SPECIAL ISSUE(Forthcoming/2024)

How do students from the new member states learn?

The papers examine how the digitalization process has entered the EU Studies curricula(and connected fields) in universities in the new member states to boost the critical competencies of the students. It aims to map the state of play in universities from the new member states(Romania and Bulgaria) and to explore the pedagogies employed to enhance the transversal and professional skills of the students.

Selected papers are published in the Journal of Legal Education and Political Education

RESEARCH ACTIVITY

The new EU member states and the issue of digital technology in higher education. Evidence from the field of EU Integration Studies

This research activity which will be carried out throughout the three years of the Jean Monnet grant aims to map the state of play in the universities involved in this project in stimulating the adoption of strategies, policies and measures meant to reinforce digital teaching and learning.

Abstract of research:

The Digitalisation of Higher Education. Evidence from the new member states

Introduction:

Why is the digitalisation process such a challenging endeavour? Different authors pinpoint that although universities have already designed digitalisation strategies, they lack ”vision, capability or commitment”. Especially in the case of universities from Central and Eastern Europe, which mostly adopted digitalisation strategies for the first time as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, this can be a challenging process, as they can lack the expertise. Other authors emphasise that universities can be averse to change(Iftode 2020, 236). Considering that digitalisation is not only a technical process but it has a large-scale impact, affecting a variety of actors, from students, teaching, research and administrative staff, it is not surprising that they could manifest resistance to change, as students and teachers will have to adapt to new learning environments and face the challenge of adopting new pedagogies or embedding the use of digital technologies in teaching and learning. This can particularly raise issues for poorly skilled students and teaching staff. Thus, digitalisation can be perceived as a ”disruptive process”(Kopp, Gröblinger, și Adams 2019, 1448).

Sometimes, there has not been pressure to change from students or teaching. That was mostly the case before the pandemic and before the EU prioritising digital policy, which has implications for education.

Although addressed by a consistent body of scholarly works, the digitalisation of higher education is not explored sufficiently in single or comparative case studies of how universities have navigated their digital transformation, with the area of Central and Eastern Europe scarcely covered. Why Romania and Bulgaria? First, both countries share similar stories regarding digitalisation capacity, whether it is about the digitalisation of public services or the digital fluency of their citizens measured in terms of basic or more advanced digital skills, thus confirming their laggard reputation in the area of digitalisation. Second, they share similar educational systems also in terms of the quality of the teaching and research programs, with digitalisation impacting superficially the policies and teaching and research programs of the universities. As a result, it deserves to investigate the response of the new joiners to the initiatives formulated by the European Union as the academic literature poorly covers these countries in the area of European policies. 

Although there is a consistent body of scholarly research, empirical evidence from Central and Eastern European universities on the digitalisation of higher education focusing on teaching and learning is scarce.

This paper starts from the argument that the digitalisation of higher education is the result of a multi-level governance system top-down regulatory approach: the EU, member states and universities.

The article will be published in the Journal of Legal Education and Political Education