Mission diversity and reputation in higher education

In this contribution both the literature and the present-day policies regarding diversity in higher education systems will be discussed. The first part presents an overview of the theoretical and empirical studies on differentiation and diversity. Based on this, a conceptual framework is presented, which intends to explain the processes of differentiation and dedifferentiation in higher education systems. Two crucial variables are identified, and both have a crucial impact on the behaviour of higher education institutions: the level of uniformity in the environment of higher education institutions and the level of influence of academic norms and values in these institutions. The second part of this contribution focuses on current higher education policies. Hoping to create better and stronger contributions by higher education institutions to the ‘knowledge society’, many governments nowadays develop policies of less state control and more autonomy. It will be argued that these policies do not automatically lead to more diversity in higher education systems. The reason for this is simply that markets work imperfectly in higher education systems and that the behaviour of higher education institutions is triggered by competition for reputation, a process producing several unintended consequences. In this latter context the recent rankings and typologies in higher education are also discussed

Policy models and policy instruments in higher education. The effects of governmental policy-making on the innovative behaviour of higher education institutions

"This article presents the major theoretical frameworks regarding governmental policy-making in the field of higher education. It first discusses two basic and general “policy models”, after which these models are specified for the policy context of higher education. In addition, an overview is presented of the various policy instruments that can be used by governments with respect to public sector regulation. In the second part of this article the policy models and policy instruments are evaluated from the perspective of their capacity to stimulate innovations in the field of higher education." [author's abstract]"Der Artikel stellt im ersten Teil die wichtigsten theoretischen Konzepte zur politischen Regulierung im Bereich der Hochschulpolitik dar. Zuerst werden zwei grundlegende und allgemeine “Politikmodelle” analysiert, die dann für den Kontext der Hochschulpolitik spezifiziert werden. Darüberhinaus wird ein Überblick über Politikinstrumente geboten, die zur Regulierung des öffentlichen Sektors prinzipiell zur Verfügung stehen. Im zweiten Teil des Artikels werden die Politikmodelle und -instrumente im Hinblick auf ihre Fähigkeit untersucht, Innovationen im Hochschulbereich zu fördern." [Autorenreferat

Comparative higher education studies:The perspective from the policy sciences

The article explores the historical background of comparative policy studies. These studies are traced back to the comparative approaches in political science and public administration. Following a discussion on the methodological aspects of the comparative approach, an overview and assessment of a number of recent comparative policy studies in higher education is presented