INTRODUCTION So-called 'countries in transition' are undergoing huge political and economic change, as a result of which they not only find themselves facing the challenges of adopting the market economy and western democracy, but also those related to becoming fully-fledged members of the emerging knowledge society. Western countries have come to face the challenges posed by the knowledge society after many years of rather stable and successful development, which enables them to benefit from these challenges by enhancing their development even further, in a geometric progression kind of way. At the same time, the 'countries in transition', the latecomers to the market economy, have to go at a double pace in order to place themselves on the path of rapid development and to survive in the knowledge-based competition. Being able to jump onto this path requires strong forces either from outside or inside of the countries, or both. The authors joined in this symposium believe that one such inside force possessing the 'multiplier effect' could be universities which should serve as the 'engine of progress', both exploring the benefits and problems related to the knowledge society and helping their countries to respond to its challenges in efficient ways. However, to rise up to this task, universities in the countries in transition, as indeed everywhere, must first of all undergo their own transformation processes. Only then they will be able to lead their countries to the higher stage of national economic and social development. Thus, the symposium will focus on the challenges and tasks facing the universities in the countries in transition which aim to join the knowledge society, with particular consideration of the university role in competence development, social innovation, and the evolution of regional clusters. PART 4 (1.5 hours) HIGHER EDUCATION AND SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION Chair: Terence H McLaughlin, Institute of Education, University of London UK and Von Hugel Institute, St Edmund's College, Cambridge This fourth and final symposium in the series will extend the discussion of the role of the university with particular respect to its role in social transformation and innovation. The last half hour of the session will be used to allow for responses to the issues raised across the eleven papers presented in this symposium Part 4 - Paper 1 of 3 The University and Social Transformation Rafal Godon, University of Warsaw, Poland Educational practice invariably needs critical comments: the critique challenges education and then makes educational practice possible to be bettered. Otherwise lack of criticism may cause self-satisfaction in education which could be dangerous either for teachers or for pupils. However, comments should recommend some positive solutions to the drawbacks that have been noticed and they should not be limited to complaints. Philosophical thinking offers such a perspective in analysing pedagogical issues whose main purpose is to improve the educational practice. Specifically, philosophy of education assists educationalists in understanding the most urgent pedagogical problems. One of the key pedagogical problems is how to educate people who become teachers of our children: What kind of training should we provide for them?, What is the role of the contemporary university in the process of teacher training? and How should we change the university education to make it compatible with the social world? To be able to answer these questions we need to analyse the main features of tertiary education and take into account the requirements of contemporary culture and the concept of social transformation. Interpreting the role of the university, we cannot avoid questioning stereotypes and myths in education. Part 4 - Paper 2 of 3 Higher education as an agent of social innovation Dalija Gudaityte, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania and Brigita Janiunaite, Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania The paper aims at providing an answer to the following question: how should contemporary higher education act in order to become the agent of social innovation in society? Does higher education have to be like this, especially if it is the 'heart of the society'? The first section of the paper will focus on the importance of social innovation in the context of social transformations, especially when they take place in a post-totalitarian society. Open and latent aspects of transformations are pointed out: cultural marginality, cultural modality, community fragmentation, social exclusion, etc. The importance of social innovation, its relationship with material-technical innovation is pointed out in this context. The second part of the paper offers a conceptual approach to the way higher education should be treated to become the agent of social innovation. At this point the massification of higher education is analysed and the integration of the concepts of liberal higher education, democratic higher education, continuing education, and service university is given rationale; this integration allows to treat the massification of higher education as the main precondition of optimising the quality of life in a post-industrial society. The third part of the paper refers to the actions of a change agent (catalyst, process helper, resource linker, and solution giver) and reveals how higher education may become an agent of social innovation. Part 4 - Paper 3 of 3 Response to the symposium Led by Barbara Zamorski Network 22 Convenors