Abstract
Rapid technological and scientific developments that have emerged in the second half of the 20th century have profoundly transformed societies, the environment, and human life. With globalization, technologies that require manhandling have transformed into technologies that require educated human labor. In order to reach a certain level of quality, globalization forces education institutions, especially higher education institutions, to change and transform. In this context, organizational justice and culture, formed commonly across institutions of higher education, are expected to improve and increase the quality of education. There is little research on the topic of organizational justice and culture in education organizations. There is almost no study on the impact of these two important concepts on higher education in our globalizing world. Therefore, from an analytical perspective, this section aims to explain the content summarized above and the dynamics through which organizational justice and culture impact the globalization of higher education.
TopIntroduction
Technological developments that shape the new world order bring about brand new concepts such as “Information-based society” and “information-based economy into the history of humanity (Zgaga, 2008). As of the last quarter of the twentieth century, the process of transition to information society has started in developed countries and a new global economic structure called information economy has come into being. In this new structure, economic capacity of individuals has come to be measured with their knowledge and level of education and competitive capacity of countries with their human and social capitals (Turkish Higher Education Council, 2007). Innovations and technological developments in science influence and structure social life. World countries are trying to improve their education systems in order to raise human resources that would adapt to new developments in this structuring (Shinil, 2008). Higher education is the leading educational institution that is considered to be tangibly affected by these development endeavors. Such that higher education has become one of the prior agenda items of international organizations such as the United Nations, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), European Union Comission,World Bank, and even World Trade Organization. Expectations of varying sections of the society from higher education have increased during the transition period to information society and economy. These expectations can be listed as follows (Turkish Higher Education Council, 2007, p. 13-14):
- 1.
Providing education for more students and groups of broader age range, “massification” in other words,
- 2.
Expanding their programs in a way that would include all of the new information produced and all new information fields created,
- 3.
Employment of graduates; orientating towards practice in addition to information in research,
- 4.
Building robust bridges with the society and making further contribution to regional and national development,
- 5.
Developing open and transparent governance models that can account for its shareholders,
- 6.
Meeting all of these expectations with public resources relatively dwindling.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Lifelong Learning: Information, skills, values, attitudes, and behaviors acquired by the individuals from all sections of the society throughout their lives regardless of age and sex.
Higher Education Culture: All moral and material values, behaviors, beliefs etc. shaped by the shareholders comprising higher education (academics, employees, students etc.).
Globalization: A new world order that has social, cultural, economic, political, psychological, and ecological impacts on societies.
Quality Assurance: All efforts made regarding the system that enables the students to be raised in a way that they would be equipped with several global values in higher education institutions.
European Higher Education Area: An attempt that includes efforts made for the harmonization and comparability of higher education institutions.
Organizational Justice: The ways fair and unfair attitudes and behaviors in organizations are perceived by individuals.
Bologna Process: A step that stipulates the restructuring of the higher education institutions in Europe for the purpose of creating European Higher Education Area.