Yelena Istileulova

The proposed theme of this discussion is how "Arts" and "Science," with the inclusion of the "Health" and Innovation topics, can be combined in Higher Education through the example of storytelling in a new pioneering form. The goal of this paper is threefold. First, to present a re-search-based story about Jacob Bruce (1669 – 1735), a scholar of Scottish descent, and his innova-tion – the prototype of AI or humanoid robot. Second, to illustrate the new experimental inter-disciplinary method of storytelling entitled SMS (Stories based on Music about Scientists), a novel approach that integrates Arts (Music, Poem, Digital images), Science (Research about AI Innova-tion, Historical research), and Culture (cultural heritage, language, and ideas). Third, to explain how this method can be applied (e.g., Innovative Teaching and Learning, Didactic). This method created in 2012 uses the Avant-garde & Experimental genre with the integration of interdisci-plinary knowledge and holistic approach. It implies a deeper level of integration and collaboration between disciplines. The theme of the proposed SMS is a song-story about the beautiful human-oid girl-robot (with different technology), which serves as a prototype of the modern AI-homunculus created by Jacob Bruce. AI humanoid already resembled a natural human being by the end of the 17th century. The SMS embraces several characteristics and components. The author also discusses how and why SMS can be used as an Innovative Teaching and Learning method /STEAM approach, with the power of Lifelong Learning (LLL) across all branches of sciences, thus stimulating innovations and new discoveries.

At the beginning of the third decade, the time of great uncertainties and disorder, higher education institutions rediscovered that accreditation and rankings serve as the visibility mechanisms to attract students, partners and stakeholders. The goal of this paper is threefold: to introduce the Theory of Global Accreditation (TGA) for different organisations (universities, firms, and business schools), to illustrate changes which take place as a result of accreditation practices and to reflect some trends in the market of global education with different accreditation and ranking schemes. Although the word 'Accreditation' is used from 1535, the accreditation trends became the new "political" phenomenon in the 21st century.

The goal of article is to explain and demonstrate the new method of STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Mathematics) approach – SMS (Stories based on Music about Scientists). SMS as the artistic method is comparable to the Greek symposium’s traditions and fits well under STEAM approach, with its integrated nature of Science and Arts. It is designed to integrate science, education and the arts into a synthesis of creativity and innovation. The theoretical background of STEAM SMS is research about scientists and their innovations demonstrated in the creative form of musical ballads. Its methodology is based on experimental design of the author’s music and the poetic discourse linked to the research about scientists’ heritage. Contextual understanding is delivered through the means of poem and creative visual Art. The examples of SMS provided refer to German scientists of the Enlightenment era in the fields of biology. The main example is the ballad about Johann Sievers’s apple-tree which was proved as a progenitor of apple trees on the Earth, a cultural heritage of the natural environment. The goal of this learning method is to revive the interest of the broad public towards innovations of the past and boost innovations in STEM.

The new method of STEAM approach is demonstrated based on the story about Samuel Gmelin (4 July 1744 – 27 July 1774), the German physician, botanist and explorer who was making research on flora and fauna of the western part of Caspian Sea. The method of SMS (Stories based on Music about Scientists) can be presented in STEM fields using the Arts (Poem/ Music/Digital Images) about scientists to stimulate the interest towards innovations from the Past. Check SMS presented as a song "Water-Water" about Gmelin (18th c.): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daiSGLn-0GI

The ‘A’ roots of STEAM education refer to the genius of Da Vinci who wrote that the principles for the development of a complete mind are grounded, in the science of art and the art of science. The background of STEM and STEAM is explained, how STEM was launched by NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in 1958 and why it was moved to STEAM after 2011 in the United States. The overview of current trends in the European STEM, STEAM and ESTEAM education (Entrepreneurship + STEAM) together with the Asian countries´ development (Korea, China and Japan) and their connection with technical innovations are becoming obvious. Various approaches, including the gender approach, are illustrated together with pros and cons of STEAM.

