2003:8 R
Across the Baltic - On higher education and cooperation in higher education with Sweden?s eastern neighbours
EU enlargement and education and research
The first theme dealt with in the report is the enlargement of the EU and the impact on education and research in the future Member States bordering the Baltic and on the labour market for graduates in Sweden.
The EU activities of the future Member States in education and research will revolve to a large extent around participation in the various EU programmes. Another example is adaptation to EU directives for programmes that provide qualifications for the regulated professions (such as nursing). The four future Member States bordering the Baltic have made relatively great progress, even though there are still certain structural problems (often linked to funding). Many of these difficulties are probably transient, however, at least in the long term.
Potential impact on the labour market for graduates in Sweden
It is difficult to predict the extent of any possible labour immigration into Sweden, even for employment which requires professional qualifications. The potential exists in the form of high unemployment in several of the candidate countries, differences in standards of living and salary levels between Sweden and its eastern neighbours and also certain labour shortages in Sweden. However, current shortages in some professional areas (in health care for instance) means that labour immigration should be seen as a possibility rather than a threat.
Higher education in the eastern Baltic region
The second theme in the report is the description of the structure of higher education in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Russia.
Particular attention is paid for the situation for higher education in Russia. The last decade has involved massive changes for Russian higher education with, for instance extensive cuts in state funding for the institutions but also greater autonomy. International cooperation and cooperation with private companies has become a normal aspect of the way in which the institutions operate. A growing sector of private higher education providers is emerging whose funding comes from student fees. We have also taken a closer look at higher education in St. Petersburg and present a few brief case studies of the city´s four universities.
Academic c
ooperation across the Baltic
The third theme in the report concerns academic links across the Baltic. The report does not provide a comprehensive inventory of these contacts but describes the cooperation of a number of Swedish higher education institutions in the eastern Baltic region and comes to the conclusion that this cooperation is both frequent and multifaceted. It can involve everything from undergraduate, postgraduate and teacher exchange to participation in extensive networks of universities. The higher education institutions can also be involved in the implementation of aid projects linked to education with non-academic beneficiaries. This cooperation is often described in positive terms by those involved, even though the benefits can range from purely scientific and academic advantages to less concretely positive results such as experience and contacts. The report shows for instance that access to external funding possibilities is very important in initiating cooperation and the concern that exists that enlargement will complicate cooperation with the candidate countries if the new Member States are phased out of the Sweden´s funding programme, which has attracted a great deal of appreciation.
A national perspective on academic cooperation - the importance of coordination
In many countries, among them the USA and Germany, cooperation between ministries responsible for education and foreign affairs is becoming more intensive. Higher education and research is seen as one method of creating strategic links with other countries. The purpose can be, for instance, to establish contacts that will in the long run benefit the country´s own foreign or trade policy.
In various contexts, the National Agency for Higher Education has expressed the view that there may be good reasons to review Sweden´s long-term priorities concerning the role of education and research in Swedish cooperation with its eastern neighbours. Extensive cooperation is admittedly taking place between individual higher education institutions, but there appears to be no national strategy about how the fields of education and research could support other aspects of social development. Increased coordination between various areas of policy would therefore be valuable in this respect. One proposal is that the Swedish ministries involved should organise joint discussions with the most important actors about the future outlook for cooperation with Sweden´s eastern neighbours.
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