Systems of higher education: a comparative institutional analysis

Abstract

The institutional elements of the system of higher education (HE) in Ukraine have been studied on the basis of concepts of comparative analysis and institutional complementarity of socioeconomic systems (SES). The research of B. Clark which contains a comprehensive analysis of a special nature of the HE system, the achievements of the French Regulation School, the concepts of the Variety of Capitalism, Institutional Matrices, Institutional Complementarity have been used as a theoretical basis. The theoretical principles of the institutional architectonics of SES as a complementary integrity have been defined. The fundamental principles of the complementary comparative analysis of the institutional models of HE have been presented. The elements of the institutional architectonics of HE in Ukraine have been described. On the nanolevel, the specificity of such elements as needs, styles of thought, values, individual knowledge, institutional forms and functions, collective conventions have been researched. Their influence on the formation of institutes of HE has been traced. Attention has been focused on the peculiar impact of socio-cultural factors on the formation of the HE institutional structure. The findings of the research on the Ukrainian students' system of values according to G. Hofstede's method have been presented. The socio-cultural origins of the difference between the English-American and the European models of HE have been demonstrated with the concept of campus taken as an example. Its role as an instrument of the "lateral study" initially oriented to the assistance in the achievement of the primary objective of teaching in a college, i.e. "character forming", the development of personality of a student has been described. The parallel division of HE into disciplines and departments has been presented. The interrelation and complementarity of the elements of the institutional block of teaching and training of personnel with other institutional blocks of SES have been analyzed. At the level of basic institutes, the perquisites for the formation of HE specificity of SES and their association in the socio-economic model (the model of capitalism) have been traced. The preconditions for the integration of the Ukrainian HE system in the global educational space and limitations on this integration have been shown.