tempus, Socrates-Erasmus and participation in regional programme CEEPUS is
considered a priority. Direct inter-institutional linkage of higher educational institutions with
similar educational institutions abroad is considered to be extremely important as well.

<!--PICOSEARCH_SKIPALLEND-->

79