Terhi Nokkala

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

This article analyses the ways in which a policy actor constructs its agency through the production of knowledge. Taking the example of the concept of ‘autonomy’ as constructed in the discourse of the European University Association (EUA), the article draws on the theory of discursive framing and agenda setting, as well as on Meyer and Jeppersons heuristic of agentic actors, to show how the practice of knowledge production can shape the European higher education policy. The article offers a contribution to the debate aiming to develop a more critical perspective on the development of the European Higher Education Area, which sees the process as constituted through the activities of, and the negotiations between, different political actors.

Institutional Autonomy and the Attractiveness of the European Higher Education Area Facts or Tokenistic Discourse

In the discourse of the Bologna Process, the notion of competitiveness as the focal goal of Bologna Process, and university autonomy as one of its founding principles are consistently linked. Autonomy is framed as a precondition of competitiveness, while competitiveness is framed in terms of attractiveness of European higher education and higher education institutions. This paper examines their relationship, discussing whether there is ground for the repeated policy argument of their going hand in hand. Do the more attractive countries have higher autonomy, are the countries with higher autonomy more attractive? Or are these phenomena linked only in the simplified arguments of the policy discourse? The analysis of OECD and other mobility data shows that there is no consistent link between autonomy and attractiveness.

Ranking Lists and European Framework Programmes

The operational context for higher education institutions has become increasingly competitive: universities have to compete on national and international markets for students, staff, funding and prestige. The emergence of various markets, market mechanisms and competition in higher education have become a well-established and much discussed fact, and have shaped the dynamics of the higher education arena (Enders & Jongbloed 2007; Texeira et al. 2004) In a global competition of knowledge societies, higher education institutions have been vested with the task of economic and social change, and are expected to contribute to the competitiveness of nationstates as well as their local communities.

‘World Class Local Heroes’: Emerging Competitive Horizons and Transnational Academic Capitalism in Finnish Higher Education – 2010–2012

This chapter introduces an analysis based on institutional profiles of higher education institutions and the two institutional case studies that were carried out in Finland as part of the CINHEKS study. The purposeful selection of the profiles and case studies was based on historical contextualization, the spectrum of higher education institutions in Finland, as well as the twin effects of a major legislative reform, carried out as the global economic crisis of 2008/09 unfolded. In terms of theory of the middle range, empirical focus was achieved via a purposeful selection based on mission emphasis, disciplinary cultures, career stage and competitive horizons. This analysis spotlights three key facets of the Finnish case particularly relevant to the CINHEKS comparative study. Specifically, the Finnish higher education systems’ incorporation into neoliberal transnational academic capitalism, characterized by tensions between established tradition, at a national competitive horizon and emergent competitive horizons linked to the global division of scholarly labor. Secondly, the way in which this division of labor manifests is illustrated by a contrast on two extreme cases within Finnish higher education, featuring regional (and HEI) survival in one case, and a pragmatic foray into the global-facing world of HEIs vying for globally significant profiles, reputation and outcomes. Thirdly, we focus on the resulting misrecognition of enduring features that characterize the Finnish system, as a whole, across the extremes in our case studies, as well as paradoxical change and flux that presently characterizes this system. From the outside-looking-in, Finland’s society and education system are internationally – and often uncritically – valorized, on a regular basis. However, from the inside-looking-around, many higher education actors are of the opinion that higher education is not changing quickly enough, while others remain firmly convinced higher education is changing far too quickly. Our discussion centers on the uncertainty as to the viability of the signature features that are often cited as the basis for the quality of life in one of the last remaining strong Nordic social democracies and the role higher education system has to play. In addition, building directly on the cross-case analysis of CINHEKS higher education profiles, this analysis introduces the conceptual problematization universtasis which integrates power, domain and mission in a way that allows both empirically grounded explanation-building and policy analysis concerning the relationships between social reproduction and transformation in higher education within and between networked knowledge societies.

Making the case for policy – persuasiveness in higher education, science and technology policy discourse

ABSTRACT Policy texts present problems, propose solutions to those problems and persuade multiple audiences of the legitimacy of the proposed problems and solutions. The rhetorical analysis of two decades of higher education and science and technology discourse in Finland, Germany, UK, Portugal and USA highlights the discursive elements that contribute to persuasiveness of policy, construe it as rational and logical, and create a sense of urgency in bringing it about. I argue that the analytical and hortatory registers of policy discourse foreground competitive and hierarchical relations of countries and their higher education systems. By construing certain state of affairs and courses of action as self-evidently desirable and true, they contribute to the emergence and reproduction of the neoliberal political rationality proposed by the Foucauldian governmentality theory.