This paper studies the effects of gaining international accreditation in business schools (B-schools) in Lithuania. As in other CEE countries, in Lithuania international accreditation has recently become one of the key solutions to achieving legitimacy for B-schools. Due to the lack of research in this area, the aim of this paper is to explore and unveil the reasons for, and the consequences of the accreditation using an institutional theory framework. A multiple case study methodology is used to answer the research questions. The findings reveal that accreditation effects represent a case of institutional isomorphism, because B-schools seek accreditation to achieve legitimacy rather than improved performance. B-schools decide for accreditation and implement it mainly because of bandwagon effects and the reduction of information asymmetry – reasons which are accompanied by all three types of isomorphic change (coercive, mimetic, and normative). Based on the findings, the study concl...

In the present environment, approaches to the concept of quality in education are transforming at an accelerating pace. The concept of "quality" has been expanded towards "excellence". The examples are provided from the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), UK and Canada.

The concept of quality in education has a complex meaning. In the present environment, approaches to it are transforming  at  an  accelerating  pace.  The  concept  of  “quality” has  been  expanded  towards  “excellence”.  Education  was massively disrupted in 2020 and, with more uncertainties and fundamental concerns, approaches to teaching quality  have  changed. Approaches to teaching quality are shown on the examples of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), UK, and Canada.

Crisis is normally the intensified challenge and an opportunity to change and adapt to new conditions. The impact of Covid-19 has definitely been and remain a good example of a major crisis the world has experienced, and education has been one of the most strongly affected domains. Unfortunately, students were experiencing the worse part of the crisis.
We evaluate this impact and its consequences in terms of accelerated changes which the higher education systems around the globe have faced rather drastically. At the same time important changes were introduced and increased the priority of building future models – being able to respond to the needs of the labour market of today and the future.
Looking at some interesting experiences we are getting closer to the answers on the questions how it is possible to prepare students for the multitude of jobs and professions they will perform in the coming years. Undoubtedly, it requires a shift from the still predominant teaching to an emerging learning culture, and this shift requires adjustment by all parties in the education process.
Recently many strategic documents have been prepared and published in order to encourage modernisation of education, particularly at the post-secondary level. We are summarising them in the Brief, and presenting how the proposed models are starting to be implemented in various national environments.

This paper was prepared by Yelena Istileulova in 2004 as a result of author's research of the Policy Analysis programme organised by the Center for Policy Studies, Central European University. The paper/report covers the first part, the part of preliminary analysis of gender inequalities in SMEs and governmental structures.

"Baron Valvazor" is my personal non-funded innovation interdisciplinary project to promote the life of scientists of the 17th century (up to -20th centuries) through my free music compositions (as Aleona Sultanova) being the researcher of economics and management of higher education. The written lyrics/music of "Baron Valvazor" is based on the works of Johann Weikhard Freiherr von Valvasor (Baron Valvazor) and his biography as a natural historian and polymath from Carniola, present-day Slovenia, a fellow of the Royal Society in London, 17th century. Those scientists and researchers who play musical instruments can play it from the sheet music, placed in "Socratic lectures".
One of my examples about the life of scientists are placed on youtube (about Nikolai Kozyrev, 20th century´s Soviet astrophysicist) performed by the Duo "Al-Chemy" (дуo "Aлхимия"):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5NC7Kc-UO8

This weekly brief is not only about the mismatch of skills in our global labour market, but also how factors such as coronavirus disease will affect it, why children need to play musical instruments and some guidelines for our children in their future career paths (by the 2030 year). It is also about changes shaping the global labour market and what we adults need to learn to be in demand.

