Blurring the boundaries. University actorhood and institutional change in global higher education

Higher education (HE) scholarship often focuses on the so-called 'entrepreneurial' university as a consequence of new public management reforms. Simultaneously, the remarkable expansion of private HE is said to fragment, specialize, and diversify HE systems. Such diagnoses are misleading a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inComparative education Vol. 57; no. 4; pp. 538 - 559
Main Authors Zapp, Mike, Marques, Marcelo, Powell, Justin J. W.
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Oxford Routledge 02.10.2021
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Accountability
Administrative Organization
Change agents
Civil Rights
College Administration
Educational Change
Entrepreneurship
façade diversity
Global Approach
Government Role
Higher Education
Human Capital
Human rights
Institutional Autonomy
Institutional change
International Education
isomorphic change
Neoliberalism
New public management
Nonprofit organizations
Organizational Change
Private Colleges
Private sector
Public administration
State Universities
Strategic Planning
university actorhood
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Summary:Higher education (HE) scholarship often focuses on the so-called 'entrepreneurial' university as a consequence of new public management reforms. Simultaneously, the remarkable expansion of private HE is said to fragment, specialize, and diversify HE systems. Such diagnoses are misleading as they ignore wider environmental pressures and simultaneous changes in both public, non-profit and for-profit HE. We argue that putative diversity in HE operates as a ceremonial façade behind which large-scale isomorphic change across national HE systems, sectors, and organizational forms occurs. Multiple causes trigger such change originating in the increasingly global HE environment, including a burgeoning international HE regime, accounting and accountability practices, increased permeability of HE systems facilitated by open borders, education markets, and global science as well as (neo)liberal ideologies stressing human capital and human rights. As other organizations, those in HE become subject to these pressures turning universities into more rationalized, standardized, and strategic actors.
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ISSN:0305-0068
1360-0486
DOI:10.1080/03050068.2021.1967591