Conference Agenda

Quality in higher education is perceived primarily through performance and standards of success. Academic success, in turn, is regulated by various quality mechanisms that produce institutional and individual practices that generate academic subjectivities and a rationality of academia. Recruiting the best, most deserving individuals and ensuring their progression within the field in terms of maintaining and/or improving their qualifications for positions in higher education is fundamental to maintaining the quality of academic work and the academic field as such. Practices that undermine or challenge this rationality are marginalized, excluded, and not adequately discussed. Yet, the expansion of access to higher education for social groups previously denied access and the massification of higher education has exposed complex issues of equity and equality of success and progress within a field. (Yudkevich, Altbac, Rumbley 2015, Eurydice 2022, Eggings 2019) The notion of education as a great equalizer for those from less advantaged socioeconomic backgrounds, racial minorities, and women has led to debates about equity, justice, and quality that question the conceptualization of quality, its mechanisms, and standards that explicitly or implicitly contribute to exclusion. One of the most important contemporary ideas challenging the concept of existing quality standards in academia and the perception of merit is gender equality. In recent decades, European Union policies have worked to strengthen diversity and inclusion, with gender equality increasingly treated as a priority issue in the last two decades, with a focus on institutional practices of gender equality in higher education, among others. (Gender Equality Strategy 2022 -2025).

In this paper, we present some of the issues related to gender equality/equality standards in higher education, highlighting the case of Slovenia, but also those that go beyond gender equality and highlight the need to rethink the mechanisms that determine the access and advancement of academic staff.

We use Bordieuan's (1977, 1988) theoretical apparatus to outline the equity/equality problem in education, the concept of the field to frame academic practices, and to understand the position of merit in higher education. We then discuss gender equity as a policy issue (in terms of quality assurance and standards) in higher education and in society in terms of its complex genealogy (Popkewitz 2016) in institutional, national, and cultural contexts.

Research Questions:

How do emerging calls for more equal and equitable scholarship correspond with existing quality mechanisms and standards for advancement to academic titles and academic positions?

How do gender and age support or hinder advancement in academic careers at the Faculty of Arts, College of Ljubljana?

The research presented here was partly part of the H2020 project Gearing roles (https://gearingroles.eu/project/).

The process of integration of the Ukrainian higher education system into the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) has a long history, primarily related not only to Eurointegration aspirations but also to the gradual adaptation of Ukrainian legislation to EU regulations. For aligning Ukraine's higher education and science legislation with that of the EU are primarily responsible the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine and the National Agency for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. In order to implement Ukraine's European integration commitments, such legal acts have been adopted, among others: Law of Ukraine "On Higher Education" (2014), "On Ratification of the Agreement between Ukraine and the European Union on the Participation of Ukraine in the European Union Framework Program for Scientific Research and Innovation "Horizon 2020" (2015), "On scientific and scientific-technical activities" (2015).

The Ukrainian higher education system has faced many challenges after the start of full-scale Russian aggression: damaged and destroyed educational institutions and infrastructure during the war, a decrease in funding of education and science, and relocation of participants of the educational process abroad, which led to a significant loss of students and teaching staff by Ukrainian universities. Nevertheless, on June 23, 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine candidate status for EU membership and noted the high level of sectoral integration of Ukrainian education and science. In Commission Opinion on Ukraine’s application for membership of the EU (European Commission, 2022) is emphasized that despite the sizable government spending in the sector (5.7% of GDP in 2021) and a ratio of gross enrolment in tertiary education of above 80%, the curricula and overall quality could be better aligned with labour market needs. Expenditure on research and development, which is mostly concentrated in the public sector and had been declining over the last ten years to below 0.5% in 2020, remained insufficient to heighten human capital in a sustainable way.

In order to improve the financial condition and increase the competitiveness of Ukrainian universities, the Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in Ukraine for 2022-2032 (Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 2022a) is implementing. This Strategy also includes the issue of Ukraine's integration into the EHEA. The Strategy provides a detailed roadmap for the reconstruction and continuation of the reforms of the higher education system in the war and the post-war periods. Implementation of the tasks set forth in the Strategy will help limit the devastating effects of a full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation. In addition, the Operational Plan for the implementation of this Strategy in 2022-2024 was approved (Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine, 2022b).

