This series of International Workshops on University Reforms brings together researchers and policy makers interested or involved with different dimensions of change and reform in higher education. Previous workshops in this series have taken place in Vancouver (University of British Columbia), Vienna (University of Klagenfurt), and Tokyo (University of Tsukuba). The fourth workshop will take place in Dublin, September 1-2, 2007, organized back to back with the Annual Conference of the Consortium of Higher Education Researchers in Europe (CHER – August 30-Sept 1). The Workshop will be hosted by Dublin City University, the youngest and most innovative of the three public universities in Dublin.

Higher education reforms are triggered by a number of factors, both external and internal, including economic globalization and the emergence of markets for higher education, the changing relationship between universities and the state, the move from ‘mass’ to ‘universal’ higher education, the commercialization of university research, and the call for greater institutional autonomy, efficiency and accountability. The earlier workshops focused on several of these themes.

The Dublin Workshop will concentrate on the implications of these developments for the interests of the key participants in, and primary clients of, higher education: students and prospective students. The Workshop will particularly focus on developments and policies, both governmental and institutional, that aim at (1) widening access to degree studies and innovating curricula, (2) improving teaching and learning conditions for students to acquire relevant knowledge and skills and complete their studies, and (3) evaluating teaching methods, management and outcomes.