Finland’s Aalto University (est. 2010): institutionalizing interdisciplinary thinking for innovation in the knowledge economy

Yesterday’s Financial Times included an informative story (‘Merger with innovation at its heart‘) on the development process of Aalto University in Finland.  Aalto University is being created through the merger of three existing institutions – the Helsinki School of Economics, the University of Art and Design Helsinki and the Helsinki University of Technology – and [...]

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Graphic feed: OECD reviews of higher education in regional and city development (2004-2010)

Source: OECD (2009) Higher education in regional and city development, accessed 30 March 2009. Note: green indicates completed reviews; pink indicates ongoing or committed reviews in near future.

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The Bologna Process – 2010 and beyond

Source: ‘The Bologna Process and Implications for Canada’s Universities‘, Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada International Meeting, 26-27 January 2009.

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University associations and the enhancement of capabilities for a globalizing era

I recently returned from Prague, where I attended the 5th annual conference of the European University Association (EUA).  It was very well run by the EUA, professionally hosted by Charles University (Universitas Carolina), and the settings (Charles University, Municipal Hall, Prague Castle) were breathtaking. My role was to contribute to EUA deliberations on the theme [...]

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Collapsing branch campuses: time for some collective action?

The process of denationalization, which Saskia Sassen amongst others has been attempting to analyze, is clearly not a seamless process, even when implemented by well-resourced institutions and knowledgeable people. While Sassen’s main concern is with the denationalizing impulse within nation-states (e.g., ministries), denationalization is also associated with pushes beyond the national scale by institutions in [...]

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