Project Leader

Makó, Csaba

Consortium members

• Universitat di Barcelona – Laureano Jiménez Esteller
• Radboud University Nijmegen – Erik de Gier
• Universitá di Modena and Reggio Emilia – Michele Mariani
• Universitet Łodzki – Agnieszka Dzierdziczak-Foltyn
• Navreme – Bernd Baumgartl
• Institute of Sociology, HAS, Budapest– Makó, Csaba

 

Participants (Institute of Sociology, HAS)

Makó, Csaba
Csizmadia, Péter
Illéssy, Miklós

The research

The core aim of the NESOR project is to investigate the positive and negative impacts of the Bologna-process and to indicate the new role and function of the higher education institutions in the context of changing European social model. The research concentrates on the following questions: 1.) The European Knowledge Society (KS) and the related old and new (demographic, labour market, educational, economic and social) risks and the social policies targeted to eliminate them. 2.) The influence of the institutional environment of the various European countries on the KS and related risks. 3.) Paradigmatic change from education to learning: the didactical methods aiming the development of learning capabilities. 4.) The role and profile of the higher education institutions in increasing equal opportunities and in sustaining social cohesion.
As professional coordinator of the WS3 work package in the NESOR project we elaborated the relevant research guideline. In 2007 intensive fieldwork was carried out as follows: 1.) Semi-structured in-depth interviews were conducted with 22 stakeholders: higher education representatives, education experts and various representatives of employers. (2) Systematic press review was prepared on the debate concerning the transformation of higher education system in Hungary. (3) We reviewed and analysed the international literature and research results on the performance of the European higher education systems. (4) 4 focus groups and 1 national conference were organised with Hungarian stakeholders in the field of higher education in cooperation with the University of Debrecen, Faculty of Economics. Besides the activities presented above we compiled national reports in the framework of the work packages WS2 and WS3 (‘Knowledge Society and higher education’ and ‘European Social Models and higher education’). Following that we completed an international comparative analysis on the interrelations between the various European social models and the changing higher education institutions.