Public discussion on educational reform

On January 19 public discussion on numerous aspects of educational reform in Croatia and rest of   the world took place in  the hall of the Nature and Mathematic Faculty. It was organized by student representatives from the Biology section of the Faculty and moderated by distinguished experts from fields of education, human resources and economy: Andro Bajo of the Institute for Public Finances, Vedrana Spajić – Vrkaš and Vlasta Vizek – Vidović, both professors at the Faculty of Philosophy from Zagreb.
Key features of Bologna process was discussed emphasizing the inflow of neo-liberal ideology in the  field of education. Also, two dominant concepts of educational reform in the world were presented and elaborated: first, that advocates market-orientated approach in order to achieve excellence in educational system on one hand, and second that stresses out social dimension of education as a key instrument of a merit based democratic society. In this perspective education should be considered as public good and should be made available to as many citizens as possible. Most of the participants opted for the second concept, however noting the importance of harmonizing education with broader economic, cultural and social context.