University Autonomy, Agenda Setting and the Construction of Agency: The Case of the European University Association in the European Higher Education Area

Nokkala, Terhi; Baćević, Jana

doi:10.2304/eerj.2014.13.6.699

Cited by 32 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Scholars have given various explanations to the concepts of institutional autonomy and academic freedom and in some instances used the two terms interchangeably. Drawing from the definitions given by scholars like Okai & Worlu (2014), Martin (2014), Nokkala & Bacevic (2014) and CEPES (1992), we argue that the two terms do not mean the same. The notion of autonomy can be understood at the two levels of institutional and individual autonomy (Yang, Vidovich & Currie, 2007).…”

Section: Conceptualization Of Institutional Autonomy and Academic Frementioning

confidence: 76%

Institutional Autonomy: Implications for Teaching and Research in Public Universities in Uganda

Etomaru¹,

Ujeyo²,

Luhamya³

et al. 2016

IRHE

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This paper focused on examining the implications of institutional autonomy for teaching and research in public universities in Uganda. What constitutes university autonomy and what are its likely effects on establishing a balance between teaching and research in public universities in Uganda is the pertinent question raised in this paper. The paper argues that the university as an autonomous institution at the heart of societies produces, examines, appraises and hands down culture by research and teaching. Thus, research and teaching must be morally and intellectually independent of all political and economic interference. Literature reviewed through a constructivist epistemological lens revealed that much as official government documents pronounced institutional autonomy for public universities in Uganda, teaching and research seem to be influenced by external forces to a greater extent. Based on resource dependence theory, we conclude that pseudo autonomy constrains faculty independence in both teaching and research. We recommend that public universities in Uganda ought to revisit the professional work of the academics in the wake of increasing demands in order to balance between research and teaching.

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Section: Conceptualization Of Institutional Autonomy and Academic Frementioning

confidence: 76%

Institutional Autonomy: Implications for Teaching and Research in Public Universities in Uganda

Etomaru¹,

Ujeyo²,

Luhamya³

et al. 2016

IRHE

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“…A similar approach in the context of higher education is Nokkala and Bacevic's (2014) analysis of the role of European University Association (EUA), which shows how an organization uses the production of knowledge in the context of generating policy discourses in order to bolster its own position in the political landscape. Framing, in this context, is used not only to influence the agenda, but also to increase the power and relevance of a specific political actor.…”

Section: Agenda Setting Power and Agencymentioning

confidence: 99%

Agenda Setting and Policy Development, Higher Education

Baćević

Nokkala

2018

Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions

Self Cite

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Agenda setting and policy developmentDefinition: The capacity of an actor to define or influence issues on the public agenda by selecting issues seen as important or relevant; or by shaping the way these issues are framed, discussed and interpreted.Synonyms: policy development, policy framing, policy process, policy cycle IntroductionAgenda setting is one of key concepts in the critical or interpretative approaches in the study of policy development. Developed in response to positivist paradigms, which saw policies as largely technical solutions to objectively existing problems, critical or interpretive analysis emphasises the constructed, contingent, and processual nature of policies, in particular the role of differently positioned actors in bringing specific issues to the fore (Fischer, 2003). In this sense, the use of agenda setting in the research on higher education policy is fundamentally related to the questions of political power and influence, and thus to the relationship between longer-term structural change and stability, on the one hand, and individual or collective agency, on the other.In broad terms, agenda setting refers to the capacity of an actor (individual, group, organisation, institution) to define or influence issues on the public agenda. This occurs in two ways: on the one hand, selecting issues seen as important or relevant (thematisation or problematisation); on the other, shaping the way these issues are framed, discussed and interpreted (framing or interpretation). While policy processes normally involve elements of both, their analysis can be traced to two relatively distinct disciplinary traditions, one largely reliant on political science, and the other on communication and media studies. This article summarises the main elements of both traditions, and then delineates their convergences and implications for higher education policy research. Agenda setting in political scienceThe political science tradition of agenda setting research addresses the mechanisms through which policy issues arise into the policy arena -for example, through actions of policy makers, NGOs, and the media. In this framework, agenda setting is usually focused on the first stage of the policy cycle, Kommentoinut [t1]: Please delete to comply with the section standards.

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“…The growing political and economic role of universities and their alleged inability to regulate themselves was used as a rationale for new forms of control, both internally (though management and evaluation) and externally (through policy and audit). As the liberal freedoms of territorial and political sovereignty were being discarded, university autonomy was monitored and directly linked with performance, efficiency, competitiveness and accountability (Enders, de Boer and Weyer, : 5; Nokkala and Bacevic, : 704). These reforms were slowly but surely introduced in Venezuela, starting with the 1990s systems of evaluation and promotion for faculty members who had to prove competitiveness on the global academic market (Ivancheva, ).…”

Section: University Autonomy Under the Venezuelan Liberal Democracy (mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Discreet Charm of University Autonomy: Conflicting Legacies in the Venezuelan Student Movements

Ivancheva

2016

Bull Latin American Res

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The recent history of Venezuela's student movements illustrates the paradox of academic autonomy. The student left used autonomy to resist repression during Venezuela's liberal democracy (1958). Yet, after 1998, the former supporters of the parties which had violated that autonomy started to capitalise on it in order to block the progressive reforms. The Bolivarian government's decision not to interfere with autonomous universities, but to create a parallel Bolivarian university system instead replicated one of the reform patterns of previous governments. Despite the government's intention to fight inequality, the reform contributed to further stratification of higher education and polarisation among the student movements.

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University Autonomy, Agenda Setting and the Construction of Agency: The Case of the European University Association in the European Higher Education Area

Cited by 32 publications

References 32 publications

Institutional Autonomy: Implications for Teaching and Research in Public Universities in Uganda

Institutional Autonomy: Implications for Teaching and Research in Public Universities in Uganda

Agenda Setting and Policy Development, Higher Education

The Discreet Charm of University Autonomy: Conflicting Legacies in the Venezuelan Student Movements

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