De Academie van Wetenschappen in Korea heeft het boek van de oud-minister en voormalig UM-voorzitter gehudigd als 'the best international book of 2011'. Het werd daartoe opgenomen in het programma van de Academie voor "Supporting the selection and distribution of outstanding books".
Yoon en Ritzen - voortaan door zijn vrienden plagend toegesproken als Kim Jong Jo - winnen hiermee een prijs van 15 miljoen Won, zo'n €10.000. Ritzens analyse in zijn boek is gebruikelijk scherp "The present position of Europe's universities is something like a bronze Olympic medal: very well represented among the world's top 200 universities, but almost absent in the top 50." U vindt het als pdf in zijn geheel hier.
Zijn executive summary geeft aan waar
hij met name op mikt:
"European universities are underexploited - economically,
culturally and socially - for a stronger Europe. There is an urgent
need to alter the context for European universities so that they
can strengthen the European competitive position through economic
innovation, increased social cohesion and a more vibrant cultural
dynamism.
The present position of Europe's universities is something like a
bronze Olympic medal: very well represented among the world's top
200 universities, but almost absent in the top 50. Society's
feelings about universities are likewise lukewarm, sometimes
ecstatic but also often critical on the ivory tower image.
Europe has to choose to go for gold in a world competition with a
strong US system of Higher Education and newly emerging runner ups
like China and India. The unbalanced demographics in the world -
with a virtually constant supply of graduates in the developed West
and a potentially fast increase in the number of graduates in
developing countries - pose both new threats and new opportunities
for European universities.
Europe can cash in on the opportunities by innovating its higher
education, taking into account the lesson learned on effective
education for an international labour market, on the valorisation
of knowledge but also on the matching and selection of students.
The context needs to be changed to make European universities more
successful:
- The Bologna process has to be denationalized with European-wide
accreditation and quality control.
- The organization of universities should be moved on from
bureaucratic to innovative.
- The finance needs to be rebalanced so that the public budget cuts
of the past decades can be met by private sources.
The 2008/2009 economic crisis (never waste a good crisis) is an
excellent opportunity for a paradigm shift all over Europe to
promote excellence together with emancipation of the new Europeans
in universities. European universities: yes, they can do so much
more for Europe."