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This volume provides an overview of the state of the art of research on the politics of higher education policy in Canada, the US, and Western Europe. Each thematic chapter combines an extensive literature review with original empirical work that further advances our understanding of policymaking dynamics in higher education. The book covers five key aspects of policymaking, namely the politics of governance as well as funding reforms, the role of interest groups, policy diffusion, and policy framing. These aspects are explored using a unique comparative design that combines comparisons within as well as between regions, and among the five key aspects of policymaking. The conceptual framework is anchored in approaches from institutional theory, namely sociological and historical institutionalism.

Many recent higher education reforms worldwide have been legitimated by their potential impact on the performance of universities and colleges. However, we know less about the actual impact of the changes implemented. This article examines the extent to which research performance can be associated with specific organizational characteristics at the department level. The analysis is based on Norwegian university departments, where high- and low-performing departments have been selected as cases for further investigations. The policy context is the organizational reform in Norway from 2016 onwards aiming at reorganizing the higher education landscape through institutional mergers. The key findings indicate that there are few distinct departmental characteristics associated with research performance, such as elected or appointed leadership, single or multi-campus organization, or departmental size. However, the study reveals that highly productive individuals do matter and suggests that cultural dimensions and working conditions may be interesting factors to pursue in further research.

Despite growing academic interest in understanding the conditions under which resilient organizations adapt to challenging circumstances, little attention to date has been paid to the role played by ‘soft’ factors such as identity as an enabler or property of resilient behaviour. In this chapter, we propose that different forms of legitimacy contribute to the framing of acceptable identities affecting the endurance of central elements over time, thus shaping resilience. By splitting up forms of legitimacy and by analysing elements of organizational identity separately, we provide a novel framework that enables a deeper understanding of identity formation processes in complex environments on the one hand and their links with resilience on the other. Through a historically based analysis of a Nordic university over a 40-year period, we demonstrate the complex, dynamic relationship between external legitimacy, identity adaptation and resilience in the context of organizational transformation. By establishing a link between identity, legitimacy and resilience, the study provides critical insights into the conditions affecting organizational persistence within highly institutionalized organizational fields, such as higher education.

As higher education quality assurance in many countries in Europe has become a mature activity, some agencies carrying out external quality assurance are developing beyond their core tasks and missions. The current study identifies new tasks taken up within quality assurance agencies and analyses the drivers behind such development. Based on an empirical investigation into six quality assurance agencies in Europe, the study finds that these agencies are still under substantial control of and influenced by national authorities—often resulting in new tasks and responsibilities that are added to older tasks and established responsibilities. The ongoing innovations can be characterized by two dynamics: ‘bounded innovation’ where new tasks and activities are induced by public authorities, and agency drift where agencies themselves redefine and expand existing tasks and activities. The developments also show a high degree of diversity, suggesting that mature quality assurance agencies do not develop on a convergent path.

In recent decades, many higher education systems around the world have been exposed to institutional mergers. While the rationale for mergers has often been related to issues of improved quality, effectiveness and/or efficiency at the institutional level, fewer studies have analysed how mergers may affect institutional diversity within the higher education landscape. Focusing on institutional missions, the current study analyses the strategic plans of both merged and non-merged institutions in Norway. The key finding is that mergers may not necessarily reduce system level diversity, although mergers indeed may affect the organisational mission of individual institutions.

One of the key ambitions of universities around the world is to improve the educational design and delivery to the benefit of their students. Many universities acknowledge that they need to educate students for a future characterised by high levels of uncertainty in which individuals need to possess substantial confidence and competencies to navigate. While much attention has been given to the need for innovation in educational design, this paper focuses more on the organizational conditions needed to realize the necessary changes. Based on a review of current organizational developments and characteristics of universities, it is argued that a number of tasks, areas and practices need to be better integrated if higher education is to fulfil their ambition to equip students with the competencies needed for the future.

Internationalisation and globalisation are intertwined and complex phenomena that have attracted the interest of higher education scholars for several decades. This article offers some reflections on how research on internationalisation and globalisation has developed over the years and the perspectives that appear to have dominated these studies. A key argument is that while the field is, in many ways, booming—both in the numbers of publications and with respect to topics explored—whether substantial theoretical advances have been made is questionable. Many publications still tend to be quite descriptive with shallow observations, mostly on reporting national trends and political agendas. As internationalisation and globalisation undoubtedly continue to make an impact on higher education in the years to come, there is a need for a stronger theoretical basis, which can underpin future studies. The current article discusses potential future advancements enabling a more integrated, theoretical grounding for understanding and interpreting internationalisation and globalisation in the years to come.

