Studying Similarities and Differences in Higher Education Organisations based on their Websites – Comparative Methodological Approaches and Research Potential

This article discusses the possible ways in which visual research methodologies can be extended and applied to study similarities and differences in higher education institutions (and systems) in the context of the visual and digital turn in social science methodologies. The article focuses on the methodological potential of the institutional website analysis as a fruitful approach in comparative higher education research. The article futher focuses on two specific comparative methodological issues: different purposes of comparisons and different organisational aspects which can be compared. The review of the current state of research based on university websites found that the analyses are largely cross-sectional and focused on issues related to institutional identities and positioning of individual self-identities towards institutions as well as on representations of different types of students. Organisational aspects of structure and hierarchies, disciplinary differences, leadership and management cultures, organisational aesthetics as well studies which focus on the representation of non-student groups of university members, are rare and represent potential research frontiers. Most of the reviewed articles are guided by linear causal explanation logic, while other comparative purposes like a better description, critique and provision of alternative explanations are less present and potentially could lead to a better understanding of higher education

OpenCases: catalogue of mini cases on open education in Europe

This catalogue brings 50 mini cases highlighting the practices of universities and educational institutions around open education in Europe. It showcases the different strategies undertaken by institutions that are embracing the open education movement and opening up their content, research, recognition mechanisms and teaching practices. The catalogue works as a 'taster' for what is being done and can be done in open education in the EU, prompting the reader to look further into the initiatives that raise their interest.JRC.J.3-Information Societ

Students and university websites - consumers of corporate brands or novices in the academic community?

The research within this paper compares the positioning of students and corporate branding features on higher education institution websites within the higher education systems of Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Spain and Poland. The selection of countries reflects among other things different governance regimes. The paper first outlines the analytical framework used for content analysis of the extent to which evidence of the marketization of higher education is present on higher education institutions websites - especially with regard to the positioning and construction of student applicants. Secondly, it uses MANOVA to explain the variance by country and institutional type in relation to the presence (or absence) of different website features. Analysis of higher education institutions’ websites confirms the initial expectations about the link between market-driven higher education governance structures and constructions of students as customers. Nevertheless, the variance in these overall trends is high. Despite the presence of corporate style features on the higher education institution websites and the linked understanding of students as customers, the between-country and within-country differences reveal also sometimes even more dominant alternative understandings of students and student applicants. In the systems with more academic self-governance or with a state-centred mode of governance (usually mixed together like in Germany, Spain or the state sector in Poland) students are seen either as novices in the academic community or recipients of public service. The empirical findings presented in this article suggest that there is considerable diversity in the portrayal of student applicants on higher education institution websites in Europe, rather than a common construction as only consumers

Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education: An Introduction

Zgaga P, Brankovic J, Klemencic M, Lazetic P. Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education: An Introduction. In: Brankovic J, Klemencic M, Lazetic P, Zgaga P, eds. Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education: The Contemporary Issues in National and Comparative Perspective. Higher Education Research in the 21st Century. Vol 6. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers; 2014: 3-11

Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education: The Contemporary Issues in National and Comparative Perspective

Brankovic J, Klemencic M, Lazetic P, Zgaga P, eds. Global Challenges, Local Responses in Higher Education: The Contemporary Issues in National and Comparative Perspective. Higher Education Research in the 21st Century. Vol 6. Rotterdam; 2014