Categorizing and assessing multi-campus universities in contemporary higher education

Multi-campus universities are not a new phenomenon per se, but they have become an increasing feature of contemporary higher education systems all over the world. In the case of Northern Europe, multi-campus universities are the consequence of contraction patterns resulting from overcapacity, fragmentation and rising competition. This paper has two main objectives. First, to take stock of the existing scientific literature on multi-campus universities and, on that basis, develop a novel conceptual framework for categorizing such systems, with focus on the level of autonomy and profile enjoyed by the individual campuses composing a given system or university. Second, we provide new empirical…

The civic university: the policy and leadership challenges

The societal role of higher education institutions has long been a topic of interest amongst academics and policy maker communities alike. In Europe, the EU’s Lisbon strategy (2000–2010) catapulted...

Responsible Universities in Context

AbstractIn this introductory chapter, the concept of the responsible university is introduced and put into context, first concerning other organisations and society at large, secondly in a historical perspective and thirdly related to policy initiatives across the globe. We also discuss how to implement this concept within the complex organisations that universities constitute. Lastly, we present some key features of the Nordic countries and introduce the empirical chapters of the book.

Access, Equity, and Regional Development

All over the world, the transition from elite to mass, and in many cases, universal higher education (Trow & Burrage, 2010) has resulted in a new set of policy dilemmas regarding the governance of higher education (HE) systems in general (Amaral, Jones, & Karseth, 2002), as well as attempts to steer access to HE in particular (Pinheiro, Charles, & Jones, 2013; Pinheiro & Antonowicz, forthcoming).

Resilience in Organizations and Societies: The State of the Art and Three Organizing Principles for Moving Forward

AbstractResilience has attracted a multitude of scholars from diverse backgrounds and disciplines as it is a desired feature for responding to the adversities that modern societal systems face, not least the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing research displays little convergence on the definition of the concept making a robust theoretical framework and empirical understanding of resilience highly desirable. The aim of this chapter is to provide a more holistic understanding of the complex phenomenon of resilience from a multi-sectorial, cross-national and multidisciplinary perspective by proposing an original approach into the state of the art that might enhance future research. This chapter ident…

The institutionalization of universities’ third mission: introduction to the special issue

Globally, debates on the notion of a third set of activities aimed at linking higher education institutions more closely with surrounding society are not new. In the last decade or so, calls for a re-engagement of the university in helping to tackle the great challenges facing societies and local communities have propelled the third mission to the forefront of policy discussions – this time under the mantra of ‘relevance’ and ‘social impact’. Yet, as some of the articles in this special issue attest, there is a fundamental tension in the notion of a third mission. The chief aim of this special issue is to provide a critical assessment of the extent to which the third mission has become an i…

Economic specialization and diversification at the country and regional level: introducing a conceptual framework to study innovation policy logics

While there has been a shared understanding that innovation policy is about rendering institutional change, there has been an emerging interest in identifying the institutional logics underlying in...

The changing role of students' representation in Poland: an historical appraisal

Student representation in Poland has a relatively short but turbulent history. This article offers an historical appraisal of the development of student representation at the national level in the context of rapid and deep structural changes in Polish higher education. Based on a desktop analysis of official documentation, legislation, ideological declarations and background (first-hand) information provided by student leaders, the article reconstructs the establishment of the first independent self-governing student organisation in the country. In so doing, the paper pays particular attention to the emergence, institutionalisation as well as legitimacy challenges facing student bodies eith…

Translating the Global Script of the Sustainable University: The Case of the University of Oslo

In this chapter, Translating the Global Script of the Sustainable University: The Case of the University of Oslo, Romulo Pinheiro, Maryam Faghihimani and Jarle Trondal discuss the green strategy of University of Oslo. This chapter, which is conceptually based on neo-institutional theory, approaches the notion of the ‘sustainable organisation’ as a global, legitimate script, i.e. a dominant hegemonic idea which, once adopted and consequently adapted locally, is likely to enhance both internal and external legitimacy. This analysis is built on the empirical case of the University of Oslo (UiO), that sheds light on the ways in which the notion of a ‘sustainable university’ has been locally ‘tr…

The Rise of the BRICS and Higher Education Dynamics

This book deals with the developments, policies and perspectives of higher education in Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—the BRICS countries. Our starting point is the evolution of the higher education systems in the BRICS countries, looking less, however, at the institutional dimensions of the universities and more at the broader context (e.g. operational and regulatory) in terms of four main issues or core themes, namely: supply and demand, stakeholders, governmental policy and research and innovation in the light of international trends and globalization.

