Today as never before, it is imperative that university managers possess the knowledge and the competencies necessary for leading modern higher education institutions. Professional management enables higher education institutions to cooperate more effectively with partners ranging from local businesses to international enterprises and other stakeholders. As higher education institutions grow larger and extend their reach into new areas and the functions demanded of them multiply, academic administration and management become increasingly complex, thus, the need for skilled management and administrative personnel becomes more acute. This book emerged as the product of the European Higher Education Management and Development (EHEMD) project, a European multilateral curriculum development project under the coordination of the Danube University Krems and funded by the European Union in the framework of the Erasmus Lifelong Learning Programme. Focusing not only on theoretical points of view, but also on their practical applications as demonstrated in the accompanying case studies, the publication covers the key aspects of modern university management. The booklet is structured so that each chapter presents a particular aspect and application of university management and the entire volume reflects the core contents of the EHEMD curriculum. Can higher education management be taught? While we confidently say “yes!”, the answer needs some qualification. The “yes” applies because higher education management is no different from any other subject in the social sciences. The qualification is that a sound pedagogical philosophy and structure need to underpin such a programme. The fundamentals of the EHEMD programme are that it is interdisciplinary, that it is practice-oriented and that students learn from each other and also learn independently. With a strong emphasis on Central, Southern and Eastern Europe, this book addresses management challenges in higher education today and in the near future.

Future growth in the countries in Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECA) will increasingly depend on innovation. And innovation requires skills. This makes it important, as countries plan for recovery, to undertake reforms to reduce the skills shortages that the previous growth episode exposed. Education systems have a very important role to play in creating the right skills. But education systems in the region fall short of the demands of their economies in two major ways. The first is that despite high levels of enrollment they do not produce enough graduates with the right skills. Students graduate with diplomas, not with skills, because the quality of the education for many students is poor. In large part this is because education systems remain focused on providing an excellent education to a few at the expense of improving the quality of learning for the majority. Moreover, the systems are still making the transition from teaching the basics to inculcating higher order skills such as critical-thinking and problem solving. The second way in which education systems fall short is that outside of a few countries in the EU there are few opportunities for adults to retrain, or acquire new skills. This book argues that generating more of the right skills requires a fundamental change of approach in the education systems in the region so that they aim for, and deliver, higher quality education for the vast majority of students (“not just diplomas but skills”). To start with, education systems need to “turn the lights on” and take seriously the measurement of what students actually learn as opposed to measurement of the inputs into the education process on the implicit assumption that learning follows. Policy makers also need to move away from the focus on inputs and processes and increase the emphasis on incentives.

This book explores the practices and policies of human resource management (HRM) in higher education institutions (HEI), while also analyzing the governance and structural challenges. It explains the assessment of university as an organization, outlining the distinction between universities and firms from an HRM point of view by analysing various objectives, parameters and outcomes. The book broadly probes the relevance of HRM systems in HEIs in India and their potential impact. It also examines whether existing HRM practices and policies in HEIs in India drive motivation and enable employees to perform their functions to achieve the highest possible levels of excellence. It explores whether the enhanced motivation of employees consistently impacts students, their placements, progress to higher education, and quality teaching and research output. To strengthen the research output, to better understand the functioning of HRM practices in foreign HEIs and for comparative reasons, the book also studies HEIs in the United States against a diverse set of HEIs in India. It concludes by highlighting the impact of India’s National Education Policy 2020 and its scope to transform and professionalise the higher education system in the country. The book is indispensable for researchers in education management and policy studies and those in governing positions in higher education institutions. It is also a valuable resource for regulatory and government bodies, and policy-formulating think tanks in South Asia which have a similar education system as India.

Biographical note: Catharina Bjørkquist is an associate professor in Political Science at Østfold University College in Halden, Norway. Stakeholder Regimes in Higher Education - Old Ideas in New Bottles? is a revised version of her doctoral thesis, Karlstad University, Sweden, 2009.

This book is a continuation of our recently published book “Algebraic formalization of smart systems. Theory and practice.” It incorporates a new concept of quasi-fractal algebraic systems, based on A.I. Maltsev’s theory of algebraic systems and the theory of fractals developed by Benoit Mandelbrot, to investigate smart systems in more detail. The main tool used in the book, quasi-fractal algebraic systems, helps us to see smart systems in more detail by adding new factors, which e.g. make it possible to describe the previously indivisible elements of the initial model of factors. The techniques presented include fixed-point theorem, theorems of group theory, theory of Boolean algebras, and Erdös-Renyi algorithms. Given its focus, the book is intended for anyone interested in smart system theory.

This book covers the proceedings from the 2016 International Symposium on Chaos, Complexity and Leadership, and reflects current research results of chaos and complexity studies and their applications in various fields. Included are research papers in the fields of applied nonlinear methods, modeling of data and simulations, as well as theoretical achievements of chaos and complex systems. Also discussed are leadership and management applications of chaos and complexity theory.