Mission Diversity and Reputation in Higher Education

Vught, Franciscus A. van

doi:10.1057/hep.2008.5

Cited by 285 publications

(178 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…In the latter case, the research activities would very much depend on the educational profile of a given institution limiting the possibilities of research concentration. This may pose a particular challenge for those institutions racing for the reputation stemming from visibility in the global rankings (van Vught 2008). Third, there are also possible tensions between research and innovation.…”

Section: Potential Implications For the Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

2010

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While it is common to claim that university reforms are based on universal and standardised ideas about 'modernising' the university, few studies have examined in a more coherent way how the combined external pressure for change with respect to the areas of education, research and innovation has affected the university. In this paper it is argued that one can identify three different sets of logics concerning the current external reform agenda, and that these logics together create new challenges as to how knowledge is created, diffused and governed by the university. In the conclusion, it is discussed whether the current pressure for reform might change the university as we know it, or whether new institutional translations might emerge from the process renewing the university while maintaining its identity.

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Section: Potential Implications For the Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

2010

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“…These initiatives have been applied across a sector that contains institutions with varied origins such as public and private bodies and varied levels of resistance to external control (Kerr, 1990;Stevens, 2004), leading to a range of implementation outcomes at the institutional level. Furthermore, the degree of diversity and differentiation in the system, and the extent to which governments and institutions support further differentiation, impact on decision making at the institutional level (Vught, 2008). In such circumstances, interpretations of the policy context within institutions and in the wider higher education community have a powerful impact on notions of what is strategically appropriate.…”

Section: "Appropriate" Institutional Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This standardisation of institutional form is likely to increase standardisation of aspiration within the sector or field, with institutions referencing the activity of others considered comparators or competitors. Decisions relating to government policy may also be guided by peer activity and the perception within an institution that there is an imperative to adapt to the changing environment in order to maintain institutional position (Vught, 2008), leading potentially to isomorphism at a peer group level. These isomorphic pressures interact with innovations at the institutional level (Stensaker and Norgard, 2001) as institutions attempt to reconcile external sectoral pressures with imperatives to make internal change coherent.…”

Section: "Appropriate" Institutional Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Institutional strategies in response to higher skills policy in England

Hordern¹

2012

Higher Education Management and Policy

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“…The policy debate over Horizon 2020 provides an important test as to whether the balance between trust and audit in society is an ongoing political debate which can sway back and forth, or whether it is essentially on a one-way street towards an audit society, in which increasing trust is politically unfeasible. Increasing trust would mean a simplification of the oversight system, and the LERU has published a position paper which demonstrates that several European countries have alternative systems which are based on a more open and trustful environment (Van Dijk, 2011).…”

Section: Europeanisation Of Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Multi-Level Steering and Institution Building: The European Union's Approach to Research Policy

Young

2012

European Educational Research Journal

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Adopting the conception of the university as a primary driver of innovation and economic growth has brought increased pressure for the European Union (EU) to actively steer university-based research policy, despite its being outside of the EU's direct jurisdiction. While the open method of coordination (OMC) was developed for such situations, the complex nature of universities and research policy has meant that such steering does not stop with the OMC and occurs on multiple levels using a variety of governance tools. By mapping out the ways in which the EU uses legal, financial and informational instruments to coordinate policy and build institutions, the article attempts to understand the role and objective of the EU in this policy area in relation to national and other global actors. It suggests that despite strong globalising trends, the EU does more than to echo and promote these trends at the national and sub-national levels, but also attempts to structure the research environment in a complex heterogeneous way.The importance of the concept of a 'knowledge economy' for European Union (EU) policy has brought higher education, and more specifically university-based research, to the forefront of policy concerns. The Lisbon strategy and the subsequent EU 2020 strategy rest on the assumption that knowledge creation and dissemination is and will continue to be the basis for competitiveness in a globalised world. In order to address this area, the EU has sought ways to influence the creation and dissemination of knowledge without directly creating higher education or research policy, as those fall outside of its jurisdiction and are subject to national sensitivities and path dependencies. The attempts of the EU to play a role in higher education can be traced back as far as the 1950s (Corbett, 2006); however, in the year 2000, a significant shift occurred in EU policy. The belief in a direct connection between knowledge creation and economic growth became enshrined in the Lisbon strategy and thus invited new policy initiatives which emphasised the economic role of universities in contradistinction to their cultural and socialising role. While this shift was beneficial for EU policymakers seeking more control over the higher education area, the economic conception of universities originates outside of the EU. The process of globalisation, the drive for national competitiveness, the discourses of the knowledge economy and innovation systems, and broader neo-liberal ideas undergirding the concept of new public management, as well as organisations such as the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and World Bank, have all been highly influential in pushing countries to adapt their university sectors to a more economically oriented model.What, then, is the role and objective of the EU in the policy area of university-based research? What does the EU bring to the table that neither the national economies nor the global higher education landscape can provide? This article is intended to ma...

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Mission Diversity and Reputation in Higher Education

Cited by 285 publications

References 17 publications

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

Institutional strategies in response to higher skills policy in England

Multi-Level Steering and Institution Building: The European Union's Approach to Research Policy

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