Handling Uncertainty of Strategic Ambitions—The Use of Organizational Identity as a Risk-Reducing Device

Organizational identity can be designed to reduce the risks of uncertainty about future states of public organizations and the inherent potential issues related to evaluation and assessment. As such, organizational identity may shape a congruent and credible self-representation of the university, where a consistent narrative articulates compliance to diverse institutional frameworks, commitment to organizational distinctiveness, and a sensible rationale for strategic change. By examining the strategic plans of four European universities over a 10-year period of major organizational change, the paper discusses the subtleties of the specific combinations of the three different functions and t…

Institutionalization of technology transfer organizations in Chinese universities

There is a lack of in-depth studies on how technology transfer organizations (TTOs) are organized and developed. This paper examines the evolution/institutionalization of TTOs in Tsinghua University (TU), as a microcosm of the development of TTOs in Chinese universities. It explores two issues in particular: what kinds of TTOs have been developed in TU and why some organizational forms become more institutionalised than others. In so doing, an analytical framework is developed by synthesizing the literature on organizational innovation and institutionalization. The analysis is based on extensive review of academic literature and policy documents, as well as on face-to-face interviews with p…

Symposium on Leadership and Entrepreneurial Behavior in Turbulent Times

When mergers fail: a case study on the critical role of external stakeholders in merger initiatives

ABSTRACTOne can, in principle, identify numerous arguments for mergers in higher education (HE), including efficiency, diversity, quality, and regional needs. This diversity can be explained by the growing societal interest in the sector, not least concerning the contributions from HE to society at large. However, research on merger processes has tended to prefer intra- and inter-institutional dynamics within the HE sector, paying less attention to the role of external stakeholders, and their view concerning the arguments for mergers. This paper argues that merger outcomes are heavily dependent on the role and actions taken by external stakeholders. Through the analysis of a failed merger a…

Towards Resilient Organisations and Societies? Reflections on the Multifaceted Nature of Resilience

AbstractAs the chapters in this volume have shown, resilience is a multifaceted and malleable concept that can be fruitfully applied to a wide range of phenomena at all levels of society. At the same time, there is a distinct danger of concept stretching. In this concluding chapter, we look at both the extensiveness of the concept, reviewing the range of complementary concepts that have been engaged by the authors, and how it can be delimited to maintain conceptual distinctiveness and explanatory value. What is more, we provide some recommendations on how scholars working across disciplinary boundaries may go about unpacking resilience in and for organizations and societies.

Gender and the Marketisation of Higher Education: A Nordic Tale

This chapter investigates the gender differences in managerial practices across three Nordic countries: Finland, Norway, and Sweden. It analyses two aspects: (1) perceptions regarding competition, and (2) motivations for undertaking academic work. The chapter is based on an empirical dataset which was compiled from national surveys (conducted in 2015 and 2016) of senior academic staff (professors, associate professors, and academic leaders), which aimed to assess the perceived effects of recent government-led reforms which focused on performance management and managerial practices.

Higher Education in the BRICS: Key Lessons and the Road Ahead

The assumptions, by the volume editors and most contributors, at the beginning of this research adventure were that, despite the ongoing policy discourse surrounding the rise of the BRICS, were characterized by fundamental differences as regards the dynamics within the higher education sector and the links with societal actors on the one hand and macro level trends (such as demography and rising urbanization) on the other. The rich empirical accounts provided in this volume—around the four main themes surveyed—suggest that our assumptions were largely correct. Considerable differences do exist amongst the BRICS.

