ICHER International Conferences on Higher Education Reform
Over the last several decades, HERC has been actively involved in a series of International Conferences on Higher Education Reform (ICHER) and hosted this conference in Dublin City University, Ireland in 2016. Eight of the conferences have taken place in North America (Canada [3], the US [2] and Mexico [2]), four in Europe (Austria, Ireland, Germany, and Slovenia), and four in Asia (two each in Japan and China).
Further information about ICHER, previous conferences and publications, and the International Scientific Committee can be found below.
Themes: The conferences have covered various topics, ranging from internationalization and marketization to issues of institutional governance (see table below). The major papers from the conferences have been published, either in the form of monographs, special issues of academic journals, or as individual articles or chapters. Organizers served also as editors, with occasional help from members of the International Advisory Board.
Format: A key aim of the series is to facilitate engagement and intensive dialogue on the topic at hand. For this reason, while attendance is open to all interested parties, the target number of participants is usually relatively small (c75-100). Participants include post-secondary education researchers, both professors and graduate students, policy analysts and representatives of HE ministries or policy bodies. A strength of the conference series is the opporunity it offers for cumulative discussions over the years- there is usually a body of around 25 to 30 people, who have attended most of the workshops.
Financing: The conferences are self-financing, i.e. financed through participants’ fees. On several occasions, local organizers have attracted external contributions in the form of grants from research councils, governments, or the hosting institution. Because conferences are held on campus, the fees are usually fairly low (on average between US $ 120 and 150). There are different fees for various categories of participants, such as for grad students, emeriti or early registrants.
Co-sponsorship: HER conferences have been co-sponsored by learned societies in various countries (for example the [North American] Comparative and International Education Society [CIES] and the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education [CSSHE]). While this has meant greater dissemination of the call for papers and higher visibility of the HER-conferences and the publications emanating from them, it has not generated direct contributions to the funding.
Organization: The conferences s are organized by local teams of the hosting institution. They are assisted by members of an international advisory board (IAB), for example with advertising the workshop in their respective countries or regions, identifying and providing contact with potential keynote speakers and principal panelists, adjudicating paper proposals, and suggesting themes, and workshop-related events as well as potential publishers for the proceedings,
Dates: The workshops were usually held in the late summer or beginning of the autumn, depending on the availability of staff, rooms, and speakers.
Previous ICHER conferences - Venues, Themes and Publications
(please scroll to the right to see the full table)
|
Year |
Place |
Main theme(s) |
Publication of proceedings |
|
Sept 2020 |
Glasgow (Glasgow U) |
Sustainable Development Goals: Their potential and relevance for HE education policy and reform |
POSTPONED to a later date due to COVID pandemic |
|
Sept 2019 |
Mexico City (CINESTAV – DIE), conference website here |
Digitalization of Higher Education: Impact and Consequences for Policy |
De Vries, W., Alvarez Mendiola, G. & H.G. Schuetze (Eds. forthcoming) |
|
2018 |
Baltimore (Johns Hopkins U) USA, conference website here |
Reinventing the public mission of Higher Education: Policies and practice |
Papadimitriou, A. & Boboc, M. (Eds. 2020) Re-envisioning Higher Education’s Public Mission - Global Perspectives. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-55716-4 |
|
2017 |
Hiroshima (RIHE Hiroshima U), Japan, conference website here |
Assessing the missions of Higher Education: Performance, productivity, and pedagogies |
Futao Huang, Jun Oba (Eds. 2019), Special Issue, Research in Higher Education (Daigaku Ronshu), Hiroshima: Research Institute for Higher Education, HiroshimaU. |
|
2016 |
Dublin (DCU) Ireland, conference website here |
Wider Access, Changing Demographics and Migration: Implications for HE Reforms and Policy |
Slowey, M., Schuetze, H.G. & Zubrzycki, T.) (Eds. 2020): Inequality, Innovation and Reform in Higher Education - Challenges of Migration and Ageing Populations. Cham (CH): Springer. https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-28227-1 |
|
2015 |
Tianjin (Tianjin Normal U), China |