For some time already Europe is under increasing pressure to modernize its understanding of the innovation process. This is far from being a pure conceptual or political issue. It has deep implications on how the entire range of innovation-related activities are being organized, funded and perceived by the whole society. Equally important, this is one of the key reasons why European productivity growth over the last half century has been consistently lagging behind the US, and unless Europe succeeds to make this major step, its prospects at the global competitive scene are rather bleak. The growing productivity gap with US is a general indicator of the problem: contribution of labour productivity (in average annual %-tage points) to knowledge economy over the period 1980-1995 to 1995-2004 has increased for US from 1.3 to 2.6%, and dropped from 1.6 to 1.1% for the EU. It would however be unfair to deny that at several fronts the EU policies are making the right steps. This can be noticed through changes in Horizon Europe-the next research and innovation programme (Graph 1) to succeed Horizon 2020, with efforts to encourage more effectively corporate innovation, encouraging business-academia partnership, building of knowledge super-clusters, providing more Venture Capital. And finally, the recent establishment The EIC is expected to be an important part of the wider innovation ecosystem, providing entrepreneurs with better opportunities to become world leaders. EIC will start operations regularly in January 2021, and is currently in its pilot phase. European Current Innovation Performance With 7% of world population, Europe accounts for 20% of global R&D investment, has a good share of high-quality scientific publications, and has a global leading position in pharmaceuticals, chemicals, mechanical engineering and in the fashions. In June 2018, the European Commission endorsed the ambitious Research and Innovation programme with its initial €100 billion budget for 2021-2027, which is now squeezed to 94,1 billion Horizon budget, 2019 in order to make Europe a global champion with the new breakthrough technologies.

Pros and Cons of International Accreditation: A Path of Business Schools Towards Quality Seal Background. Today, EFMD, AACSB and AMBA are the three highly regarded international accreditation bodies in the business field of higher education. The definitions of accreditation to promote " continuous quality improvement " (AACSB), " to raise the standard of management education worldwide " (EQUIS) and " to evaluate the quality of any business and management programme " (EPAS) contain an assumption of quality and standard. All this raise the question for business schools " Whose Standard and Quality " ? due to the fact that many international accreditation agencies oppose the other's recognition as part of competitive strategies. According to McFarlane (2010), the concept of " Quality " has become synonymous with " Accreditation ". The purpose of this paper is to present a critical literature review on international accreditation of business schools in terms of quality management processes. Literature. Despite established standards leading to " quality seal of approval " , no single approach to meeting standards for accreditation is suggested (Gundersen et al, 2011). This raise many questions for business schools,-how to make a choice in accreditation schemes, what are the values, benefits and impact of international accreditation, their advantages and disadvantages, what is the cost versus benefits and which consequences business school faces after it gain accreditation. A critical qualitative literature review on international accreditation from 1980s till 2011 is organised chronologically, by pros and cons of accreditation considered by business schools, concepts presenting the problematic areas identified and analyzing different positions of business schools in assessment of their accreditation practices. Different points of views are compared based on a critical review of the literature of 89 scientific papers, special reports, overviews, 3 dissertations, book chapters, articles and related web-sites of accreditaion bodies. Findings. There are five themes identified in literature: historical development of international accreditation presented in chronological order and business schools´experience and comparison with each of accreditation scheems (four of them). A search for «international accreditation of business school» produced 5649 references, which were furher reduced to 238 references related to the listed accreditation bodies, and resulted in 89 relevant sources for our review. The model of DeLone & McLean is used to compare the value and benefits of accreditation for business schools and identify inconsistencies. Conclusions. There are few gaps in the literature review on the changes that business school need to undergo to meet the requirements of international accreditation, the institutional responses of business schools and how decision is made about accreditation. The other significant gap is connected with the study of business schools in the East – Central Eastern Europe (CEE) and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), their motivation and how they make a choice about accreditation. The critical qualitative literature review will be of value to the deans of business schools and international accreditation bodies, accreditation managers and reseachers working in the field of business education. Further research. The processes of accreditation that take place in the Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States remain an open question for this part of the world since the processes have recently emerged and have not been studied yet.

Recently the British Economist, Guy Standing has described an emerging class of the Precariat, the rapidly growing number of people facing lives of insecurity. This article is becoming again very actual in terms of the various indicators of unemployment that were suggested at the beginning of the 21st century in the United States and Mexico. The article proposes to use the new meaning of the various indicators in the transition economies (on the example of countries like Kazakhstan). However, at the time of globalisation, these indicators can be used in various economies all over the globe not only for the `workers`, but for the various groups of socially vulnerable people, and for those who are coming from the various layers of society - from migrants up to the Precariat.

