Governance Reforms in European University Systems: The Case of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Portugal PDF
Preview Governance Reforms in European University Systems: The Case of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Portugal
Educational Governance Research 8 Karsten Krüger Martí Parellada Daniel Samoilovich Andrée Sursock E ditors Governance Reforms in European University Systems The Case of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Portugal Educational Governance Research Volume 8 Series Editors Lejf Moos, Aarhus University, Copenhagen, Denmark Stephen Carney, Roskilde University, Roskilde, Denmark Editorial Advisory Board Herbert Altrichter, University of Linz, Austria Stephen J. Ball, Institute of Education, London, England Y.C. Chen, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong Neil Dempster, Griffith University, Australia Olof Johansson, Umeå University, Sweden Gita Steiner Khamsi, Columbia University, USA Klaus Kasper Kofod, Aarhus University, Denmark Jan Merok Paulsen, Oslo and Akershus University College of Applied Science, Oslo, Norway James P. Spillane, Northwest University, Chicago, USA Michael Uljens, Åbo Akademi University, Finland Educational Governance Research Aims and Scope This series presents recent insights in educational governance gained from research that focuses on the interplay between educational institutions and societies and markets. Education is not an isolated sector. Educational institutions at all levels are embedded in and connected to international, national and local societies and markets. One needs to understand governance relations and the changes that occur if one is to understand the frameworks, expectations, practice, room for manoeuvre, and the relations between professionals, public, policy makers and market place actors. The aim of this series is to address issues related to structures and discourses by which authority is exercised in an accessible manner. It will present findings on a variety of types of educational governance: public, political and administrative, as well as private, market place and self-governance. International and multidisci- plinary in scope, the series will cover the subject area from both a worldwide and local perspective and will describe educational governance as it is practised in all parts of the world and in all sectors: state, market, and NGOs. The series: – Covers a broad range of topics and power domains – Positions itself in a field between politics and management/leadership – Provides a platform for the vivid field of educational governance research – Looks into ways in which authority is transformed within chains of educational governance – Uncovers relations between state, private sector and market place influences on education, professionals and students. More information about this series at http://www.springer.com/series/13077 Karsten Krüger • Martí Parellada Daniel Samoilovich • Andrée Sursock Editors Governance Reforms in European University Systems The Case of Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Portugal Editors Karsten Krüger Martí Parellada XREAP - Reference Network for Fundación CYD and University Applied Economics (Bosch i Gimpera of Barcelona (Barcelona Institute Foundation - University of Barcelona) of Economics) Barcelona, Spain Barcelona, Spain Daniel Samoilovich Andrée Sursock Columbus Association European University Association Geneva, Switzerland Brussels, Belgium The study has been founded by Camara de Comercio de España, Conferencia de Consejos Sociales de las universidades españolas y Fundación CYD. ISSN 2365-9548 ISSN 2365-9556 (electronic) Educational Governance Research ISBN 978-3-319-72211-5 ISBN 978-3-319-72212-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-72212-2 Library of Congress Control Number: 2018934212 © Springer International Publishing AG 2018 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. Printed on acid-free paper This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer International Publishing AG part of Springer Nature. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Foreword The huge growth of the tertiary education population which took place in Europe in the last 60 years has changed the remit of the universities radically: they were selec- tive, somewhat ivory tower institutions catering a small minority that offered a score of disciplines and are now broadband, widely accessible, diverse institutions that welcome in some countries 50% of the youth cohort offering hundreds or even thousands of programmes. This sea change of the system was accompanied regu- larly by gradual and on and off by radical changes in its legal frame, its organisation, its funding, its goals and its governance, i.e. by reforms. This is what this book, written collectively by a group of experienced and knowledgeable scholars, analy- ses for six European countries, which went in the last 30 years through more or less radical reforms. It also is a wink to the Spanish authorities in the hope that a long overdue reform of the university system happens sooner rather than later. Few institutions, if any, have the complexity of present-day universities. This is due among other things to the fact that it is not easy to say in a few words what they are there for. A company has to make benefits, as simple as that. Not so many years ago universities were supposed to produce knowledge, i.e. perform research, and to explain knowledge, i.e. teach. Today, a third mission, à la carte, is included. It might be knowledge transfer to industry, outreach to society, development of procedures, prototypes and inventions, innovation or lifelong learning. Even research and teach- ing are not anymore unambiguous. Research can be blue sky, basic, applied, fron- tier, interdisciplinary and targeted, and teaching might be one way, participative, collegial, on line and blended and might aim at providing students with what they need for the job market, i.e. skills, or with what they need to be a thinking, civilised and cultivated human being, i.e. Bildung. This complexity has led to an astonishing diversity, particularly in Europe, which I see as an asset. But even the university systems are hugely different, not only because the 46 countries represented by the members of the European University Association are so different in size, wealth, government and academic tradition but also because many do not have a uniform system, but being federal or decentralised have within themselves a variety of systems. v vi Foreword To cite but one example, take the Governing Board. My own personal experience corresponds to the extremes of the spectrum. As vice-rector of the University of Barcelona in the 1990s, with 70.000 students, I sat in a Governing Board of 100 elected people, all Spanish members of the institution, all representing the interests of different bodies, while as president of the University of Luxembourg in this cen- tury, with less than one tenth the number of students, I sat in the meetings of a Governing Board of 7 people, all external, all appointed, half of them foreign aca- demics and the other half members of the Luxembourgish society. Between these extremes, there are hundreds of possible models for the Governing Board. The