In the United States, in statehouse after statehouse, funding for higher education continues to be cut. Debates in Washington continue—and include proposals to cut funding for Pell Grants and for subsidies of student loans while students are in college. (To his credit, President Obama seemed to draw a line in the sand on this latest proposal, saying he wasn’t “going to take money from old people and screw students.”)
Reflecting on this dismal state of affairs in light of my recent study tour of EU universities, I can’t help but note that European higher education faces similar challenging circumstances. And the irony is that, both in Europe and in the United States, despite the storm clouds, amazing progress is also being made to “modernize” higher education systems, clarify what different degrees mean in terms of levels of learning and essential learning outcomes, and improve curricula and teaching methods to ensure that students graduate with the ability to innovate and continue learning over the course of their lives. (More on these positive efforts in future blog posts).
On the funding front, however, two serious breaking news events influenced the tenor of discussions during my recent trip to Europe, in which I learned about the latest European Union efforts related to higher education in a study tour sponsored by the European Centre for Strategic Management of Universities.
First, continuing concerns about the state of the Greek economy and the long-term health of the Euro as a common currency dominated the news in Europe. Second, England released while I was in Glasgow its new policies related to allowing colleges and universities to charge tuition to students and opening up the higher education market to for-profits and other providers. (Scotland, interestingly enough, seems to be holding out—refusing to charge tuition at least to Scottish citizens attending Scottish universities.)
The current fiscal crises could have a serious impact on Europe’s ability to continue its movement to improve, grow, and harmonize its higher education systems. Leaders I met with were even concerned about support for the larger project of the European Union—which, of course, was motivated not just by economic competitiveness but by shared values of liberty, democracy and human rights, and a desire to become a world model for advancing peace and democracy across national divides.
As part of this larger EU project, higher education leaders across Europe have, in fact, been working at least for a decade to increase access to and mobility across higher education systems in an overarching program focused on growth, jobs, and social cohesion. In 2009, they strengthened these efforts with a strategic framework for European cooperation in education and training (ET 2020) sponsored by EU member states and the European Commission. As one European higher education leader, Laureano Gonzalez Vega from ANECA (the Spanish National Agency for Quality Assessment and Accreditation), described it, the ET 2020 approach “recognizes that high quality pre-primary, primary, secondary, higher and vocational education and training are fundamental to Europe’s success. However, in a rapidly changing world, lifelong learning needs to be a priority—it is the key to employment, economic success and allowing people to participate fully in society.” One can find similar lofty language in pronouncements from our own President Obama as he continues to argue for greater investments in education—and especially higher education and additional training for returning adult students—to help fuel economic recovery and long-term vitality in the twenty-first century. But—both in Europe and the United States—where is the money to support these efforts?
Here in the states, tuitions keep rising and public support keeps falling. In Europe, of course, there is a long tradition of higher education being fully supported by the state, at least for the smaller proportion of students in higher education. The Greek constitution, in fact, guarantees that higher education will be free to Greek citizens. One wonders where Greece will get the money to continue this commitment. And it is entirely unclear where European countries, many of which face dramatic fiscal crises, will find the money to continue their own generous policies, never mind supporting expanded access to more citizens, however essential that is deemed to be for economic growth. There is very little appetite in either Europe or the United States for increasing taxes in order to fund higher education institutions.
The EU has four long-term strategic objectives for its higher education and training policies—and they sound pretty good to me:
•making lifelong learning and mobility a reality
•improving the quality and efficiency of education and training
•promoting equity, social cohesion, and active citizenship
•enhancing creativity and innovation, including entrepreneurship, at all levels of education and training.
But, either in Europe or the United States, how can we mobilize citizens and their elected leaders to devise a way to actually finance institutions to achieve these goals? I personally have no problem with individuals (students and their parents) shouldering some of the responsibility for the cost of higher education, but surely the state also has a continued interest in increasing the educational attainment of all our citizens—even those who lack the ability to pay high tuition bills. AAC&U continues to try to make the case for the increasing importance of college to our economy and our shared futures. We also do our best to explain the ever more important role of liberal education in helping prepare students for innovation, change, and responsible citizenship. But we need more voices making the case to citizens, policymakers, and leaders across both sides of the pond.