Mari Elken

Policies for quality in higher education – coordination and consistency in EU-policymaking 2000–2010

Abstract Internationally there is much political consensus on the key role higher education has in developing the knowledge society. One can argue that a key condition for establishing a knowledge society is the need to coordinate policies across different areas, at least linking higher education with research, innovation and labour market policies. In all these policy areas, ‘quality’ has been emphasised as an important dimension, and this article undertakes an empirical check as to how coordination regarding ‘quality’ is taking place in EU policy formation. A key finding of the article is that much variety can be found as to how, and to what extent various policy areas are linked with respect to ‘quality,’ and that considerable political ambiguity exist as to how different policy areas should and can be combined. Implications of the findings are discussed, not least in relation to assumptions concerning increasing horizontalisation of policymaking in the EU.

‘EU-on-demand’: developing national qualifications frameworks in a multi-level context

The development of comprehensive national qualifications frameworks (NQFs) across Europe has been sparked by the introduction of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in 2008. Taking an institutional perspective, this article examines the development of NQFs in three countries, in light of developments that have taken place at the European level. The three cases (Estonia, Ireland, Norway) show how these processes are highly dependent on the links to the European level, the sequence of the process, how the European initiative is coupled to national issues, actor involvement locally and the time available. The article shows the potentially problematic nature of introducing European solutions on a national level as agenda-setting processes can become omitted and ad hoc linkages to national policy domains can be weakly developed.

Still the main show in town? Assessing political saliency of the Bologna Process across time and space

Numerous studies focused on the linkages between the Bologna Process and system – as well as organizational-level changes – implying significance of the process for higher education policy dynamics. However, what has been lacking is a closer examination of the political importance of Bologna for the different actors involved and whether this varies over time, space and types of actors. The present study investigates the changes in the size and rank of delegations of national governments and European stakeholder organizations to the Bologna ministerial conferences in order to assess Bolognas political saliency in relation to (1) a more concrete interest in the actual European policy preferences for higher education and (2) an interest in the symbolic aspect of European policy coordination in higher education. The results suggest that the Bologna Process is primarily losing political appeal for the national governments of European Union (EU) members, while for the EU candidates and potential members as well as for the European stakeholder organizations it remains politically salient.

Developing policy instruments for education in the EU: the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning

The European Qualifications Framework (EQF) for lifelong learning has been characterized as a policy instrument with a number of contested ideas, raising questions about the process through which such instruments are developed at European level. The introduction of the EQF is in this article examined through variations of neo-institutional theory: historical contingency perspective, rational perspective, normative perspective and a process of chance. The EQF is examined as a case, using documents and expert interviews as empirical sources. The article highlights the complex interplay between various historical processes that enabled the introduction of the EQF and how problems and solutions can drive the process forward in a dialectic manner. Furthermore, while the impact of the EQF on national level remains to be seen at this point, the analysis uncovers increased space for introducing new instruments on EU level.

Multi-level, Multi-actor and Multi-issue Dimensions of Governance of the European Higher Education Area, and Beyond

In: Curaj A., Deca L., Pricopie R. (eds). (2018). European Higher Education Area: The Impact of Past and Future Policies. Cham: Springer. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-77407-7_20

Higher Education in the Nordic Countries : Evaluation of the Nordic agreement on admission to higher education

The Nordic agreement on admission to higher education aims to ensure that in all the Nordic countries applicants to higher education from another Nordic country should be considered for admission o ...

Pulling the Plug in a Bathtub: The Big Consequences of a Small Change in Norwegian Higher Education

The Quality Reform (Kvalitetsreformen), introduced in 2004, is frequently referred to as the most comprehensive higher education reform in Norway. One element in the reform was that higher education institutions could change institutional categories, provided that they fulfil certain minimum criteria and are able to obtain accreditation from NOKUT (the Norwegian Quality Assurance Agency). This initially minor change has had considerable effects on higher education landscape in Norway, where the number of universities doubled from four to eight as a result of the reform. The chapter takes an analytical starting point in four perspectives of reform: reform as design, reform as incremental change, reform as concurrence and reform as a result of interest bargaining. The case highlights the complexity of systemic change initiatives in higher education. Overall, one can observe long-term incremental changes in the system, while closer observation of the reform process shows negotiations and bargaining between actors, as well as other concurrent changes that intertwine with reform efforts and attempts of policy design. Thus, one can argue that this case shows how small changes can also lead to big consequences and that change processes at some point can become irreversible.

Expert group institutionalization and task expansion in European education policy-making:

The role of expertise has been considered as an important feature in EU governance processes, not least in the context of soft governance and policy coordination. This article focuses on how an advisory group can, over a short period of time, acquire a high degree of stability and legitimacy in a sector where joint action falls under the subsidiarity principle, and joint policy coordination on a European level has traditionally been difficult. With the introduction of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) in 2008, an expert group (European Qualifications Framework Advisory Group, EQFAG) was created to support the national processes. From being established as a temporary expert group it became an informal advisory group in the area of lifelong learning, bridging the European and national levels in terms of debates for future action.