Evidence-informed policy and practice has been a trend as part of an effort to increase the use of research to improve education at all levels. In many countries, knowledge-brokering initiatives were established to stimulate links between research, policy, and practice. Drawing on a mapping of initiatives in seven countries, this article describes different organizational designs, and discusses potential dilemmas these might imply for the realization of these organizations’ roles. Given different interests involved, the article shows that organizational design is crucial for enhancing legitimacy. Findings indicate a trend toward locating the knowledge-brokering function in a combined policy–science logic.

Purpose: In recent decades, higher education institutions have been encouraged to develop their own internal management systems as a response to perceived quality challenges in the sector. These quality management (QM) systems have often been found to mainly reflect external accountability requirements, with less focus on coherent study programme development. The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between QM practices and study programme delivery in Norwegian higher education institutions. Design/methodology/approach: The study examined how coordination and control of quality work with respect to educational activities take place, using data from a survey to study programme leaders in a large sample of Norwegian higher education institutions. Findings: The main findings show that a majority of institutions have established formal advisory bodies with a QM mandate, contributing to more coherent thinking, even though the division of labour between these bodies and formal decision-making structures often is unclear. The study also shows a high level of diversity in the collaboration practices among different actors involved in QM work, indicating that QM practices are adapted to local needs. Originality/value: The paper provides new knowledge as to how QM is conducted in practice at the local level. It nuances earlier studies by showing the involvement of collegial bodies in QM although such bodies may have unclear mandates and, thus, an unclear role in the QM process.

Utdanningsledelse har blitt fremmet som et viktig tiltak for å øke kvalitet i norsk høyere utdanning, men det har vært relativt begrenset kunnskap om hva utdanningsledelse på studieprogramnivå består av. Studieprogramledere har en viktig funksjon i koordineringen av det faglige arbeidet i studieprogrammene, de er koblingspunktet mellom pedagogisk arbeid i studieprogrammene og den organisatoriske konteksten studieprogrammene opererer innenfor. Artikkelen bruker data fra et spørreskjema blant norske studieprogramledere (N=551) ved 33 læresteder som ble gjennomført i 2016. Denne artikkelen ser på relasjonen mellom organisatoriske strukturer og rutiner og hvordan studieprogramledelse utøves. Artikkelen ser på lederrollens formalisering og forankring, ansvarsområder, samt måten kvalitetsarbeid samordnes på. En sentral konklusjon i artikkelen er at fordelingen av administrativt og faglig ansvar skaper flere spenninger for studieprogramledernes hverdag. I konklusjonen argumenteres det for at studieprogramledelse er en aktivitet rammet inn av en rekke administrative krav, forventninger og rutiner. For å sikre at studieprogramledere faktisk kan utøve sin lederrolle må derfor institusjonene kritisk vurdere hvordan utvikling av studieprogrammers drift organiseres.

The issue of quality enhancement within higher education has attracted considerable research interest and the article suggest that managerial and cultural approaches have thus far dominated the literature in the field. While acknowledging the importance of both management and culture, the article argues for the relevance of ‘quality work’ as a concept to better understand the processes involved in quality enhancement. By advocating that a stronger focus should be given on analysing practices, the article underlines the role of individual actors and their actions for understanding the foundations related to both quality maintenance and enhancement, as well as the research needed to empirically investigate these processes.

As international and domestic policy initiatives continue to sweep over higher education, it is of utmost importance to study how those responsible for the implementation of the many initiatives taken perceive and respond to the many expectations about change and renewal. Through three different analytical perspectives — a managerial, a disciplinary, and a stakeholder perspective — the current article offers insights into how educational leaders responsible for the management of study programmes at micro-level interpret external expectations and how they prioritize between them. Based on data derived from a representative sample of Norwegian educational leaders, the current article finds — somewhat surprisingly — that the managerial perspective is less relevant for understanding the sense-making of educational leaders and how they prioritize between different tasks in their daily work. Disciplinary and the stakeholder perspectives are in this respect more relevant for explaining the practices related to programme management. The study provides indications of a (continued) gap between macro-level policy-making and its implementation at micro-level. In the conclusion, the findings are reflected upon and implications for policy and practice are outlined.