book solves this excessive breadth of choice in an elegant and smart way: it looks at some of those countries where clever people have been thinking and decid- ing about these issues and allows you to learn from them. This is what the book offers, and it is a lot. It is impossible not to be surprised by the eye-popping diversity of how challenges have been tackled in the different countries, and it offers you the possibility of picking quickly and with hindsight your menu, your portfolio, for your country, for your university. Enjoy reading it and then using it. President, European University Association Rolf Tarrach Brussels, Belgium Preface The Cámara de Comercio de España, the Conferencia de Consejos Sociales of the Spanish universities and the Fundación CYD1 have jointly promoted a study about governance reforms in European higher education systems. The intention is to con- tribute to the European and Spanish debate about university governance by describ- ing, analysing and evaluating reform processes in a number of European countries. For this reason, experts that are or have been, also, practitioners from six European countries were asked to explain the higher education reform process in their own countries. Following on from the introduction, we present these six reports. They, in turn, are followed by a summary of the results and a discussion that seeks to expand on the experts’ narratives analysing the reform of higher education governance in Europe. The study has been carried out under the responsibility of a working team acting as editors of the whole work. This working team is formed by Karsten Krueger, Martí Parellada, Daniel Samoilovich and Andrée Sursock.2 Six European countries which have undergone significant governance reform processes in recent decades were selected. This made an evaluation of the reform processes possible. In the first instance, newer members of the EU in Eastern Europe have been excluded because the historical evolution of their higher education sys- tems would have made a coherent comparison of the reform processes more diffi- cult. Germany has also been excluded as its Länder hold responsibility for higher education, so that a national higher education system cannot be described as in other countries. For similar reasons, the United Kingdom is also excluded. In this case, it 1 The Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo (CYD) has published two studies on higher education governance in the last 10 years: Samoilovich (2007) and Salmi (2013). 2 The editors would like to thank the work of follow-up committee formed by representatives of the three abovementioned entities: Antonio Abril and Pedro Alonso (both on behalf of the Cámara de Comercio), Miguel Ángel Acosta and Santiago Iraburu (both on behalf of the Conferencia de Consejos Sociales) and Francesc Solé Parellada and Martí Parellada (both from the Fundación CYD). vii viii Preface is also because there have been no substantial changes in the governance of higher education institutions during recent decades. The six countries selected are Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, the Netherlands and Portugal. In some of these countries, a general reform was undertaken to radi- cally change the higher education system (e.g. the 1993 reform in the Netherland). Other countries underwent several waves of reforms focusing on specific aspects, such as changes in the funding of the higher education systems, the management of university staff and the incorporation of external stakeholders in institutional gover- nance. In these stages, the reform of the governance structures is a fundamental feature. All of these countries allow an evaluation of the reform process over a period of time. For the study, the working team looked for experts with a recognised reputation, who could deliver insightful perspectives on the reform processes. This involved identifying and achieving the collaboration of persons who have been actively engaged in the reform process either as representatives of the universities or as part of the respective ministries: Georg Winckler (Austria), Lauritz Holm-Nielsen (Denmark), Ossi V. Lindqvist (Finland), Alain Abécassis (France), Sijbolt J. Noorda (the Netherlands), Manuel Assunção and Pedro Nuno Teixeira (both for Portugal). The work process started with a seminar with the experts, the working team of the CYD Foundation, Juan Romo (rector of the University Carlos III) and Francesc Solé Parellada (in representation of the Follow-up Committee). At this seminar, European higher education governance reforms were discussed and a common lay- out for the national reports was agreed. We would especially like to thank the contribution of Francesc Solé Parellada, first, by participating in the definition of the objective of this work; second, by help- ing to form the consortium between the CYD Foundation, the Conference of Social Councils of the Spanish Universities and the Chamber of Commerce of Spain; and, third, by actively participating in the meetings of the follow-up committee. In the following phase, the experts drew up national reports. The drafts and pre- liminary conclusion reached by the working team were discussed at a second semi- nar. This seminar was attended by the same group of people. Jaume Casals Pons (rector of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and Santiago Iraburu (secretary of the Social Council of the Public University of Navarra) also attended. After this second seminar, the experts drew up the final version of their reports, which can be con- sulted in this book. These reports were the starting point to prepare the comparative reports presented in the following chapter. Additional review of literature was undertaken. The core of the study is the analysis of the reforms in these six selected countries drawn up by the abovementioned experts. Their narratives were taken as a point of reference but enriched with additional references such as legislation, articles in international journals and reports by national agencies, for instance, research coun- cils, for elaboration in Chap. 3 on the main topics in European higher education reform. The results of this aforementioned analysis begin with a description of the imple- mentation process of the reforms in each country. This is an aspect of the reform Preface ix processes which is not usually covered in other studies and articles. However, higher education and its governance is highly contested terrain, in which several stakehold- ers with very different interests are involved in negotiating the shape of reforms. It is hoped that this study will contribute to the Spanish and European debates about higher education governance and its reform and that readers will learn as much from the report as we have learnt from the experts. We thank the experts for their contributions which you will find in this report. We thank also the Cámara de Comercio de España, Conferencia de Consejos Sociales and the Fundación Conocimiento y Desarrollo for making this study possible and working with us in its preparation. The editors Barcelona, Spain Karsten Krüger Barcelona, Spain Martí Parellada Geneva, Switzerland Daniel Samoilovich Brussels, Belgium Andrée Sursock
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