Martina Vukasovic

The Re-Institutionalization of Higher Education in the Western Balkans

Contents: Bjorn Stensaker/Jelena Brankovic/Maja Kovacevic/Peter Maassen/Martina Vukasovic: Introduction - Martina Vukasovic: How Can and How Does Europe Matter? - Danijela Dolenec/Nikola Baketa/Peter Maassen: Europeanizing Higher Education and Research Systems of the Western Balkans - Antigoni Papadimitriou/Bjorn Stensaker: Governance Capacity of Western Balkan Universities: Perceptions of Institutional Leadership - Jelena Brankovic: Positioning of Private Higher Education Institutions in the Western Balkans: Emulation, Differentiation and Legitimacy Building - Martin Galevski: Dimensions of Higher Education Governance in Macedonia: Exploring the Roles of the State - Sanja Kanazir/Antigoni Papadimitriou/Bjorn Stensaker: Quality Assurance Agencies in the Western Balkans: Balancing European Standards and Domestic Needs? - Martina Vukasovic: Quality Assurance in Croatia and Serbia: Analysis of Changes of Policy and Internal Organizational Practices - Antigoni Papadimitriou/Nina Brankovic/Snezana Dordevic: The Regional Links of Universities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia - Heliona Mico/Suzana Papadhopulli: Differentiation of the Mission of Higher Education Institutions through Developing and Establishing Regional Development Centres at Each Regional University - Bjorn Stensaker/Jelena Brankovic/Maja Kovacevic/Peter Maassen/Martina Vukasovic: Epilogue.

Change Dynamics and Higher Education Reforms

Higher education institutions have become in practically every society the main institutionalized domains for handling advanced knowledge. They have survived since their origin in more or less the same organizational form (Kerr, 2001), which is all the more remarkable given the fundamental changes that have taken place in their environments. Their main organizational building blocks have always been the knowledge areas around which chairs, departments, faculties, schools and centres are positioned (Clark, 1983), and universities and colleges are populated by academic staff, students, and administrators, whose interactions determine the institutional day-to-day life. These relatively stable elements can still be found as basic organisational characteristics in any higher education institution in the world and are still used as reference points for legitimisation or quality assurance purposes.

Higher education governance and policy: an introduction to multi-issue, multi-level and multi-actor dynamics

Abstract This thematic issue introduces the multifaceted nature of contemporary public policy – its multi-level, multi-actor and multi-issue features – using the case of higher education policies from around the world. To do so, this introduction first describes how higher education as a policy sector should be garnering far more attention from scholars interested in political, economic and social transformation. A framework for identifying and accounting for how the ‘multi-s’ characteristics configure and re-configure public policy is then introduced. Next, this thematic issue’s contributions are summarized with highlights of how they bring to life the different ‘multi-s’ features. This introduction concludes with a discussion of what the proposed framework of the ‘multi-s’ offers to studies of higher education policy coordination. In so doing, the objectives of this thematic issue are to highlight what the case of higher education policy coordination offers to studies of public policy and to initiate a dialogue between all social scientists and practitioners interested in the increased complexity of governing, producing and using knowledge today.

Stakeholder organizations in the European higher education area: exploring transnational policy dynamic

Abstract The study focuses on multi-level and multi-actor characteristics of European governance, concentrating on six European stakeholder organizations in the area of higher education (HE) and research. It analyses how policy positions change over time and how such changes can be accounted for, juxtaposing (1) environmental influence linked to structuration of the European HE policy arena as an organizational field and (2) internal organizational dynamic. Policy positions are seen to comprise three elements – policy issues, policy preferences and normative basis. Theoretically, the study is grounded in policy analysis, interest groups and neo-institutionalism. The empirical material consists of policy documents, subjected to both quantitative and qualitative content analysis. The study identifies changes in policy positions of stakeholder organizations, resulting in both differences and similarities, though the latter do not emerge over time in a way that suggests straightforward convergence. Thus, further research into specificities of policy-making processes within these organizations is necessary.

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.

Institutionalisation of internal quality assurance: focusing on institutional work and the significance of disciplinary differences

The study suggests that institutionalisation of a comprehensive and systematic approach to internal quality assurance of higher education institutions inspired by the Bologna Process has regulative, normative and cultural-cognitive dimensions. It includes development of structures and procedures for quality assurance, as well as boosting of the socio-political and cognitive legitimacy of the new approaches to quality assurance and the extent to which new approaches are taken-for-granted. Institutionalisation is primarily pushed forward by administrative and junior academic staff. They use the Bologna Process and the European Standards and Guidelines for furthering institutionalisation of internal quality assurance but also rely on the already institutionalised activities related to quality for demonstrating that the new approaches to internal quality assurance are not entirely alien. The study shows that disciplinary differences matter. In the hard-applied fields the regulative elements seem to be not very important, while in the soft-applied fields the regulative aspects are a necessary condition for further institutionalisation. Furthermore, in cultural-cognitive terms, the hard-applied faculty focuses on quantification and technical aspects of internal quality assurance, while the soft-applied field stresses procedural elements and is more prone to adopt a qualitative approach.

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

Concluding comments: when international, European and domestic influences collide

The concluding commentary summarizes the contributions to the special issue, identifies a number of transversal themes and specifies their empirical and theoretical contributions. The interplay between international, European and domestic influences on national policy changes and university adaptation is highlighted. This is used as the basis for a sketch of a research agenda, outlining of a theoretical framework and suggestions for topics for further research.

Europeanization, Policy Transfer or Domestic Opportunity? Comparison of European Impact in Higher Education Policy

Abstract The study conceptualizes three distinct functions European initiatives have in national policy changes: providing a model (Europeanization), providing a communication platform (policy transfer) or providing a legitimizing label (enabling opportunism of domestic policy entrepreneurs). Building on the example of higher education policy changes in four European countries – Belgium/Flanders, Croatia, the Netherlands and Serbia ‒ the study demonstrates that Europeanization, which is the role that can potentially lead to convergence, is actually not the most prominent one. In most cases, European initiatives primarily serve as legitimizing labels for pre-existing policy preferences, thus leading to convergence of policy rhetoric and ideas, while allowing for significant diversity of policy instruments and outcomes.

Partial Horizontal Differentiation in Croatian Higher Education: How Ideas, Institutions and Interests Shape the Policy Process

This chapter looks into the historical process of establishing and strengthening of the non-university sector in Croatia since the mid-1990s onwards and offers an account of its outcome. Initially, the process was part of the country’s broader efforts not only to ensure regionally balanced development, but also to improve quality, efficiency and accessibility to higher education. Since 2001, it was further embedded in broader higher education reform efforts, especially the implementation of the Bologna Process. This reform entailed, on the one hand, the establishment of non-university – professionally oriented – higher education institutions and, on the other hand, a gradual abolishment of professional study programmes in universities. The authors suggest that only a small part of the reform goals have been achieved, whereby some non-university institutions have been established and the number of students enrolled in professional programmes at universities has somewhat decreased. Effectively, the reform failed to align the distinction between types of higher education institutions and types of programmes, rendering the binary divide, at best, blurred. The authors argue that such outcome has been a result of, on the one hand, the governments’ reliance on formal regulation as the main policy instrument, which allowed for discretion in interpretation and enforcement of rules, and, on the other hand, the fact that the most dominant actor – universities – has continuously opposed the reforms.