Innovation and higher education

AuszugEurope is facing enormous socio-economic and unprecedented demographic challenges in the context of the global financial crisis and the ensuing recession, including regional disparities, aging populations, high rates of low-skilled adults and of youth unemployment, low birth rates, changing family structures and migration in the context of volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. In the light of these challenges innovation has become a major engine of economic expansion and social development as innovation contributes to the creation of new and better jobs in new industries and offers potential solutions for the quality, maintenance and sustainable development of public services, social-security and health-care systems. Education is the key factor in supporting innovation for sustainable economic growth and social cohesion. Particularly, higher education is at the heart of change of the society and within the society. In its turn, innovation contributes to higher education by teaching knowledge and skills, creating new knowledge and supporting partnerships and lifelong learning. Current debates about innovation in higher education are concerned with diversity in terms of scientific and theoretical fundamentals, complexity of prevailing concepts and current practical applications in the context of the rapidly changing landscape of the university system. Efforts of modern research reveal that higher education is currently generated by the transition from opportunity to choose towards qualities and purposes in the context of higher education globalization and internationalization. This shift changes the nature of higher education. For the development of higher education in Europe social nature of change has become dominant. Social nature of change in higher education is mediated via the System-Constructivist Theory introduced as New or Social Constructivism Pedagogical Theory. The System-Constructivist Theory implies the dialectical principle of the unity of opposites that contributes to the understanding of the relationship between external (social, social interaction, teaching, etc) and internal (individual, cognitive activity, learning, etc) perspectives as the synthesis of external and internal perspectives. In comparison, the Constructivism Theory focuses on learning and, consequently, the internal perspective, the Social Constructivist theory – on teaching and, consequently, external perspective as well as on the balance between teaching and learning and, consequently, the balance between the external and internal perspectives. This book draws implications for innovation development in higher education by bringing together the theoretical analysis and evidence based research on higher education transition from reflexology and behaviorism to educational innovations in teacher professionalisation at tertiary level, creativity, shift from basic skills to key competences, efficiency of curriculum, quality of assessment and other issues. The book comprises four chapters. Each chapter includes four contributions.