The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) – Academic’s Perceptions of Changing Governance and Management of Universities

Prof. habil. Dr. Rimantas Želvys

The German-Lithuanian research team organized the APIKS Vilnius Conference on the similarities and differences in management and governance of the academic profession across the world in a partly on-site and partly digital format.

We have brought together researchers from 14 different countries across the world (Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Canada) to discuss their findings and engage in internationally comparative interpretation of their data. All presentations can be found here: https://www.zhb.tu-dortmund.de/zhb/hdhf/en/apiks-conference/apiks-conference-programme/index.html.

Based on this, researchers from five country teams have submitted publications for a (special) issue in “Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia”, which will be published in 2021.

Also, we had an online early-career conference with two workshops on comparative approaches and publishing. 27 early-career researchers from nine countries participated in one or both of these workshops.

1. Conference preparation. Preparation of conference concept, website, registration, conference programme etc. The organising team regularly exchanged information via e-mail and in video-based telephone calls.
2. Early-Career Researchers’ Conference took place via Zoom on August 19^th, 2020. During this conference two workshops were held – “Comparative Approaches in Higher Education” by prof. Monica Marquina (Argentina) and “The Publication Process – From Planned to Publish” by dr. Teresa Carvalho (Portugal).
3. Conference “The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) – Changing Governance and Management of Universities” took place Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Educational Sciences, Universiteto str. 9, Vilnius, Lithuania and via Zoom on August 20^th – 21^st, 2020. The event was advertised broadly, and presentations of the conference are available online for free to all interested stakeholders.
4. Lecture at TU Dortmund: Presentation of the findings of the Lithuanian country-study of the APIKS project within the scope of the Higher Education Research Colloquium at the Center for Higher Education, TU Dortmund University, Germany, on the findings of Lithuanian country study via Zoom on November 11^th, 2020.
5. Submitting and editing publications for a (special) issue in the open-access journal “Acta Paedagogica Vilnensia” (guest-editors for the issue: Prof. Dr. Rimantas Želvys, Institute of Educational Sciences, Vilnius University, Lithuania and Prof. Dr. Liudvika Leišytė, Professorship of Higher Education, TU Dortmund, Germany). The (special) issue is developed in close collaboration between the two professors supported by regular exchanges via e-mail and video conferences.

Lecture at TU Dortmund: Presentation of the findings of the Lithuanian country-study of the APIKS project within the scope of the Higher Education Research Colloquium at the Center for Higher Education, TU Dortmund University, Germany, on the findings of Lithuanian country study via Zoom on November 11^th, 2020.

Conference “The Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society (APIKS) – Changing Governance and Management of Universities” took place Vilnius University, Faculty of Philosophy, Institute of Educational Sciences, Universiteto str. 9, Vilnius, Lithuania and via Zoom on August 20^th – 21^st, 2020. The event was advertised broadly, and presentations of the conference are available online for free to all interested stakeholders.

Direct:

• Conference participants (71 people from different countries across the world; the following countries had been represented with presentations: Lithuania, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Portugal, Turkey, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Argentina, Canada, Japan).
• PhD students and early-career researchers (27 participants) from 9 different countries, who were invited to participate in an online early-career conference.

Indirect:

• Academic staff and administrators at Vilnius University or other Lithuanian universities, academic labour union representatives who were interested in the study;
• Administrators in higher education in participating countries, who benefitted from novel insights into the management and governance of universities generated by the project publications drawing on a comparative approach;
• The international academic community in higher education research as well as administrators in higher education, which could benefit from publications published in the (special) issue of the Lithuanian educational journal and later, a book on the conference topic.