The Limits of Institutional Reflexivity in Bulgarian Universities
- PDF / 108,796 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 468 x 680 pts Page_size
- 45 Downloads / 209 Views
The Limits of Institutional Reflexivity in Bulgarian Universities Snejana Slantcheva 7 Doiran Street, apt. 6, 2700 Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. E-mail: [email protected]
This article focuses on the notion of institutional reflexivity. Its theoretical framework is based on the views of a group of sociologists — Anthony Giddens, Ulrich Beck, Scott Lash — who developed the concept of reflexive modernization. The article applies the notion of institutional reflexivity to the field of higher education and reviews the limits to this capacity in Bulgarian universities. Higher Education Policy (2004) 17, 257–268. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300057 Keywords: reflexivity; higher education policy; Bulgaria; institutional reform; decision-making; institutional evaluation
Introduction It is ancient wisdom that the road towards self-improvement passes through selfknowledge. The ability to reflect on one’s self and one’s actions has been illustrated well by the German philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte in his image: seeing yourself seeing it. However, the challenge of reflexivity is not posed only for the individual; it is no less true for institutions. According to the German sociologist Ulrich Beck, our age of ‘reflexive modernization’, institutions can no longer rely on the unreflected habits of tradition. Instead, we must learn to monitor their actions through expert systems of scientific knowledge. At the heart of his idea was the optimistic belief that, in the uncertain contemporary economic, political and cultural environment, critical consideration of one’s actions and circumstances promises to provide individuals and institutions with the means to produce more adequate responses to the challenges of the times and to shape their future creatively. Institutional reflexivity, or the ability of institutions to generate knowledge, reflexively appropriated, and use it towards continuous improvement, thus becomes indispensable for modern organizations. Institutional reflexivity is also an inherent feature of modern higher education organizations. Modern universities find themselves in a complex environment. The critical factors of change include economic globalization, the explosion in knowledge and the revolution in information and communications technologies. Institutions of higher education have to become reflexive to
Snejana Slantcheva Limits of Institutional Reflexivity
258
respond to these challenges and fulfill their basic functions — the pursuit of ‘pure’ research and academic training, general education, professional preparation and production of technically usable knowledge, and the promotion of cultural self-understanding (Parsons and Platt, 1973, 90–102). This quality becomes crucial if the university is to retain its central role in society. Although vital for effectiveness, the Bulgarian university’s capacity for institutional reflection faces stark limitations. One undeniable characteristic of the communist period was the inability of universities to produce and apply information about themselves and their environ
Data Loading...
