L.C.J. Goedegebuure

Higher Education Policy. An International Comparative Perspective

Higher education policy in international perspective: an overview (L. Goedegebuure, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in Australia (L. Meek). Higher education policy in Califomia (W. Fox). Higher education policy in Denmark (P. Bache, P. Maassen). Higher education policy in France (F. Kaiser, G. Neave). Higher education policy in Germany (E. Frackman, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in Japan (A. Arimoto, E. de Weert). Higher education policy in the Netherlands (L. Goedegebuure, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, E. de Weert). Higher educational policy in Ontario (G. Jones). Higher education policy in Sweden (G. Svanfeldt). Higher education policy in Switzerland (K. Weber). Higher education policy in the United Kingdom (J. Brennan, T. Shah). International perspectives on trends and issues in higher education policy (L. Goedegebuurre, F. Kaiser, P. Maassen, L. Meek, F. Van Vught, E. de Weert).

Job Satisfaction around the Academic World

Higher education systems have changed all over the world, but not all have changed in the same ways. Although system growth and so-called massification have been worldwide themes, there have been system-specific changes as well. It is these changes that have an important impact on academic work and on the opinions of the staff that work in higher education. The academic profession has a key role to play in producing the next generations of knowledge workers, and this task will be more readily achieved by a contented academic workforce working within well-resourced teaching and research institutions. This volume tells the story of academics’ opinions about the changes in their own countries. The Changing Academic Profession (CAP) survey has provided researchers and policy makers with the capacity to compare the academic profession around the world. Built around national analyses of the survey this book examines academics’ opinions on a range of issues to do with their job satisfaction. Following an introduction that considers the job satisfaction literature as it relates to higher education, country-based chapters examine aspects of job satisfaction within each country.

The Changing Nature of the Academic Deanship

The university as an organization is changing, incorporating elements of private sector management in an academic setting. In these transforming universities middle management has changed as well. In this contribution changes in the role and position of the academic deanship are analysed in more detail. On the basis of a literature review, a description of the deanship is provided, including the main challenges this position entails. It is argued that the deanship has become more demanding, more senior, more strategic, more complex and more managerial in nature, though within the overall context of academe. We illustrate both the complexity and changing nature of the deanship by drawing on two empirical studies. Since research on middle management in universities is still rather thin, more research is welcome. Therefore we conclude with some suggestions for further research to enhance our understanding of what we see as a key management position within todays universities.

Comparative higher education studies: The perspective from the policy sciences

The article explores the historical background of comparative policy studies. These studies are traced back to the comparative approaches in political science and public administration. Following a discussion on the methodological aspects of the comparative approach, an overview and assessment of a number of recent comparative policy studies in higher education is presented.

ON LIMITATIONS AND CONSEQUENCES OF CHANGE: DUTCH UNIVERSITY GOVERNANCE IN TRANSITION

In several countries, the internal governance structures of universities were substantially changed in the 1990s or are currently under discussion. Frequently found designs are those that strengthen executive leadership at the central and middle level of universities. In this article we present three large‐scale reforms in Dutch university governance, using an elaborate classification scheme derived from classic issues in political science. Moreover, in the second part of the article we address the implications and limitations of the latest reform inside a university. It will show that the formal situation ‐ stipulated in the law ‐ is somewhat different from the actual situation: ‘real’ changes appear to be less radical than those on paper.

International perspectives on trends and issues in higher education policy

Publisher Summary This chapter discusses international perspectives on trends and issues in a higher education policy. Privatization and market competition can be mere fads in the higher education policy, but the pursuit of these trends from a variety of different directions would lead one to believe otherwise. Also, the significance of the lean toward competition, de-regulation, and entrepreneurialism is given some credence by the fact that it seems that kindred forces are pushing different higher education systems in similar directions. Governments in different places are formulating similar responses to the problems facing their respective higher education systems. This can be due, in part, to similar responses to similar environmental circumstances. Economic instability, rising unemployment, flagging export markets, trade imbalances, and inflation know no national boundaries. Traditional manufacturing industries are being replaced by the so-called “knowledge processing sector,” to which higher education has a particular economic contribution to make. The social service burden on national treasuries is rising everywhere, coupled with “pressures to cut government expenditure and to demand greater efficiencies from public sector institutions and enterprises.”

Academic Job Satisfaction from an International Comparative Perspective: Factors Associated with Satisfaction Across 12 Countries

In many ways, the academic profession is one of the “key professions” in the knowledge society. Academics hold central positions in the knowledge society through their traditional roles as producers of knowledge and educators of knowledge workers. Universities are also emerging as a key source of innovation and economic and social development, taking on responsibilities previously in the realm of business and government (Etzkowitz et al. 2007). However, the positive and opportunistic outlook of university-driven innovation is contingent upon individual academics successfully adapting to these new roles and balancing competing demands. Across a wide range of studies, job satisfaction has been shown to correlate significantly with job performance, with the strongest correlation found in jobs requiring complexity and autonomy (Judge et al. 2001). Change has always been a key feature of the university and the academic profession, but academics have rarely played a positive role in initiating or supporting institutional reform. Almost without exception, academics defend traditions and the status quo, regardless of whether such traditions serve the long-term interest of the university (Altbach 1980). The university’s durability can be partly credited to the conservatism of the professoriate. Conservatism protects the university from ill-advised change or change for the sake of change. On the other hand, conservatism can also obstruct desirable change. Undoubtedly, the rise of the knowledge society envisages changes to traditional academic roles, and a motivated academic workforce, satisfied with their reconstructed academic jobs, is most likely to produce the greatest benefit to research, innovation and society. Therefore, it is of paramount importance that stakeholders seeking to influence the university’s role in the knowledge society understand what motivates academics in their everyday work. This, of course, is equally true for those in charge of our universities, be they vice chancellors, deans, heads of school or research directors.

Higher education policy in international perspective: an overview

Publisher Summary This chapter provides an overview of higher education policy in an international perspective. Developments in higher education in general and in higher education policy in particular can be analyzed from a multitude of perspectives. A quick glance through the existing literature suffices to affirm this statement. As there are many different ways of looking at higher education policy, it becomes of primary importance to locate an international comparative project within an overarching framework to curb individual hobby horses and maximize comparability of outcomes of the constituent parts. The framework underlying this study on higher education policy in an international perspective has been constructed by combining the key elements formulated in the project remit of the Bertelsmann Foundation and elements that have featured prominently, and proven viable, in prior work undertaken by CHEPS in the area of comparative higher education policy research. Using this framework, the chapter discusses the concepts of regulation and control, autonomy and academic freedom, federalism, and intermediary bodies.

The changing nature of academic middle management: A framework for analysis.

The objective of this chapter is to present an analytical framework that encourages further research on middle management in higher education and that will help us to further understand how universities are being led and managed. It is argued that notwithstanding the contributions in this volume, in general, middle management in higher education is under-researched. Given that middle-management positions are becoming increasingly important because of a number of external and internal environmental changes, this in itself is problematic. To the extent that middle management in higher education has been the object of study, with a few exceptions, this has been done largely through case studies in an Anglo-American context. Drawing on the Competing Values Framework, a framework is proposed that could facilitate a more empirical research agenda linking leadership styles to organisational effectiveness.

Overview: Governance in higher education—concepts and issues

This paper presents an overview of key concepts and issues in the governance of higher education. It is written both as an introduction to and as a reflection upon the collection of papers presented in this Special Issue of Higher Education: Research & Development. It seeks to locate important clusters of research interest relating to higher education governance, and it advances a perspective on the topic that might assist in guiding and encouraging further research.