In issues of European integration, the experience of Poland, a country close to Ukraine in geographical, sociocultural, economic, and other aspects, is particularly relevant. In the early 1990s, Poland had a similar level of economic development, but currently, it has been a member of the EU and the European educational area for about 20 years.

The main research question of this paper is how to improve the Ukrainian higher education system and increase the possibilities of its integration into the EHEA? And how the Polish experience in this issue can help?

The main objectives are:

1) to conduct the comparative analysis of Ukrainian and Polish higher educational systems,

2) to analyse the Polish Eurointegration experience in the context of searching for possibilities of improvement of the Ukrainian higher education system,

3) to conduct the analysis the factors that hold back Ukraine's EU integration aspirations based on a survey of Ukrainian academic teachers,

4) to identify recommendations for integration into the EHEA and increasing the competitiveness of Ukrainian universities.

Education reforms in Central Asia aligned with SDG 4.5 aim to eliminate gender disparities and ensure equal access to education for the vulnerable, indigenous and persons with disabilities. Current assessment policy in Higher Education Institutions (HEI) in Central Asia, particularly in Tajikistan is going through a reform process.

The purpose of this study is to examine the perspectives of students and teachers of three universities about equity-minded assessment policy in higher education in Tajikistan. With this purpose in mind, the study will answer the following questions:

1) What are the perspectives of students and teachers regarding equity-minded assessment policy of students learning?

2) What are the assessment tools/methods used by teachers that include equity elements?

3) How is the assessment policy being experienced by students from diverse backgrounds such as gender, ethnicity, language, disability etc.?

For any form of assessment to be reflective of students, Montenegro & Jankowski (2017) propose equity-minded assessment as the solution. Equitable assessment oversees the possibility to give students opportunity to succeed regardless of gender, disability, ethnicity, and socio-economic wellbeing. The literature considered illustrates that the assessment process that does not include equity can contrarily promote inequities (Montenegro & Jankowski, 2020). Equity-minded assessment calls for main education stakeholders, those involved in policy development and policy implementation be aware of assessment either becoming a source of inequity or the route through which equity can be achieved. While serving a strong conceptual basis for the study, equity-minded concept lacks a political-economy lens. The author strives to combine the concept “equity-minded assessment” with the social justice theory of Nancy Fraser in this study. The theory of social justice based on Nancy Fraser’s 3Rs of learning education inequalities through analysing Redistribution, Recognition and Representation (Novelli, Cardozo, Smith, 2019) and the fourth “R” of Reconciliation added by M. Novelli, M.L.Cardozo and A. Smith is employed. The study will examine the opinions of students based on Redistribution checking whether: a) teachers and students have equitable access to assessment tools; b) resources are equally distributed to all students and teachers; c) tools of assessment ensure equitable outcomes for students. With the second “R” Recognition in mind, the study will check whether: a) the language of assessment is inclusive, understandable; b) gender and disability are considered in the assessment tools and methods (Montenegro, Jankowski); d) biases and subjectivity do not guide those conducting assessment (Heiser et al., 2017). The third “R” which stands for Representation will help to identify if: a) students and teachers’ voices and perspectives are heard and considered before designing an assessment policy and implementing it; b) the learning outcomes are developed based on the vision and understanding of teachers and students; c)the voices of those historically silenced (ethnic, gender, language, disability) minoritized groups are listened to and heard; c) decision making and university governance processes regarding learning outcomes and assessment involve multiple stakeholders (incl. teachers, students, families, students unions) and their voices. Finally, the fourth R of Reconciliation will direct the research focus to examine teachers and students’ opinions regarding: a) reconciling the historical experience of having been colonized and how it is reflected in the assessment policy; b) language reconciliation through assessment practices; c) the extent to which the assessment policy is trusted by the students and teachers; d) the content of the summative assessment tests and its compliance with the need and understanding of the students.