Does It Really Matter? Assessing the Performance Effects of Changes in Leadership and Management Structures in Nordic Higher Education

AbstractUniversities are public organisations, which operate in a highly institutionalised environment. They are heavily dependent on public resources. As such, universities are susceptible to shifts in governance arrangements but are also far from being passive recipients of reform agendas. They face demands from multiple internal constituencies (academics, administrators, students, managers) and from a variety of external stakeholders. This chapter explores the interplay between governance arrangements resulting from policy shifts and university dynamics. It sets the stage for the book, asking the following research questions: (1) what characterises changes in governance regimes in Nordic…

Involving Universities in Regional Upgrading in the Periphery: Lessons from Northern Europe

This chapter presents and discusses two cases of regional upgrading involving public-run universities in two Northern European countries, Norway and the Netherlands. More specifically, it illuminates how academic groups associated with the field of medicine took pro-active steps to establish and further develop regional coalitions which, over time, have resulted in situated learning. The focus on processes of university-regional engagement and mutual satisfaction in a context where universities are pressured to be globally excellent allow lessons to be drawn for regions in Southern Europe. Subtle transfer is nevertheless required to account for universities’ autonomies and organisational ca…

Global scripts and local translations

Author's version of an article in the journal: City, Culture and Society. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2014.05.007

The Many Guises of Nordic Higher Education Mergers

In this final chapter, the volume’s editors reflect upon the empirical and theoretical contributions from the book. The chapter is structured according to a number of ‘dimensions’ which have appeared in the previous chapters. It is concluded that the historical contexts and path dependencies play crucial roles also in the case of mergers. Furthermore, the importance of key actors is highlighted, not least the role played by formal top leaders, but also informal brokers and change agents at the institutional level. In terms of future research, two lines of inquiry are identified. The first is to delve deeper into process-related issues, which is still an unexplored aspect of mergers, and the…

Knowledge bases and regional development: collaborations between higher education and cultural creative industries

This paper builds on the assumption that cooperation between higher education institutions (HEIs) and creative and cultural industries (CCIs) stimulates innovation and economic growth at the regional level. It further assumes that HEIs and CCIs hold different perspectives on their intention to cooperate with external actors and, thus, there is a need for joint arenas to develop and integrate knowledge and practices among stakeholders across academia and industry. With this rationale in mind, the paper’s main objective is to discuss how universities’ roles in the establishment and development of locally embedded CCIs change or evolve over time. Taking a process economics perspective and buil…

Humboldt meets Schumpeter? Interpreting the ‘Entrepreneurial Turn’ in European Higher Education

Presentation on department page: http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/om_universitetet/oekonomi_og_samfunnsvitenskap/statsvitenskap_og_ledelsesfag/ forskning_isl/isl_working_papers_series Universities are increasingly pressurized to respond to external imperatives and demands, while, at the same time, being expected to enhance both their efficiency and accountability. This is leading to the local adoption of key, structural and cultural features associated with the model or global script of the entrepreneurial university. This chapter undertakes a critical analysis of the premises associated with the latter model, and provides new insights on the sustainability of the “entrepreneurial turn in high…

A World Full of Mergers: The Nordic Countries in a Global Context

In this introductory chapter to the volume, the editors present the findings from a literature review undertaken on the topic, and link classical organizational perspectives to the study of merger processes involving higher education institutions. The chapter provides a brief overview of developments across Nordic higher education by referring to Burton Clark’s famous ‘triangle of coordination’. The authors conclude by sketching out the rationale and aim of the comparative study, the ways in which the volume is organized and by providing a short summary of its individual contributions.

The roads of ‘excellence’ in Central and Eastern Europe

The aim of the article is to explore the impact of excellence as a powerful policy idea in the context of recent and contemporary developments in three selected Central and Eastern European countries, namely, the Czech Republic, Poland and Ukraine. More specifically, we explore how excellence as a ‘global script’ was translated by policy makers into local contexts with institutionalized practices. It shows that the translation of the idea of excellence involved the rise of a series of novel policy measures such as long-term strategic funding and the establishment of various pertinent schemes (e.g. flagship universities, centres of excellence). By doing so, the analysis – which is comparativ…

Reaching for different ends through tenure track—institutional logics in university career systems

