This volume offers a comprehensive discussion of implementation analysis in higher education and an extensive review of relevant recent literature. Coverage analyzes the effective and specific complexities of the implementation of higher education policies in several countries, including: Australia, Austria, Finland, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

This book addresses the complex phenomenon in higher education of structural reforms in higher education systems. Across the globe, governments initiate comprehensive reforms of their higher education systems because they want their models to be the best and to excel at what they do. This regularly requires governments to change the higher education landscape to achieve their set objectives. Changes can include merger processes, the introduction of a new sector of higher education or a new type of higher education institution or excellence initiative. This book explores the current understanding of how successful such comprehensive reforms have been through an examination of eleven reform cases in European countries. For each reform, the different phases of the policy process – policy objectives, design, implementation, policy tools and evaluation – are systematically described and analysed to provide an overview of the factors that contribute to the success or failure of the reforms.

The volume ‘Reform of Higher Education in Europe’ is published in celebration of CHEPS’ 25th anniversary. All contributors to this book are working at CHEPS, and bring their extensive knowledge of the deep-seated reforms and changes to the field of higher education and research over the last 25 years. The chapters are each devoted to a detailed policy analysis deeply rooted in CHEPS’ quarter-century programme of theoretical and empirical research. Some contributions cover key themes of concern since CHEPS’ early years, including state-university relationships, quality assurance and funding. Other contributions cover more contemporary higher education policy issues, including European reform initiatives (innovation, the Bologna Process, doctoral training and the Erasmus programme) and debates around higher education institutions’ evolving functions, including the university’s third mission and the research function of universities of applied sciences. What unifies all chapters is their recognition that policy success is dependent on smart implementation grounded in a comprehensive understanding of highly complex policy processes. The book as a whole offers clear descriptions and analyses of how policy processes are implemented through co-ordinated institutional and stakeholder interventions. This volume seeks to enhance academic and policy-maker understanding of Europe’s evolving higher education system as it emerges as a cornerstone of the contemporary knowledge society.

The Reform in Higher Education in Muslim Societies is in sum a paradigm shift in perspective driven by important considerations including the aims of education itself. It may require reforming existing disciplines, inventing new ones, as well as working in conjunction with current knowledge(s) and discourses by taking effective account of the ethical, spiritual norms of Muslim society, the guiding principles that it operates under, which in turn mark the underlying basis of its makeup and spiritual identity. Rather than creating divisions, reform of Higher Education in Muslim Societies recognizes the plurality and diversity of the modern networked world, and seeks to replace sterile and uniform approaches to knowledge with a broader and more creative understanding of reality as lived on different soils and different cultures. Moderation, balance and effective communication are paramount features of the underlying philosophy.

This book examines some of the major higher education reforms and policy shifts globally, particularly in the light of recent shifts in quality and standards-driven education and policy research. It critiques the neo-liberal ideological imperatives of current higher education and policy reforms, and illustrates the way that changes in the relationship between the state and higher education policy affect current trends in higher education reforms. Using diverse comparative education paradigms from critical theory to historical-comparative research, the chapters focus on globalisation, ideology and higher education reforms and examine both the reasons and outcomes of higher education reforms and policy change. The book analyses and evaluates the policy shifts in methodological approaches to globalisation and higher education reforms, and their impact on education policy and pedagogy. The book contributes in a very scholarly way, to a more holistic understanding of the nexus between globalisation, comparative education research and higher education reforms.

The Chinese higher education sector is an area subject to increasing attention from an international perspective. Written by authors centrally located within the education system in China, Development and Reform of Higher Education in China highlights not only the development of different aspects of higher education, but also the reform of the education system and its role in the educational and social development of the country. This book analyses recently collected data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China and the work of leading scholars in the field of higher education. It highlights the marketization of state-owned institutions and the increasing importance of the internationalization of higher education – two important features of education in a modern and global context. - Rich statistical data - Sound theoretical foundation - Provides a comprehensive and comparative study of national data sources and leading scholars

Originally published in 1995, Reform and Change in Higher Education is composed of 9 essays originally presented at a symposium, "International Perspectives on the Relationship Between Governments and Universities," and a UNESCO Forum of Experts on Strengthening Capacities for Research in Higher Education. Papers explore how government policy affects universities and how universities influence government. This collection presents case studies of educational reform and change in 10 nations, focusing on the changing role of government involvement in higher education. The book deals comparatively with planned change in systems of higher education initiated by central governments and with the character and dynamics of state-university relationships, both collectively and individually.

This book offers a critical examination of contemporary higher education reforms in Thailand situated in the broader historical, socio-economic and political changes. Through a qualitative case study with three methods of inquiry, this book explores why different 'global education policies' such quasi-privatisation, internationalization, as quality assessment (QA) have resonated in Thailand higher education sector. Grounded in policy borrowing and lending, this book uses the politics, economics and culture of borrowing to analyse major reforms in Thailand for the past one hundred years. It is argued that historical legacy, policy contexts and belief systems of policy elites play pivotal roles in facilitating policy changes or the lack thereof. While historical analysis elucidates that the Thai state has always been an active borrower of western ideas, the perseverance of the 'Thai-ness' discourse has often been used to suggest its so-called independence and idiosyncrasy. This in-depth analysis of the Thai case aims to contribute to the critical studies in Asian education, comparative higher education, policy borrowing and lending and Thai studies. The Culture of Borrowing intensively studies the policy appropriation in the Thai education system by analysing: • Selective Borrowing and the Historical Development of Thai Higher Education • The Asian Economic Crisis as Window of Opportunity: Autonomous University • Internationalization of Teaching: Quantitative and Qualitative Challenges • The Emergence of Quality Policies and their Rationales • The Intended and Unintended Consequences of Quality Policies This book will appeal to researchers in Education, particularly to scholars studying educational policies within the context of tertiary education. It will also interest scholars specialising in Asian and South-east Asian Studies.

Identifies five critical issues with which higher education institutions in the developing world must grapple as they respond to changing external contexts, offers examples of institutional responses to these issues, and considers these within a systems perspective which recognizes that each response impacts how institutions handle other critical issues. Half of the students enrolled in higher education worldwide live in developing countries. Yet, in many developing countries, government and education leaders express serious concerns about the ability of their colleges and universities to effectively respond to the pressures posed by changing demographics, new communication technologies, shifts in national political environments, and the increasing interconnectedness of national economies. This book identifies five critical issues with which higher education institutions in the developing world must grapple as they respond to these changing contexts: seeking a new balance in government-university relationships; coping with autonomy; managing expansion while preserving equity, raising quality, and controlling costs; addressing new pressures for accountability; and supporting academic staff in new roles. These papers offer examples of institutional responses and consider these within a systems perspective that recognizes that each response has a rippling effect impacting institutions' responses to other critical issues. Only as government and education leaders understand the interwoven nature of the problems now facing colleges and universities and the interconnections among the intended solutions they seek to implement can they offer effective leadership that strengthens the quality and improves the relevance of higher education in their countries.