Amélia Veiga

Policy Implementation Tools and European Governance

Olsen (2002) has suggested that the transformation of the European order may be studied by analysing how systems of governance emerge, are maintained and changed. In recent years, the structure of modern government has changed dramatically in a number of countries. The questioning of the cost and effectiveness of government programmes and the emergence of neo-liberal theories have resulted in governments “being challenged to be reinvented, downsized, privatised, devolved, decentralised, deregulated, delayered, subject to performance tests, and contracted out” (Salamon 2002: 1).

European universities as complete organizations? Understanding identity, hierarchy and rationality in public organizations

Abstract This article investigates the form of European universities to determine the extent to which they resemble the characteristics of complete organizations and whether the forms are associated with modernization policy pressure, national institutional frames and organizational characteristics. An original data set of twenty-six universities from eight countries was used. Specialist universities have a stronger identity, whereas the level of hierarchy and rationality is clearly associated with the intensity of modernization policies. At the same time, evidence suggests limitations for universities to become complete, as mechanisms allowing the development of some dimensions seemingly constrain the capability to develop others.

How Does the Bologna Process Challenge the National Traditions of Higher Education Institutions

In the European Union, the dispersion of authority away from the central government resulting from reallocation of power upwards (to the EU), downwards (to the regions, local authorities) and sideways (to public/private networks) (Hooghe and Marks 2001) has led to the development of the notion of multi-level governance and to the use of soft law to coordinate the implementation of European policies. The implementation of the Bologna Process also uses soft law procedures to coordinate what are complex, multi-level and functionally interdependent governance systems (Borras and Jacobsson 2004). This makes it difficult to understand the change processes taking place at the local level (e.g., higher education institutions) as the Bologna Process moves into the implementation phase. In this chapter an attempt is made to use the grid/group Cultural Theory to better understand the course of those local level changes using the implementation of the Bologna Process in Portugal as a case study. This chapter also refers to the cultural dimension that is becoming embedded in the implementation of the Bologna Process. The lens of the Cultural Theory is used to better understand both the course of the changes at the local level and the web of interactions that take place in the pays reel (Neave 2005) trying to capture the cultural bias of different arguments emerging within the course of Bologna. At the European level (e.g., the Ministers responsible for higher education, the Bologna Follow-up Group) the implementation of the Bologna Process has been presented as a success story: “We take note of the significant progress made towards our goals, as set out in the General Report 2003–2005” (Bergen Communique 2005, p. 254), and: The key message is that the Bologna Process is working. Almost all participating countries have embarked upon the reform process along the lines articulated by Ministers in Bologna in 1999. The great majority of countries fall within the categories of “Excellent Performance” or “Very Good Performance”. (Bologna Follow-up Group 2005, p. 26)

Understanding the impacts of quality assessment: an exploratory use of cultural theory

Cultural theory is tentatively used to understand how far quality assessment affects institutions by influencing the group and grid dimensions. This paper argues that the self‐assessment phase of the Portuguese system, in use until recently, promoted the egalitarian (logic of mistrusting power and expertise) and the individualist (logic of freedom and autonomy) ways of life as its structure was based on academic cooperation and closed to society. However, the external assessment phase emphasised the individualist and hierarchical ways of life, the latter promoting the logic of authority and expertise. This analysis presents the dynamics of quality assessment as a step‐by‐step process rather than a broad‐spectrum development. This attempt to apply the grid/group cultural theory to the opinions expressed on the establishment of quality assessment systems of Portuguese universities is promising. Moreover, if it is accepted that pressures from outside will enforce the grid dimension, to avoid the fatalist way of life the group dimension should be reinforced, by adopting policies and strategies to increase the group membership. These policies might be linked either to social capital or to collegiality.

From Collegial Governance to Boardism: Reconfiguring Governance in Higher Education

Until the last quarter of the 20th century, many European universities had been primarily governed by academics, and the state acted as a buffer protecting higher education institutions and academics from the interference of external interests (Neave, 2012) and held ruling power over non-academic matters. From a normative stance, less than half a century ago, Moodie and Eustace still considered that in universities, ‘the supreme authority … must … continue to rest with the academics’ (Moodie and Eustace, 1974, p. 233), and Burton Clark (1983) argued that the adoption of models based on the metaphor of organized anarchy would be more appropriate for allowing individuals and research teams to liberate their inventive capacity and to produce innovative ideas.

How Is European Governance Configuring the EHEA

Abstract This article focuses on the interaction between the European dimension driven by the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the development of national reforms to fulfil that objective. On the basis of data gathered in eight countries involved in EuroHESC project TRUE (Transforming European Universities), the curricular and the governance reforms are examined in order to identify the tension between the European dimension and the implementation of reforms in national contexts. European higher education policies take the momentum of the implementation of the Bologna Process at national level and European Union (EU) governance brings to the forefront the need for political coordination.

Researching the Bologna Process through the Lens of the Policy Cycle

This chapter examines the dynamic of the Bologna process across a ‘policy cycle’ (Ball, 1990; Bowe, et al., 1992) with the aim of providing insightful elements to outline it within a broader process of policy integration and coordination in the field of higher education.

The Impacts of Bologna and of the Lisbon Agenda

Viewing the Bologna process and the Lisbon strategy from the perspective of policy implementation, this chapter focuses on the outcome of different beliefs, expectations and perceptions which their goals generated at different levels (European, national and institutional). The policy cycle approach highlights different levels of empowerment. It puts weight on those policy processes that serve as a resource to national debates, stimulating policy change by through their interpretation and application within higher education institutions.

Bologna Process Implementation Problems

This chapter analyses the implementation problems of the Bologna Process in relation to the steering mechanisms based on the Open Method of Coordination (OMC). In areas such as education, which the European treaties have reserved for the legal command of national authorities (subsidiarity principle), the traditional ‘Community method’ of passing European legislation cannot be used and the European Union needs to resort to a soft law approach such as the OMC, which is an instrument of the Lisbon strategy and takes place in areas of member states’ competence (e.g. employment, social protection, social inclusion, education, youth and training). An important goal is to understand how far soft law methodologies, even when adequate to foster change, are adequate to ensure convergence and embeddedness of policy implementation and coordination, as there are successive levels (national, regional, institutional, etc.) with influence on the dynamic process of structural change. This is particularly relevant in the case of the Bologna Process as the implementation ultimately depends on the activity of autonomous institutions—the higher education institutions—where traditionally academic freedom does not allow for the direct top-down command of the central administration. Hence, implementation in conceptual terms is being challenged.

Ascribing meaning to quality cultures in the Portuguese context

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to discuss Portuguese academics’ views on quality assessment and the elements that are important for a better understanding of what ascribes meaning to “quality cultures” in Portuguese higher education. Design/methodology/approach – The discussion was based on the results of a survey run in 2010 among Portuguese academics on quality assessment objectives and purposes. Descriptive statistics was used to investigate academics’ support to what quality assessment was supposed to guarantee (its purposes) and which should be its objectives. Furthermore, a factorial analysis using Promax rotation (oblique) was performed to investigate if the different purposes could be grouped according to the different areas they address in terms of quality assessment, helping to uncover a rationale that could explain the answers obtained. Theoretically, the results have been analysed in the light of the “quality culture” concept. Findings – Perceptions of Portuguese academics that suppo...