AbstractIn this study, we used the institutional logics perspective to identify the logics underpinning the tenure track career system, how the logics manifest themselves in recruitment and performance management and how academic leaders and academics negotiate between the logics. The study contributes to research on governance dynamics in academia and to universities’ organisational transformation in the context of strategic actorhood. The data comprised interviews with academic leaders (vice-rectors, deans, department heads) and academics in tenure track positions at two Finnish universities. Empirically, the study explores two key areas of human resource management: recruitment and perfo…

Towards a novel conceptual framework for understanding mergers in higher education

ABSTRACTThis paper tries to develop a conceptual framework for a comprehensive understanding of the merger process, which is regarded as a matter of institutionalization of organizational innovation. In the framework, a number of factors affecting merger process or institutionalization of merger are identified, such as those related to environmental issues, economic benefits, institutional compatibility and human agency. The framework hopefully narrows our knowledge gap on theorizing innovation process, in general, and university merger, in particular. It also has a potential to better assist decision-makers and managers in planning and implementing university mergers.

Involving universities in regional upgrading in the periphery

This chapter presents and discusses two cases of regional upgrading involving public-run universities in two Northern European countries, Norway and the Netherlands. More specifically, it illuminates how academic groups associated with the field of medicine took pro-active steps to establish and further develop regional coalitions which, over time, have resulted in situated learning. The focus on processes of university-regional engagement and mutual satisfaction in a context where universities are pressured to be globally excellent allow lessons to be drawn for regions in Southern Europe. Subtle transfer is nevertheless required to account for universities’ autonomies and organisational ca…

Designed for Regional Engagement? The Case of Telemark University College

Established in 1994 through a forced merger between various multiple regional education providers, Telemark University College (HIT) is one of the largest and most decentralised university colleges in Norway. This chapter investigates to what extent the adopted decentralised, multi-campus model has (a) had an effect on organisational dynamics more generally and (b) more specifically how it enables or constrains HIT’s regional role. In so doing, we cast light on a critical tension resulting from the so-called ambiguity of structure inherent in universities as organisations. Our findings show that HIT’s campuses enjoy considerable degrees of autonomy, have overlapping tasks and seemingly conf…

One and two equals three? The third mission of higher education institutions

In modern, knowledge-based societies, universities play an increasingly important role in achieving economic growth and social progress. Their traditional roles and missions are being broadened as to accommodate activities that facilitate engagement with various stakeholder groups. Universities do not want to be regarded as isolated and separated islands from their surrounding communities and have therefore developed internal mechanisms to bridge their activities with the needs and expectations of external actors. In this paper, we take stock of recent scholarly work and ongoing debates surrounding universities’ third mission (TM). Broadly speaking, TM refers to the changing roles and funct…

Engaging with local communities: Five key lessons that businesses can learn from universities

As businesses are coming to terms with the challenges derived from the Covid-19 crisis, they are realizing the need to do more for and with their local communities than being co-located or having business relationships. Business leaders are learning that engaging with local communities can be helpful in steering their business through crises and helping to prepare for the future. The central idea of this article is that businesses can learn from universities about engaging with local communities. It outlines five key lessons, illustrating them with examples and relating them to key concepts and perspectives from the literature. The emphasis in these lessons is on their potential to make bu…

Humboldt Meets Schumpeter? Interpreting the ‘Entrepreneurial Turn’ in European Higher Education

Universities are increasingly pressured to respond to external imperatives and demands, while, at the same time, they are expected to enhance both their efficiency and accountability. This is leading to the local adoption of key, structural and cultural features associated with the model or global script of the entrepreneurial university. This chapter undertakes a critical analysis of the premises associated with the latter model, and provides new insights on the sustainability of the “entrepreneurial turn in higher education” against the backdrop of the challenges facing European universities.

Governing Performance in the Nordic Universities: Where Are We Heading and What Have We Learned?