Early Career Women in Academia: An Exploration of Networking Perceptions

This chapter explores women’s networking perceptions by focusing on early career women in social sciences. Within an exploratory research design it asks how early career women define the early career stage in academia, what definitions, meanings and interpretations they give for networks and networking, how they construct the networking process and their ability to establish and/or join networks, as early career researchers and as women. Based on two group interviews with 12 participants, our findings show that early career women in academia favour networking with peers based on shared interests (organic networking). At the same time though, they challenge and step over the perceived gender divide, recognizing the increasing importance of strategic networking for one’s career. A balance between compliance to existing rules, i.e. networking with (male) seniors, and differentiation from traditional practices, i.e. networking with female colleagues in similar positions and challenging perceived ‘old boys clubs’ appears to be a common objective of our respondents. This shows that, while not challenging networking per se, early career women in academia are nonetheless aware of the ‘rules of the game’, which they address by enacting blended networking processes to reach both their objectives in terms of career, and their professional and personal satisfaction. A research agenda is proposed, which draws on the structure-agency nexus and calls for the broadening of the empirical sample in terms of types of respondents and of higher education institutions.

Finnish mergers : Change in the Context of Continuity

This chapter focuses on three prominent university mergers in Finland which took place during the last decade. In order to understand the mergers and the developments that led to them, we highlight broader higher education policy change, most notably the making and implementation of the new Universities Act (558/2009). The changing discourse around the role of higher education (Nokkala, 2016) and the changing of the Universities Act took place in parallel to the merger processes, thus forming the broader political context which the structural development took place. In our analysis, we take as our central perspective the roles of the national actors to introduce national translations and solutions and local interests into the forum of national policy making (Kauko, 2014); while recognising the roles of international discourses (Nokkala, 2007, 2016) and policy influences (Piironen, 2013; Kallo, 2009; Kauko and Diogo 2012). In 2009, there were 20 universities in Finland. In 2016 the number was 14.

Finland, university mergers and institutional profiling: One of twelve case studies produced as part of the project on structural reform in higher education

This study analyses how different types of system-level (or ‘landscape’) structural reforms in higher education have been designed and implemented in selected higher education systems. In the 12 case studies that form the core of the project, the researchers examine reforms aimed at:• Increasing horizontal differentiation between different types of higher education institutions (for example reforms to introduce or modify the role of universities of applied science);• Increasing vertical differentiation through increasing or decreasing positional or status differences between higher education institutions (for example, reforms aimed at concentrating research in a limited number of universities) and;• Changing institutional interrelationships between higher education institutions (for example, through mergers, the formation of associations of institutions).In each case, the researchers set out to understand the origins and objectives of the reforms examined, the why they were designed and implemented, the extent to which they achieved their objectives and the factors affecting success or failure. The overall objective is to provide policy makers at the European, national and institutional levels with policy relevant conclusions concerning the design, implementation and evaluation of structural reforms

National Stories, Convergent Trends and Divergent Paths: Discursive Construction of the Higher Education and Knowledge Society – Nexus in Higher Education Policy Texts of Five Knowledge Societies

Higher education policy texts construct the relationship between higher education and knowledge society. The higher education discourse in Finland, Portugal, Germany, United Kingdom and United States over the last two decades typically presents the knowledge society as either an existing fact or as a desirable development towards which countries should aspire. The convergent discourse emphasises the importance of information and communication technologies, internationalisation, globalisation, and international context for policy making; the importance of research, science and technology, but also education, learning and skills and their role in bringing about the knowledge society. At the same time, each of the countries has their divergent national stories to tell. This chapter illustrates how countries take the various elements of the nearly hegemonic knowledge society discourse and translate them to suit their own needs and circumstances. The discourse is used to legitimate a range of different, even contradictory policy actions. It is this flexibility and pliability of the notion of knowledge society that contributes to its hegemonic position as the preferred way of the states to refer to themselves. The discourse seems to, implicitly or explicitly, construct a certain kind of converging notion of ‘ideal citizenship’, obligating and responsibilising individuals to have and acquire skills, to be employable, to be an active and responsible citizen.