METAS DEL SISTEMA DE GESTIÓN AMBIENTAL POR OBJETIVOS Objetivo N°1

Finally, this section focuses on the origins and evolution of the reforms that influenced the last century’s tertiary education, i.e. ISCED 5A, ISCED 5B and ISCED 6.

As illustrated by Geuna (1999), contemporary European universities are the product of about 800 years of evolution and their current standing is the result of a series of historical events. During the 19th century, new models of teaching and research institutions emerged in Germany, England and France. While the French strong state control and utilitarian perspective85 _{spread to countries such as Portugal, the English and}

German structuring of knowledge into disciplines spread to all the other European countries and created a modern research-oriented type of university86. On the one hand, the German model originated from the Wilhelm von Humboldt Law of 1808, known as the ‘Humboldtian university model’ according to which the ideal university shall be an “institution for the cultivation of excellence, which is free in the internal realm of research, privileged by the State and the Law, discharged in relation to the normal state

85 _{The peculiarity of the French system resulted mainly from the Law of 1793 which abolished the 22}

French universities in favour of the establishment of two new types of institutions. On the one hand, independent faculties persuying the study of the liberal arts, and on the other hand, new schools, « les grandes écoles » (e.g., Ecole Polytechnique, 1794; Ecole Normale Supérieure, 1795) which focused their research and training on utilitarian subjects. Hence, at the end of the 19th and early 20th centuries, the French system was characterised by a clear subdivision between « grandes écoles » and universities, and by a bureaucratic state control inherited from the Napoleonic period (ibid., p. 48).

86 _{Although Oxford and Cambridge developed their scientific and technological capabilities along the line}

of the German research model, it is under the influence of the Scottish system that the so-called ‘professional’ system developed in English universities and colleges (Perkin, 1984).

95 affairs in the broader society” (Spinner, 1993, p.142). On the other hand, with regard to the English model, although Oxford and Cambridge did develop their scientific and technological capabilities along the line of the German research model, it was under the influence of the Scottish system that the other universities and colleges developed the so- called ‘professional’ system (Perkin, 1984). Hence, English universities served two objectives, namely the research function with the emphasis on liberal education and the goal of preparing students for a professional career (Geuna, 1999).

Thus, at the dawn of the 20th century, the English system could be characterized by an institutional independence, the German system by autonomy of the chair holder and the French system by a higher education essentially utilitarian and at the service of national interests (ibid.). Out of these three main systems, it is the German model that influenced the most the new ideology of university across Europe by launching a spontaneous trend towards the subdivision of knowledge into scientific fields (Wittrock, 1993). While some countries (such as the Netherlands) imitated the German model to a large degree, others only borrowed some of its aspects (such as Austria and Sweden), developing their higher education and research system on the basis of national specificities.

Among the main reform trends87 characterizing the first half of the century (up to the Second World War, WWII) are (i) the reforms towards the expansion of specialist and technical universities launched by Hungary in the 18th _{century and followed by Denmark}

in the 19th century, Austria (1850-1900), Belgium in the 1860s, the Netherlands in 1890 and the Czech Republic in 1918; (ii) the reforms granting the autonomy and academic freedom of State universities led by Germany (1808) and followed by Spain (1873)88, the Czech Republic (1918) and Italy (1923); (iii) the increase of self-governance granted to State universities (e.g., Austria in 1848); and (iv) the reforms granting free and equal access to higher education based upon examination, initiated in Sweden (1860) and spread further over Europe (e.g., in the Czech Republic in 1918).

87 _{For a complete list of main country-specific higher education reforms, see the Appendix section.}

88 _{In Spain, the principal of academic freedom was abolished during the regime of Primo de Rivera (1923-}

1930). Reforms were developed at university, such as the granting of permission to private university institutions to hold graduation ceremonies and the coordination of primary, secondary and higher university education.

96 During WWII, the Western European reforms granting more autonomy and academic freedom got either put on hold or ignored in favour of a more authoritarian and centralized system. In turn, as a response to the strong economic growth of the post-war period, and to the demographic boom, the 1950s-1970s period witnessed the transformation of the elite higher education into a mass institution89. Indeed, during the 1950s and the 1960s, the number of students attending secondary school increased at an extraordinary pace, which led to a dramatic expansion of the potential demand for higher education, i.e. the number of students finishing secondary school. Combined to the shift in demand for the level and range of skills by industries and governments together with social pressures for the democratization of the university system, universities got forced to open their doors to all individuals qualified by ability to attend them (Geuna, 1999). Series of structural reforms got therefore taken during that period, including the foundation of new higher education institutions, the creation of further educational paths (technical vs. academic, short vs. long programmes), further examination levels and further disciplines and subjects, responding to the needs and specificities of each country’s economic market.

In the 1990s, the main reforms have in turn focused on the democratization of higher education by providing a higher degree of self-governance to the institutions, participation rights to the students, etc. In turn, the dawn of the 21st century has been characterized by a return to a more harmonized system of evaluation and examination of the students as imposed by the Bologna Process launched in 1999 to make academic degree standards and quality assurance standards more comparable and compatible throughout Europe.90

3. EXAMPLE: COMPULSORY EDUCATION REFORMS