AbstractIn this final chapter, we revisit the overall aims of the volume and discuss the findings and implications for theory, policy, and practice. The general aim of the project has been to study the effects of the changing conditions of the environment under which Nordic higher education institutions operated during the period 2003–2013. A conceptual framework inspired by a typology developed by Johan P. Olsen was applied, focusing on various aspects of governance of universities and also stressing the ability of universities—as institutions—to resist, adapt, and respond to change initiatives from external and internal actors. Based on rich sources of data, including statistics, intervie…

The Post-entrepreneurial University: The Case for Resilience in Higher Education

AbstractHistorically speaking, the university has been a highly resilient organizational form; however recent pressures to become entrepreneurial threaten the institutional foundations on which that reliance is based. The chapter first provides conceptual clarity by revisiting what we argue are two distinct schools of thought on the entrepreneurial university. We show how the economic school’s conception intertwines with the rise of New Public Management (NPM) in Europe in the late 1990s and early 2000s, reframing the concept in ways that made it incompatible with resilience thinking. However, we argue that by tying back into ‘lost’ elements of sociological school’s conception, and associat…

Mergers in higher education

ABSTRACTIn this special issue of the European Journal of Higher Education, a number of experienced scholars provide a broad picture of the most recent round of mergers involving higher education institutions in Europe and beyond. In doing so, they address issues pertaining to the different phases described above and from various theoretical perspectives and in the light of particular historical trajectories and institutional conditions. The primary aim is to provide both an empirical account of recent developments as well as an initial foundation for more sophisticated and robust conceptual models used to illuminate on the complex phenomenon surrounding mergers in higher education, and, in …

Opening the gates or coping with the flow? Governing access to higher education in Northern and Central Europe

Published version of an article in the journal: Higher Education. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9830-1 Access to higher education has become a key policy issue in most European countries in since the last half of the last century. We trace the historical development of the ways in which governments in two countries within the region, Norway and Poland, have attempted to steer developments. Three access waves or phases are identified and contextualized, by illuminating dominant policy logics and tensions. Our analysis suggests that “coping with the flow” reflects a continuous attempt to instrumentalize higher education and make it serve different …

Emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education: evidence from Finnish business schools

AbstractThis paper investigates the emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education (HE), specifically in business schools. First, building on key contributions from economics, management studies, sociology, and HE research, we develop propositions on competition in HE and formulate our theoretical framework. Second, we apply this framework to explore competition in Finnish business schools. We argue that business schools constitute an interesting field for studying competition in HE because they are the frontrunners and champions of competition-based views in HE. Our main contribution is a novel explanation of the preconditions, emergence, and early processes of…

The Responsible University in Southeast Asia : A Tale of the Transition from an Elite to a Mass Higher Education System

AbstractAs is the case in the Nordic countries, universities in Southeast Asia are expected to act in a responsible manner by fostering greater participation in higher education across different social groups and by promoting regional development. To date, however, few studies have investigated such important aspects within the context of emerging economies undergoing considerable political, social and economic changes. Our study setting is Indonesia, a country with large socio-economic asymmetries that is undergoing the historical transition from an elite to a mass higher education system. The chapter provides evidence of the roles played by different types of universities located in speci…

Strategic mergers in the public sector: comparing universities and hospitals

Strategy as Dialogue and Engagement

AbstractThis chapter illuminates two critical aspects underpinning university life in the Nordic countries, namely, who gets involved with strategic processes and to what extent these processes affect behaviour across the organisation. Participation in strategy work was found to be unstable, which in turn further weakens the legitimacy of the strategy. The comparative data also show that some academic staff are not involved in the strategy process at all, and hence do not relate their daily tasks to the goals and/or values expressed in the strategy. The importance of strategies appears to lie in recognising the relevant problems, values, and normative postures, including the excellence and …

Is there a Scandinavian model for MOOCs?

The Role of Internal and External Stakeholders

The importance attributed to stakeholder issues in contemporary higher education affairs across the globe is a reflection of the changing nature of the social pact between higher education and society, brokered via the state, with new notions of trust and accountability as well as responsiveness to societal needs and demands as key attributes. This chapter takes stock of the key findings across the BRICS as per the individual contributions presented in part III of this volume.