Policies and Practice of Quality Assurance and Control in Higher Education |
Selected papers published in Frontiers of Education in China (Springer) 2018, vol. 13 no.2: https://link.springer.com/journal/11516/13/2 |
|
2014 |
Memorial U, St. John’s, NL (Canada) |
Higher Education and its Principal Mission: Preparing Students for Life, Work, and Civic Engagement |
Archer, W. & H.G. Schuetze (Eds. 2019): Preparing Students for Life and Work: Policies and Reforms Affecting Higher Education’s Principal Mission. Rotterdam and Boston: Sense-Brill https://brill.com/view/title/54347 |
|
2013 |
Ljubljana (U Ljubljana), Slovenia, conference website here |
HE Reforms: Looking Back – Looking Forward |
Zgaga, P., Teichler, U., Schuetze, H.G., & A. Wolter (Eds. 2nd ed. 2019): Higher Education Reform: Looking back - Looking forward. Frankfurt/New York: Peter Lang, https://www.peterlang.com/document/1049323 |
|
2012 |
Pittsburgh U Pittsburgh), USA |
Community Engagement of Universities |
Jacob,W.J., Sutin,S.E., Weidman, J.C. & John L. Yeager (Eds.) (2015): Community Engagement in Higher Education - Policy Reforms and Practice, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, https://brill.com/view/title/36775 |
|
2011 |
Berlin (Humboldt U), Germany |
Universities and Lifelong Learning |
[Publ. together with HER 10 (Ljubljana) publ., 2015, 2nd ed. 2019] |
|
2010 |
Vancouver (UBC), Canada |
Reform of University Governance |
Schuetze, H. G., Bruneau, W., & G. Grosjean. (Eds.): University governance and reform - Policy, fads, and experience in international perspective. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9781137040107 |
|
2009 |
Mexico City (CINESTAV – DIE), Mexico |
The Changing Roles of State and Markets in HE |
Schuetze, H. G., & Alvarez Mendiola, G. (Eds. 2012): State and market in higher education reforms. Trends, policies and experiences in comparative perspective. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, https://brill.com/view/title/37567 |
|
2008 |
Shanghai (East China Normal U), China |
Internationalization of HE |
Special Issue of Journal of Higher Education (Oct. 2008) |
|
2007 |
Dublin (DCU), Ireland, conference website here |
Innovations in Teaching and Learning |
Special Issue of Journal of Adult and Continuing Education (JACE), (2009) vol 15 Nr. 2, https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/adua/15/2 |
|
2006 |
Tokyo (U Tsukuba), Japan |
Higher Education reforms in Japan and various other countries |
Special Issue of Journal for University Studies Nr 35 (2007) |
|
2004 |
Vienna (U Klagenfurt), Austria |
Various themes incl. the changing state – HE relation, collaboration with the private sector, |
[Major papers were published on the workshop website (no longer available)] |
|
2003 |
Vancouver (UBC), Canada |
(Paired comparison of) Reforms of Higher Education in Six Countries, various themes |
Special Issue of Canadian Journal of Higher Education (2004). vol 34 Nr. 3, https://journals.sfu.ca/cjhe/index.php/cjhe/issue/view/Volume%2034,%20issue%203 |
ICHER International Advisory Board:
Name |
Position, Title |
Affiliation |
Abebaw Yirga Adamu |
Associate Professor and Director |
Ethiopian Institute for Higher Education, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia |
Germán Alvarez Mendiola (Co-coordinator) |
Professor and Head of Department |
Department of Education Research, Centre for Research and Advanced Studies (CINVESTAV), Mexico City, Mexico |
Isak Davidovich Froumin |
Professor |
Higher School of Economics, Moscow, Russia |
Gaële Goastellec |
Professor |
Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, University of Lausanne, Switzerland |
Futao Huang |
Professor |
Research Institute in Higher Education, Hiroshima University, Japan |
Anna Kosmützky |
Professor |
Center for Science and Society, Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany |
Mei Li |
Associate Professor |
East China Normal University, Shanghai, China |
Antigoni Papadimitriou |
Associate Professor |
Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY, USA |
Hans G. Schuetze (Co-coordinator) |
Professor Emeritus; former Director, Centre for Policy Studies in Higher Education and Training |
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada |
Rob Shea |
Associate Vice President Academic, |
Memorial University, St. John's, Canada |
Maria Slowey (Co-coordinator) |
Professor and Director, Higher Education Research Centre |
Dublin City University, Dublin, Ireland |
Hilligje Van’t Land |
Secretary General |
International Association of Universities (IAU), Paris, France |
Andrä Wolter |
Professor Emeritus |
Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany |
Shinichi Yamamoto |
Professor Emeritus |
Oberlin University, Tokyo, Japan |
Pavel Zgaga |
Professor and Director, Center for Educational Policy Studies |
Ljubljana University, Slovenia |
Ran Zhang |
Associate Professor |
Peking University, Beijing, China |