Master in Higher Education Policy and Management
Postgraduate degree approved by UNR Resol. CS No. 850/2022
CONEAU Resolution Res. No. 052/2022
Address: Mgtr. Monica Priotti
Academic coordinator: Lawyer Antonella Pizzuto Grossi
:: RATIONALE:
The purpose of the Postgraduate Master's Degree in Higher Education Policy and Management is to train high-level and qualified graduates for higher education management and research on Education Policy and Management issues.
Superior
Education is crossed by the various phenomena that occur in society, such as globalization processes, migratory movements, incessant technological development, changes in the production and circulation of knowledge.
These transformations raise the need to train professionals capable of managing and intervening in complex contexts such as educational organizations.
Management in educational institutions did not represent a major challenge for those who carried out academic and management functions. But, to the extent that the process of mass enrollment and the consequent expansion of the teaching and non-teaching body advanced, university life became more dense and complex, especially in the face of the challenge of overcoming the articulation between decreasing budgets, increasing enrollment , requirements for raising academic quality and adjustments between the actions that the institution proposes to comply with its objectives.
In this sense, the demands for transparency arising from the transformation of relations between the state and universities that occurred in the 90s imply the need to overcome the crisis management stage, to enter a more sustainable scenario in which training and specific training can open new paths for the
sustainability, expansion and improvement of institutions.
Improving the quality of management involves creatively using the available resources, building an interdisciplinary space for knowledge construction and exchange of experiences, taking advantage of the contributions of comparative education to delve into the functioning of the third level in other latitudes and learning from their experiences, to generate projects that, deeply rooted in our way of thinking and in the needs of the community, involve full use of the available potential; In short, it implies the ability to imagine and continue building
solid ties with society.
:: GOALS:
The general objective of the Master's Degree in Higher Education Policy and Management is to contribute to the improvement of the management of higher education institutions by providing students with systematic, updated and high-quality training that allows them to face the increasingly complex specific tasks with the necessary tools and global knowledge of the tasks to be accomplished.
The specific objectives to be achieved with the students are:
- Deepen interdisciplinary knowledge about the theory and practice of the organization of intellectual work and the processes, structures and institutions of production, transmission and appropriation of knowledge.
- Adopt elements for understanding the management of higher education as a specific tool that facilitates the functioning of institutions.
- Enable critical reflection on the functioning of institutions and provide - based on comparative education - various useful tools for improving management.
- Train teachers in the use of appropriate methodological tools to formulate and execute specific projects in the field under study.
:: MODALITY: In‑person
:: DURATION: 700h
:: ACCREDITATION:
Those who complete all the academic requirements of this Study Plan will be able to obtain the academic degree of Master's Degree in Higher Education Policy and Management.
:: GRADUATE PROFILE:
The Master in Higher Education Policy and Management is a postgraduate with solid theoretical, methodological and technical training in the area under study. This will allow you to face the challenges of higher education management with interdisciplinary training in the theoretical field and adequate tools to address the complexity of educational problems. On the other hand, it also implies the ability to research and generate relevant knowledge in the specific area, thus contributing to a deepening and updating of knowledge in current contexts, such as the internationalization of education, the virtualization of management processes and educational organization models that contemplate more cooperative and integrative dynamics.
:: ENTRY REQUIREMENTS:
a) Possess a university degree issued by duly accredited public or private national universities.
b) Graduates of foreign universities officially recognized in their respective countries, who have degrees equivalent to those indicated in the previous paragraph, duly certified. Its admission will not mean revalidation of the degree title.
c) Those who do not have a university degree, but are eventually authorized to begin the admission process by the current Higher Education Law, and have professional and/or academic background that the Academic Commission of the Master's Degree Program considers sufficient to its admission. For these purposes, applicants must present their complete Curriculum Vitae, as a sworn statement.
d) For non-Spanish speaking foreign applicants, it will be an admission requirement to prove the independent intermediate level (B2) or higher of knowledge of the Spanish language. If admitted, they must prove, prior to the defense of the final work, the advanced level of knowledge of the Spanish language. Applicants will be able to accredit the levels previously indicated through the international DUCLE certificate (university diploma in competence in Spanish as a foreign language) and from the UNR or other international certifications recognized by the certification system for Spanish as a foreign language (SICELE).
:: CURRICULUM:
The Study Plan for the Master's Degree in Higher Education Policy and Management is face-to-face. It is organized into two main areas: one Epistemological Methodological and another Specific Training that have, in each case, differential weight in their workload. Likewise, the Master's Degree includes two Research Workshops that have 160 hours for activities related to the preparation of the thesis and two Practice Integration Workshops with 20 hours each.
A regime of correlations between the subjects is not proposed because they are subjects with different contents, which do not recognize a specific sequence. The only exception is the Research Workshops as they require consecutive construction work aimed at the preparation of the projects and progress of the Thesis or Projects. In this way, the aim is to encourage the presentation of the Thesis or Project corresponding to obtaining the Master's degree. The work modality is in groups of three to four teachers, and they are organized transversally.
Subjects and minimum contents thereof
The course of the Master's Degree is planned to be developed in four quarters.