The Marketisation of Higher Education: Antecedents, Processes, and Outcomes

This chapter explores the ideological antecedents, processes, and outcomes of the marketisation of higher education, with an emphasis on business schools in particular. The chapter begins with a discussion of the theory of Scandinavian New Institutionalism in the context of higher education, explaining how ideologies spread across nations and fields through adoption and adaptation. It then elaborates the ideologies of neoliberalism and managerialism, and their relation to New Public Management. The chapter continues by elucidating the processes which are related to marketisation—namely commodification, corporatisation, and de-professionalisation. It then enumerates the various outcomes of t…

Citius, Altius, Fortius

The European Union's Lisbon Strategy (2000-2010) set a bold vision of a “Europe of Knowledge” where universities are seen as central actors. A modernisation agenda of universities has been promoted in recent years, focusing on the contribution of the sector to reaching regional and national economic goals. This chapter takes stock of ongoing national reforms across 17 European Union countries. Data pertaining to two key elements—societal relevance (in the form of university-industry relations) and scientific excellence—is analysed. The author discusses the findings in the light of conceptualisations surrounding the relevance-excellence nexus in higher education, as well as current policy dy…

Strategic agency and institutional change

Strategic agency and institutional change: investigating the role of universities in regional innovation systems (RISs). Regional Studies. Past analyses rooted in the thick description of regions successful in constructing regional innovation systems have given way to analyses more focused on the intentionality in these processes, and how actors in regions with their own wider networks can shape these high-level changes in regional fortunes. As part of this, place-based leadership has emerged as a promising concept to restore both agency and territory to these discussions, but it remains under-theorized in key areas. This paper contributes to these debates by arguing that there remains a re…

University Complexity and Regional Development in the Periphery

Higher education institutions (HEIs) located in peripheral areas tend to struggle when it comes to attracting talented students, staff, and competitive funding, and they often lack in-house research capacity, which limits the developmental roles they can play in their host regions. This, in turn, generates a set of internal and external tensions that universities need to address in their quests for legitimate places in the increasingly competitive domestic and international higher education field, as well as in their immediate geographic surroundings. Building on earlier work in the field, combining seminal insights from organisational and higher education studies, this chapter provides a b…

Conclusion: University Ambiguities and Analytic Eclecticism

This volume has examined six cases of university engagement in peripheral regions. While these regions have often been overlooked in the mainstream literature on university-region dynamics because they do not readily offer up success stories, they do facilitate an exploration into the challenges and difficulties that arise at the intersection of the university and region. Beginning with a theory rooted in institutionalist literature that depicts the university as a set of five ambiguities rather than as a coherent whole, the chapters have sought to apply the ambiguities of intention, causality, history, structure, and meaning to their regional context. In this conclusion, we pull together a…

Translating strategy, values and identities in higher education: the case of multi-campus systems

Beyond the Obvious

There is a general tendency amongst policy and certain academic circles to assume that universities are simple strategic actors capable and willing to respond to a well-articulated set of regional demands. In reality, however, universities are extremely complex organizations that operate in highly institutionalized environments and are susceptible to regulative shifts, resource dependencies, and fluctuations in student numbers. Understanding universities' contributions—and capacities to contribute—to regional development and innovation requires understanding these internal dynamics and how they interact with external environmental agents. Based on a comparative study across various national…

One size does not fit all! New perspectives on the university in the social knowledge economy

Universities face a tension from two urgent pressures they face, firstly to demonstrate that they deliver value for society in return for public investments, and secondly to demonstrate their responsibility by introducing strategic management to demonstrate to their funders that they meet their goals. In this special issue, we explore the ways in which these tensions play out in practice, as universities facing 'mission overload' in turn try to develop additional regional development missions, highlighting three findings. Firstly, there can be no one-size-fits all idea of a 'third university mission' alongside teaching and research because engagement is so context-dependent. Secondly, unive…

Nordic Higher Education in Flux: System Evolution and Reform Trajectories

AbstractThis chapter provides a brief description of how the four national systems included in this study—Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—are currently organised and structured. In doing so, it illuminates several specific features such as the types and sizes of the institutions, enrolment patterns, performance measures, and funding. In addition, the chapter gives a snapshot of how higher education systems have evolved historically by shedding light on policy dynamics from the late 1990s to 2013, the baseline period for the FINNUT comparative study, the research project that provides the basis for this edited volume. This is followed by a section describing the aim, methods, theoretica…

