Reality Check: Contextualising Higher Education in Central and South Eastern Europe

Reality Check: Contextualising Higher Education in Central and South Eastern Europe

ERSTE Foundation

June 24, 2011
Reality Check: Contextualising Higher Education in Central and South Eastern Europe


Monday, 27 June 2011, 5 p.m.

Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design (Auditorium), Prague, Czech Republic

Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze
náměstí Jana Palacha 80
116 93 Praha 1

 

www.wus-austria.org/patterns_lectures

The university landscape in Europe has undergone significant changes since 1989: After the collapse of socialism the universities in these countries were under immense pressure to introduce reforms due to increasing international competition, the massification of higher education and, more recently, the Bologna Process. The process of making higher education more market-oriented involved the discontinuation of entire disciplines, the construction of new institutions and the complete restructuring of the system.

 

The main motivation behind the Bologna Process is to increase the degree of convergence of national higher education systems in Europe. It started with the signature of the Bologna Declaration in 1999, which set in motion a lengthy process of complete reconstruction of the existing systems. The key features of the Bologna Process are, among others, the three-cycle system (BA, MA, PhD) and the European Credit Transfer System (ECTS). Rising enrolment rates and cuts to public funding have led to the increased influence of the private sector in higher education.

 

During this two-day conference, higher education experts from 11 countries will address the following key questions in keynotes, panel discussions and presen­tations: What is the current situation of universities in CEE? What trends can be identified in the educational policies in CEE? How do these changes affect the arts in particular? What are the main tensions between the private and public sectors in the field of higher education? What is the impact of a project like PATTERNS_Lectures?

 

CONFERENCE PROGRAM

 

WELCOME BY

 

Jindřich Smetana (Rector, AAAD Prague)
Christiane Erharter (Curator, ERSTE Founda­tion Programme Culture, Vienna)

 

KEYNOTE SPEECH BY

 

Renata Salecl (Philosopher and theorist, London and Ljubljana)

 

Education Between Anxiety and Freedom: What Has Changed in the Transition from Socialism to Capitalism?

 

PANEL DISCUSSION WITH

 

Christine Böhler
(Director, ERSTE Foundation Programme Culture, Vienna)

 

Ruxandra Silvelia Demetrescu
(University Professor, Rector, National University of Arts, Bucharest)

 

Martina Pachmanová
(Assistant Professor, Department of Art History and Aesthetics, AAAD, Prague)

 

Vjeran Pavlaković
(Assistant Professor, Department of Cultural Studies, University of Rijeka)

 

Renata Salecl (Philosopher and theorist, London and Ljubljana)
Veronika Šubrtová (Student, Masters Programme History and Theory of Design
and New Media, AAAD, Prague

 

MODERATOR
Martina Handler, Project Manager, WUS Austria, Graz

 

ADDRESS
Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, Prague
Vysoká škola uměleckoprůmyslová v Praze
náměstí Jana Palacha 80
116 93 Praha 1

 

PATTERNS_Lectures is a project to support the development of new university courses in Central and South Eastern Europe. 14 courses were selected and taught in 11 countries over the 2010/2011 academic year. Both the lectu­rers and representatives from the universities where the courses were held will participate in the conference.

 

PATTERNS_Lectures is
Initiated by ERSTE Foundation www.erstestiftung.org
Implemented by WUS Austria www.wus-austria.org
The conference is hosted by AAAD www.vsup.cz

 

For more information about the project please visit www.wus-austria.org/patterns_lectures