1- Philosophy and Epistemology of Higher Education
The philosophical bases of Higher Education. The "idea" of university through history. The crisis of the modern university. The global transformation of Higher Education.
2- Research methodology
The particularities of social research: research models, paradigms, theories. Quantitative and qualitative approaches. Convergences of theories. Higher education as a field of study: different methodological approaches.
3- State and Public Policies of Higher Education
Higher education as Public Policy. The role of the state in the formulation and implementation of public policies. Public Policies and Higher Education: the public dimension of the university.
4- Higher Education Institutions and Systems
Sociogenesis and evolution of Higher Education institutions and Systems Organization models and forms of articulation of Higher Education. The Higher Education System in Argentina: organizational and regulatory sociohistorical aspects.
5- Research Workshop I
Research Workshop I is the space to accompany teachers in the development of their research projects. The workshop device constitutes a space aimed at building knowledge and developing the skills necessary for writing the thesis project. Reflection on research practice. Discussions around the “object” of study. The formulation of the research project. Identification and clipping of the topic. Its feasibility and projection. The state of the matter and its importance in delimiting the topic. The construction of the topic in question. Foundation and theoretical framework. Postulation and articulation of initial hypotheses. The relationship between the hypothesis and the objectives. The argumentative dimension of the project: internal coherence, citation strategies, forms of bibliography organization. It involves the teachers narrowing down their research topics, formulating problems, reviewing the corresponding literature and/or data sources as the case may be, developing a methodological strategy to follow and a schedule of
job.
6- Government of Higher Education
The notion of university government and the institutional political context. Forms and regime of government. The international experience. The peculiarities of the Argentine case. Current debates.
7- Curriculum Policy and Management
The Curricular problem and the academic structure of the university. Curricular design models. Current debates. The curricular change. Virtual environments.
8- Practice Integration Workshop I
Epistemological theories about the theory-practice relationship. Processes of socialization of practice. Practice evaluation. Critical analysis of the assumptions that support the practices. Construction of analysis devices for the information collected. Interpretation of practices based on the various analysis procedures. Preparation of diagnoses, institutional evaluation and management projects according to the areas where they carry out the practice. Assessment of the processes of socialization of knowledge and practices.
9- Financing of Higher Education
Schools of economic thought and Higher Education. The sources of university financing. The contributions of the comparative experience.
10- Organizational Sociology and Situational Planning
Categories of analysis of Higher Education institutions from the organizational perspective. The international experience and the national case.
11- Evaluation of Higher Education
The debate around the evaluation of higher education. Models and organizational forms of Evaluation. The international experience. The situation in Argentina.
12- Institutional Research and Quality Management.
Quality in the management processes of Universities. Organizational problems. Demands for the application of improvement tools. Quality management systems. Application of quality management tools in self-assessment and university accreditation processes. Institutional self-assessment. Degree accreditation. Postgraduate accreditation. Standards development. Training and training of evaluators. Development of evaluation processes. Formulation and execution of improvement plans.
13- Practice Integration Workshop II
Review of contents addressed in the different Master's Seminars based on which the analysis of field materials gathered through the planned research instruments will be worked on. The contents of the Workshop will be articulated with what was developed in the Thesis Workshop I, in the Workshop on Integration of Practice I and Research Methodology. Analysis strategies of the different topics addressed in the Practice Integration Workshop I. Articulation with the various modalities of qualitative and quantitative analysis of field material. Construction of conclusions and discussions. In the Practice Integration workshops the teaching team will offer tutoring during the process of analysis of field materials.
14- Research Workshop II
Research Workshop II is the space designed to accompany the masters in the execution of their research projects. The meetings and workshop work are intended to put the progress in the thesis development process into discussion and dialogue. Monitoring of the writing of parts or sections of the thesis: index, introduction, formulation of hypotheses, state of the art, development of the exposition, distribution into chapters. Articulation of the parts. The “conclusions” section: discussion of its validity. Review of the formal presentation rules and guidelines for the oral defense of the Thesis.
The main function of the Study Counselors will be to accompany the curricular journey of the teachers, suggesting alternatives in accordance with their training preferences and guiding them in compliance with the academic requirements. In the case of the Master's Degree, the advisor may or may not coincide with the Thesis or Project Director.
5.2 Final Evaluation
The Master's Degree in Higher Education Policy and Management culminates with the individual and written presentation, and oral defense, for evaluation, of a Thesis or Project, which may take the form of a project, case study, essay, work report field or other, that allow evidence of the integration of the learning carried out in the training process, the deepening of knowledge in a professional field and the management of innovative skills and perspectives in the profession. Defense is understood to be the oral and public instance in which the teacher presents relevant aspects of the process of preparing the Thesis or Project and in which he/she can be questioned by the jurors in relation to the observations indicated for these in the prior written opinion in which the Thesis or Project is approved for its defense.
:: REPORTS: espeducacionsuperior-cei@unr.edu.ar
Tel 0341 – 4201200 (int.309) Direct 0341-4802781
Maipú 1065, 3rd floor, of. 309