Strategizing Identity in Higher Education

Presentation on department page: http://www.uia.no/no/portaler/om_universitetet/oekonomi_og_samfunnsvitenskap/statsvitenskap_og_ledelsesfag/ forskning_isl/isl_working_papers_series There is a growing body of literature shedding light on processes of strategy making within public universities. Yet, to date, only a handful of studies have analysed the role that organizational identity plays in such processes. This paper addresses this knowledge gap, by investigating how identity mediates processes of organizational change across two comprehensive universities based in Northern Europe. Our data and analysis reveal that identity has the potential to provide organizations, like universities, wit…

Higher education and economic development in the OECD: policy lessons for other countries and regions

ABSTRACTThis paper sheds light on the role of tertiary or higher education in economic development across two successful OECD case studies: Finland and South Korea. A number of key aspects are discussed, from the nature of the social contract between higher education and the economy to the endogenous characteristics of domestic higher education to the links between the sector and regional development, innovation and the labour market. The lessons learned are of importance to policy makers and institutional planners across the world, not least to less developing nations and regions, due to the unprecedented opportunities brought by a global, knowledge-based economy.

Global scripts and local translations: The case of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) in Norway

Author's version of an article in the journal: City, Culture and Society. Also available from the publisher at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ccs.2014.05.007 Cultural and creative industries (CCI) have, in recent years, been a prominent feature of policy initiatives across Northern Europe. This paper approaches CCI as a global, hegemonic 'script' or 'myth' that has spread across national boundaries and policy circles and, as a result, been translated in the light of historical trajectories, local dynamics, and strategic imperatives. In doing so, we shed critical light on ongoing dynamics across the Nordic countries, and more specifically, in the Norwegian national context, by illustrating how…

Regional Roles of Higher Education

Over the Cuckoo’s Nest : Towards a Nordic Model of the Responsible University?

AbstractThis concluding chapter takes stock of the major elements, both empirical and conceptual, that underpin the case chapters presented in the book. The chapter is organised in three distinct sections. First, addressing a largely scientific audience, the chapter attempts to make conceptual sense of the findings from an organisational theory perspective. Second, it shifts focus to the wider community of practitioners (policy makers, advisers, university managers and administrators, etc.) by shedding light on the practical implications of the volume’s core findings for both policy and practice. Third, the chapter once again addresses an academic audience by sketching out the road ahead re…

Strategic Actor-Hood and Internal Transformation

In most European countries, the Nordic region included, higher education (HE) has undergone a profound transformation in the last couple of decades. This process is partly a result of substantial changes in society - such as declining birth rates, an ageing population and the rise of a global knowledge-based economy - in tandem with broad policy efforts aimed at modernising the public sector (Peters & Savoie, 1998) as a means of guaranteeing the future sustainability of the (Nordic) welfare state (Christiansen, Petersen, & Haave, 2005).

The Anatomy of a Merger Process in the Greater Oslo Region

This chapter provides an analysis of the merger of the two Norwegian university colleges of Oslo and Akershus, which led to the establishment of the Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Sciences in 2011. It is designed as a contribution to the understanding of mergers – as we are learning from experience. The data collected is based on document analysis and semi-structured interviews (conducted during the spring of 2014) with key internal and external people involved with the merger process. Three aspects are analysed in detail: (a) the background to and motivation behind the merger; (b) the relationship between actors belonging to the two organisations; and (c) communication pro…

Organizational Persistence in Highly Institutionalized Environments: Unpacking the Relation Between Identity and Resilience

AbstractDespite growing academic interest in understanding the conditions under which resilient organizations adapt to challenging circumstances, little attention to date has been paid to the role played by ‘soft’ factors such as identity as an enabler or property of resilient behaviour. In this chapter, we propose that different forms of legitimacy contribute to the framing of acceptable identities affecting the endurance of central elements over time, thus shaping resilience. By splitting up forms of legitimacy and by analysing elements of organizational identity separately, we provide a novel framework that enables a deeper understanding of identity formation processes in complex environ…