Book chapter
A Proposal to Assess Civic Capacities in Higher Education: A Case from the Western Balkans – North Macedonia
Engagement with Sustainable Development in Higher Education, pp.209-226
Sustainable Development Goals Series, Springer International Publishing
08/23/2022
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-07191-1_14
Abstract
In working to achieve member status in the European Union, the Republic of North Macedonia seeks to institutionalize infrastructures of democracy. To date, few initiatives have considered how universities in North Macedonia prepare students for citizenship and social responsibility. Our research team of international collaborators has developed the ACE-HES survey to assess the relationship between higher education and democracy for the purpose of building national and regional civic capacities. Our survey represents one of the first of its kind because it addresses civic phenomenon at the postsecondary level of education. By highlighting the civic dimensions of higher education, our work constitutes a shift towards pursuing university reform through a cultural approach involving data and organizational sense-making. We describe the background foundations of the survey constructs and the framework. We also describe an assessment approach involving a whole-of-the-university approach (students, faculty, management) to foster collective commitments to democratic values and actions. While this project is situated in North Macedonia, it has been designed to be elaborated more broadly to other countries in the Western Balkans - a part of the world where democracy is relatively young and fragile, and university quality is inconsistent. Moreover, we present an approach that ties educational quality to democratic values through the mechanism of a nation’s enduring institutions – universities – with the ambition to strengthen the civil and higher education sectors simultaneously.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- A Proposal to Assess Civic Capacities in Higher Education: A Case from the Western Balkans – North Macedonia
- Creators
- Cassie L. Barnhardt - University of IowaArtan Limani
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Publication Details
- Engagement with Sustainable Development in Higher Education, pp.209-226
- Series
- Sustainable Development Goals Series
- DOI
- 10.1007/978-3-031-07191-1_14
- eISSN
- 2523-3092
- ISSN
- 2523-3084
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing; Cham
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 08/23/2022
- Academic Unit
- Educational Policy and Leadership Studies; Public Policy Center (Archive)
- Record Identifier
- 9984285549902771
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