Governments in Europe have emphasized the development of more autonomous public universities over the last couple of decades. Often, the aim of these reform policies has been to stimulate to a more competitive and agile higher education sector, where increased formal autonomy is perceived as a key condition to strengthen the strategic capacity of universities. These reforms have resulted in considerable shifts in the internal governance models of some universities, while others have kept their traditional governance models. In this article, instrumental and cultural perspectives derived from organizational theory are used as lenses to compare how universities with different internal governance models organize and structure their strategic development processes. Our findings suggest that internal governance models have little impact on the design and organization of strategic processes. In conclusion, it is argued that changes in internal governance arrangements alone are not enough to drive transformation in higher education institutions, and the issue of formal institutional autonomy is intimately linked to how various policy instruments at the system level are designed and coordinated.

It has been argued that universities are changing into becoming more professional as organizations, and this paper investigates this claim by exploring the emergence and tasks of communication departments in modern universities. Examination of universities in six Baltic and Nordic countries shows that communication departments are working closely with the institutional leadership and that communication is increasingly seen as a strategic function in the universities. This can position communication departments as a central internal coordinator between various organizational units and processes. While the findings indicate support for the assumption about more professional universities, those working within a communication department seem to have a broad and varied background and cannot be said to have developed a specific professional identity in all the institutions. However, our findings do indicate increasing contact and close relations between communication specialists across university borders which may result in a stronger professional identity over time.

While the establishment of quality assurance has been seen for decades as the most significant instrument to secure and enhance the quality of teaching and learning in higher education, the concept of developing more specific learning outcomes has in recent years attracted much interest, not least due to the creation of national qualification frameworks. In this article, we compare the perceived relevance of the traditional quality assurance approach with the new learning outcomes approach – as seen from the view of the academic staff. Using data from a representative survey among Norwegian academic staff, the study indicates that learning outcomes are perceived as more useful and relevant than traditional quality assurance approaches. The article discusses this finding in light of the current ways quality assurance procedures are functioning in higher education, and points to possible implications for the enhancement of quality in universities and colleges.

Several countries have gained experience with some form of performance agreements in higher education. The Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS) of the University of Twente has conducted a review of the performance agreements found in three countries: Denmark, the Netherlands and Ontario (Canada). The lessons learned in these three countries may be used as inputs for discussions on the future of the performance agreements in Norwegian higher education. The full report describes the three systems in more detail (Jongbloed & de Boer 2020). This Policy Brief summarises the findings and provides guidance for the design of performance agreements.

Kronikk som diskuterer hvilke formål den nasjonale studentundersøkelsen Studiebarometeret bør tjene

The main purpose of this project is to explore both recent developments and possible future trajectories for quality assurance. The study finds that despite increased emphasis on international developments, the agencies analysed in the present study show a strong national orientation; they are still under substantial control of and influenced by national authorities – often resulting in new tasks and responsibilities for the agencies.

​Dette er sluttrapport i evalueringen av den nasjonale rektorutdanningen i perioden fra 2015 til 2019. I rapporten følger vi opp mange av de samme resultatene fra de to delrapportene fra 2017 og 2018, særlig deltagerundersøkelsen som hvert kull har mottatt ved starten og i etterkant av utdanningen. Den kvantitative undersøkelsen inkluderer også kontrollutvalg. Den kvalitative undersøkelsen omfatter et utvalg case-skoler med tre besøk over tid og analyser av intervjudata samlet inn fra skoleledere, lærere og skoleeiere. I tillegg har vi gjennomført intervjuer med to av tilbyderne, og samlet inn skriftlige sluttoppgaver fra et utvalg deltakere​.

Arbeidet i skolene er i stadig endring. Endringene skyldes en rekke årsaker: politisk vektlegging av ulike verktøy i skolens arbeid (Skedsmo & Mausethagen, 2017), nye lærerroller som lærerspesialister skaper nye spenningsforhold og mellomposisjoner mellom skoleledere og lærere (Seland, Caspersen, Markussen, & Sandsør, 2017), demografiske endringer som følge av innvandring og økt heterogenitet gir nye utfordringer for skolen og systemene rundt (Pihl, 2010), elevers psykiske helse settes under lupen og løftes frem som viktig tema (Uthus, 2017) og teknologi og digitalisering gir både muligheter og utfordringer som må løses (Gilje, 2017). Slike endringer, og mange andre, setter nye krav til alle som arbeider i skolene, og i stor grad til dem som skal lede arbeidet i skolene. Skolelederne, og særlig rektorene, skal lede sine ansatte til endring, og ha pedagogisk og administrativ kontroll over virksomheten. Til dette må de rustes, og det er innsatsen for å ruste rektorene (og andre skoleledere) som er under lupen i evalueringen som denne rapporten er en del av.