Higher Education Approaches the 21st Century: New Perspectives on Nonuniversities.

Overview & Synopsis

The nonuniversity represents one of the most important trends in postsecondary education worldwide. Whether part of two- or three-tiered educational systems, nonuniversities offer certificates and diplomas in semiprofessional, technical, and vocational fields, and increasingly provide continuing, lifelong education. Such short-term, short-cycle colleges and institutes are sponsored by many of the approximately 180 sovereign nations of the world. These institutions, including American and Canadian community colleges, the French instituts universitaires technologiques, the regional college system in Norway, Japan's junior colleges, and to a certain extent, the British further education colleges, are slowly gaining higher education status. Distance learning is a common characteristic of short-term, short-cycle nonuniversities. The structures and patterns of higher education around the world include the following: (1) in Belaras, a network of post-diploma courses involving commercial cooperatives emphasize specialist upgrading in programs lasting from 1 month to over a year; (2) in Ukraine, junior specialist courses are now part of multi-stage reforms; (3) Kazakhstan has a number of new institutions for upgrading technical skills, including teaching; (4) Bulgaria is developing three-year postsecondary schools; (5) Albania recently announced 10 Fulbright-Hays awards for 1994-95; (6) the extension of the nonuniversity concept is under heavy debate in central and eastern European countries, with major reforms appearing as national policy statements; (7) in Japan, formal higher education is provided at universities and junior/technical colleges, while nonformal adult education is provided at "grand schools" and specialized technical schools; and (8) after 30 years of a three-tier plan, higher education in Australia has been replaced by a duo track system of universities and technical and further education colleges. Other countries discussed in the paper include Russia, Slovenia, Germany, Hungary, Czech and Slovak Federal Republics, Taiwan, Korea, New Zealand, Great Britain, and Mexico. (KP)