Higher education mergers in Europe: a comparative study of the post-merger phase

• Published in: Tertiary education and management Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 255 - 271
• Main Authors: Ripoll-Soler, Carlos, de-Miguel-Molina, María
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2019; Springer
• Subjects: Administration; Comparative Education; Content Analysis; Education; Foreign Countries; Institutional Characteristics; International and Comparative Education; Management; Organization and Leadership; Organizational Change; Original Paper; Political Science; Reputation; Universities; European Union; Post-merger phase; Mergers; World-class universities; Rankings; Higher education
• ISSN: 1358-3883; 1573-1936
• DOI: 10.1007/s11233-019-09027-y

The aim of this study is to compare the results of successful mergers in terms of ranking performance of the so called ‘world-class’ universities in a European Union context, with a view to identifying the challenges these universities face in their post-merger situation and strategies. After a content analysis, four themes emerged: crucial factors at the pre-merger phase to ensure a successful merger, the best actions to be performed at the merger phase to ensure a successful merger, the main challenges faced at the post-merger phase, and post-merger strategies in the last phase. Then, we analysed the institutional post-merger strategies to find differences between different mergers. Our research shows that in all cases there is a mix of various local and national/international factors that need to be analysed in the post-merger phase before a merger can be deemed to be ‘successful’ overall, and before the various dimensions of the global impact of the merger can be assessed.