Exploring the Communist Higher Education System. Contributions towards a Theoretical Framework

• Authors: Bogdan Florian
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

‘The combination of education with industrial production’ made the top 10 list of measures which have to be implemented in countries where the proletariat will raise as the ruling class, according to Marx’s Communist Manifesto. It is ranked at the end of the list of necessary steps to achieve a new social order, however it endured and, in a slightly modified form it even exists today in higher education reform strategies. To which extent has this ideological prescription been followed and inspired political measures? This paper aims at proposing a few steps in creating a theoretical framework for analysis of the role of higher education in the communist system. I will use an institutionalist approach to explore where higher education can be placed, in the larger context of the communist system. I will try and adapt to this topic the system paradigm proposed by János Kornai and explore higher education as a component of the larger communist system. Was it the universities’ mission to produce an able workforce for the industrial development? Was there another scientific or ideological mission equally important? How well did the communist central planning system perform in matching industrial demand and educational production? These are some key questions to which this exploration aims at finding a framework for answering.

Keywords

EN

communist system; higher education planning; command economy; János Kornai

• Publisher: Sciendo
• Journal: International Review of Social Research
• Year: 2014
• Volume: 4
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 5-24

Dates

published

2014-06-01

online

2015-05-06

Contributors

author

Bogdan Florian

• National University of Political Science and Public Administration Institute for Education Sciences

References

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• Murgescu, B. (2010) România și Europa. Acumularea decalajelor economice (1500 – 2010). Iași: Polirom.
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• Sadlak, J. (1986) ‘Comparing Higher Education Planning Approaches in Western and Eastern Europe’. European Journal of Education, 21(4): 397-408
• Sadlak, J. (1994) ‘The Emergence of a Diversified System: the state/private predicament in transforming higher education in Romania’. European Journal of Education, 29(1): 13-23[Crossref]
• Sora, A. F. (2011) Evoluţia calificărilor din învăţământul universitar românesc 1968-2011. (consulted November, 2013).

Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/irsr-2014-0008