My University: Rijksuniversiteit Groningen (RuG)
CNN has an interesting article up – at least for me, being a student myself at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen – about the fear of the “Americanization of higher education” in Europe:
German universities are trying to charge tuition. Paris schools are considering selection instead of open admission. Dutch colleges are pushing students to finish faster. Greece wants to lift a ban on private universities.
Change is rattling Europe’s temples of learning.
Resistance remains fierce, driven by fears of the “Americanization” — or commercialization — of higher education.
But economic realities are overpowering those who maintain that universities should impart universal knowledge, not pave the way to a job. Too many European graduates are getting welfare checks instead of paychecks.Europe’s universities don’t provide the skills and research needed to help the continent prosper and compete with rapidly growing economies in Asia and elsewhere, according to international rankings, school presidents, students and European Union officials.
The article goes on to describe that the quality of European Universities is declining. With that I agree. At least, when talking with people who studied say 20 or 30 years ago, it seems to be true that the quality has – in certain respects at least – not improved.
Some of you may remember my posts about the Nobel Prizes this year. As I wrote, the fact that America won everything and – logically – Europe won nothing, worried me.
The American sweep of this year’s science and economics Nobel prizes is likely to sharpen the debate.
It seems that other Western European countries should look at Britain and, quite simply, copy-cat. Britain has adopted more American policies regarding Universities and it is paying off.
Obviously, I am with those who say that we have to reform our system (in the Netherlands). We are a small country, we can only compete with other countries in the long run in one area: knowledge. We have to be more knowledgable, better educated and more innovative than foreigners.
