This paper investigates the emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education (HE), specifically in business schools. First, building on key contributions from economics, management studies, sociology, and HE research, we develop propositions on competition in HE and formulate our theoretical framework. Second, we apply…

Contemporary professional landscapes in classical music fields are rapidly changing and younger generations of musicians are confronting their creative careers, more often than not in connection to self-employment and freelancing. This narrative inquiry investigates the pathways and livelihoods of composers in a changing professional ecosystem…

The Math Kangaroo is one of the biggest international mathematics competitions. In Finland, the number of participants has been around 15,000 in recent years. In this research, we considered Finnish fourth to ninth graders' performance in the Math Kangaroo Finland 2011, 2015 and 2019. We investigated the following problems: What kind of…

In the past decades, the development of higher education institutions (HEIs) in industrialized countries has become intertwined with innovation policy and the goal of national competitiveness. Focusing on the discourses on innovation by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC), this article illustrates the transformation of Finnish higher…

This article explores the strategic external funding goals and plans of action of Finnish universities of applied sciences (UASs) as articulated in their institutional strategies using the ecology-of-games metaphor. UASs are pressured to expand external funding sources compared to their previous student number-based funding history. The UASs'…

The impact of stakeholders in the development of academic disciplines in higher education is a somewhat infrequently addressed topic in research. This article describes an institutional change and legitimacy formation process from a dialectical perspective by analysing organisational interpretations of and strategic responses to external pressures…

The Finnish financial autonomy reform pushed university leaders and academics to a juncture where they must navigate through increasing competition dynamics. Enabling the two types of organisational players -- foundation-run universities and universities under public law -- to become more autonomous and competitive was the major element of…

The quality of national education depends on many factors, which traditionally include adult literacy, the total share of students receiving general, secondary vocational and higher education, the level of the material and technical base, etc. Based on these factors, a list of leading countries by the level of education is formed. The authors…

With the rise of digital technologies, digital learning (DL) has created new opportunities and challenges for traditional education. This book aims to: (1) strengthen the mutual understanding and connection between Taiwan and other countries with high digital competitiveness in promoting DL in primary and secondary schools, so as to facilitate the…

Adapting the propositions and concepts of ethnolinguistic identity theory, the present paper examined the interactive effects of identification with English, interlanguage boundary, and the perceived ethnolinguistic vitality of English on mobilising efforts towards English, and competitive efforts against English as a third language among young…

When the need of transforming and remixing music education is illuminated, fields of tensions in relation to the traditional master-apprentice model of teaching often appear. Binaries have been constructed and critiqued in research to describe tensions at various music educational levels. Some studies have also asked for a holistic,…

Commercialization and commodification of higher education has been subjected to wide critique in academic literature. The relative privilege of academic professions seems to be on the decline, as universities are subjected to increasing competitive pressures -- pressures which these institutions pass on to academics. Academics experience a loss of…

The first half of this paper provides a historical overview of: (a) J. V. Snellman's philosophy of "sivistys"; and (b) its legacy on public policy in Finland. The second half discusses the findings of a qualitative study exploring contemporary understandings of the public good among Finnish policymakers and university staff. The dataset…

The present paper is a comparative examination of three European Commission (EC) countries' primary and elementary education curricula with the European Commission's Communication and its consequences for curriculum skills relating to children's lives as adults and workers. It is a documentary analysis of secondary sources of the texts of the…

The Finnish educational system is well known for its excellent learning results, highly trained teachers and egalitarian values. However, when the political leanings of the government change, its policies are usually altered as well. In this policy report we give an account of the recent changes and current trends in Finnish education policy. We…