Тема по измерению безработицы снова становится очень актуальной в 21 веке в связи с тем, что безработица приобретает новый характер, еще более скрытый, в связи с глобализацией и технологической индустриально-цифровой революцией, а также появлению нового класса в Европе - прекариата (Британский экономист Guy Standing проанализировал precariat как новый возникший социальный класс на глобальном рынке труда), и каждый день этот новый социальный класс растет, что может вылиться в опасные и непредсказуемые тенденции не только в Великобритании или Европе, но эти тенденции стали явно видны в Центральной Восточной Европе (Словении), а также в России, Казахстане и других странах СНГ. Статья (написанная еще во время работы в Бюро Статистики Труда США) становится еще более актуальной именно сейчас и предлагает индикаторы по скрытой безработице, используемые в США и Мексике. Данные индикаторы могут быть использованы аналитиками, экспертами и специалистами с целью разработки стратегии по смягчению неблагоприятных тенденций

There is a scarce or almost non existing research on changes that take place in business schools in ex-Soviet Union´ countries.  First, the comparative analysis of business schools from four CIS countries (Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan) is provided in line with their perception about international accreditation. Second, the comparison between AACSB International, EFMD and AMBA is given based on the official resources.

The article includes the analysis of information about the latest trends in the Bologna process (2016-2017), its current developments, problematic aspects, as well as the impact and challenges (including the issues of recognition, the social dimension, the Brexit and the digital revolution). The Brief includes the latest statistics on the various indicators of the Bologna process on different dimensions.
Статья включает анализ информации о последних тенденциях Болонского процесса (в течение 2016-2017 гг.), его развития и проблематичных аспектов, влияния на различные сферы и вызовы (от вопросов социальной сферы и до цифровой революции, Brexit и многих других). Новейшая статистика за 2017 год по индикаторам Болонского процесса предоставлена по различным направлениям.

Статья - cтр. 65-88 - в Сборнике "Высшее образование в контексте Болонского процесса" (Higher education in the context of the Bologna process (Erasmus+). В данной статье пойдет речь об исследовании актуального феномена аккредитации, - как в рамках Болонского, так и глобального процессов, который коснулся вузов СНГ (на примере вузов бизнес-образования РК, России, Кыргызстана и Беларуси). В статье отражены глобальные тенденции, сделан обзор исследований по Западной Европе и США и приведены также результаты исследований, проведенных автором на примере обследований и опросов бизнес-школ в странах СНГ (2011-2012) и глубинных исследований в странах Центральной и Восточной Европы (ЦВЕ) – Литвы, Словении, Польши, Хорватии, России на протяжении 2012-2014 гг.

Globalisation processes in cross-border higher education institutions reflect different trends, where quality is an ever-growing concern. This paper focuses on the international accreditation of business-schools
(B-schools). The main question of this paper is why and how the process of international accreditation progresses globally and regionally. This study consists of three parts. First, it shows the global and regional trends in the field of higher education. Second, it reviews the global trends in international accreditations processes in business education. Third, it explains how and why these processes are progressing for both actors – B-schools and international accreditation organisations. The summary table of the most-recognised accreditation bodies in the area of business education, their standards, and an area of assessment is prepared
for the attention of B-schools.

Keywords: Higher education, Business schools (B-schools), Globalisation, Regionalisation, International Accreditation, AACSB, AMBA, EQUIS, EPAS

The independence of Central Asian countries at the beginning of 1990‟s had a strong impact on the higher education of all five Central Asian countries. We can observe tremendous changes within each of these countries in the system of higher education 20 years later due to many factors that incur some new opportunities and challenges. The objective of this paper is to provide some empirical results based on survey of 45 Central Asian universities. The survey reveals changes in different dimensions of higher education: from business competences of students, their level of internationalization, average salaries and research motivation of Faculty members till the estimated level of corruption by the representatives of higher education institutions of Central Asia. The representatives of the top and middle management of these institutions from different regions of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan were surveyed in 2010. The survey results showed some new and unexpected trends, particularly for Turkmenistan which is still considered as a “closed economy”, and
Kazakhstan that is generally perceived as the most developed country in higher education.
JEL codes: A10, A20, I21
Keywords: Higher education, Central Asia, Students´ skills, Research Motivation, Corruption

