Flash Eurobarometer on Higher Education Reform

A recent Flash Eurobarometer (March 2007) was carried out between the 23rd of January and 23rd of February 2007, with respones from almost 5,800 randomly-selected teaching professionals of higher education institutions in the 27 Member States of the EU, Croatia, Iceland, Norway and Turkey.

This is a useful background perspective to the post-doc panel in the Geary Universities Study. The full Eurobarometer report is available here, and a summary here. Some of the key points are:

• Irish teaching professionals are the most likely (82%) to believe that first cycle graduates will find a suitable job; whereas only 34% of respondents in Italy believe this to be the case.
• Respondents in the fields of engineering and economic studies are the most likely to say that first cycle graduates will find a suitable job (61% and 64%, respectively), while respondents in the fields of social sciences and other hard sciences are more inclined to say that first cycle graduates should follow a Master programme before entering the labour market.
• Almost three out of four teaching professionals agree that study and training programmes should encompass more generic competences, such as communication, teamwork and entrepreneurship, and be adapted to meet labour market needs in a better way.
• Respondents agree that student mobility should be an obligatory part in the curriculum for doctoral candidates (65%) and for students in general (58%).
• Three out of four respondents agree that partnerships with businesses will reinforce universities, and 68% think that competition between universities will lead to better quality.
• Slightly less than three out of four respondents agree that private funding would help universities to gain extra income and to perform better and 68% also agree that student fees are an acceptable source of extra income for universities.
• Teaching professionals in engineering and economic studies are the most likely to agree that partnerships with businesses will reinforce universities.