„This paper was presented at the 10th Biennial Conference of the Australasian Association for Communist and Post-Communist Studies (AACaPS) in Canberra, 3-4 February 2011. It has been peer reviewed via a double referee process and appears on the Conference Proceedings Website by the permission of the author who retains copyright‟

This paper was prepared by Yelena Istileulova in 2004 as a result of author's research of the Policy Analysis programme organised by the Center for Policy Studies, Central European University. The paper/report covers the first part, the part of preliminary analysis of gender inequalities in SMEs and governmental structures.

ISBN: 978-975-2438-82-8. The book of proceedings from the EURASIA Higher Education Summit (27.02.2019-01.03.2019) provides a summary of why accreditation is becoming the new form of ideological control with the shift of power from educators to bureaucrats. The effects of EQUIS and AACSB are demonstrated in the examples of the Central and Eastern European public and private business schools of Russia, Poland, Croatia, and Slovenia.

The first signs of an economic crisis appeared in Kazakhstan in 2007 as a consequence of the world financial crisis. As a result, from the very beginning of 2008 year many Kazakhstani companies became dependent on external source of funding, in the absence of which they started reducing their staff and reorganize their structures with the purpose of business management's optimization. In these processes the owners of many companies have also been searching for advices from Human Resources (HR) Departments or independent HR Consultants for the key question: how to better manage the companies' personnel using the most efficient HR management models in a time of economic recession? The questions that arise here: which HRM models are used in the local Labor market, an application of HRM models with consideration of the national, sectoral and organizational factors and what is the best model that could be used in a time of recession? 1. Background: Despite the popularity of the term HRM, there is no universally agreed definition of its meaning. Watson (2002:369) suggests that a " rather messy situation currently exists whereby the term HRM is used in a confusing variety of ways ". In its broadest sense HRM can be used as a generic term to describe any approach to managing people 1. In Kazakhstan HRM practices were first applied by foreign FMCG and oil companies about 6 years ago, and the local big companies started opening HR Departments based on the soviet-style, so called " otdel kadrov " or Personnel Department about 3 years ago. In the best cases, " HRM and 1 Julie Beardwell, Tim Claydon " Human Resource Management. A Contemporary Approach " , 5th Edition FT 2007 Chapter 1 Definitions of HRM

Istileulova Yelena presents her Theory of Global Accreditation (TGA) in the PhD thesis "The Effects of International Accreditations on Institutional Changes of Business schools" defended at the Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana (04.07.2018). The systematisation of 6 types of changes (including five isomorphic ones)  and their effects (12 for each) is developed based on the institutional theory´s framework (DiMaggio & Powell, 1983, 1991), analysis of literature (1913-2018) and the explanatory analysis of multiple case studies of business schools´ changes as a result of American AACSB, European EQUIS, and the Central-Eastern European CEEMAN accreditation practices.

The aim of this doctoral dissertation is to explain the practices of international accreditation in the Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) through the lenses of institutional theory. The purpose is to contribute to the global debate on the international accreditation of management education by examining the cases of business schools with the institutional accreditation in Slovenia, Croatia, Poland and Russia to advance the institutional theory. The main motivation for this study is to explain the nature of global practices based on the perceptions of experts in terms of “how”, “why” and “what” questions. The Theory of Global Accreditation (TGA) is proposed as a result of international accreditation´s practices in the business schools with AACSB and EQUIS accreditations. TGA can be applied not only for business schools, but also for business organisations with TQM practices.

This is the list of examples of SMS (Stories based on Music about Scientists) method, which have been developed since 2012 (when STEAM approach was not known in Europe) by the author. Each SMS includes 3 main components - 1. Stories based on research in the form of poetry, 2. Music, 3. Visual Arts (My artistic part is published under Aleona von Sultanova´s name). SMS is related to the Innovative Teaching and Learning and Life Long Learning methods (Science and Arts).