Evaluative State, Institutional Autonomy and Re-Engineering Higher Education

This vigorous study provides an alternative framework for reflecting on the changes in Western Europe's higher education systems over the past quarter century. Building from two basic concepts - the rise of the evaluative state and the shifts in meaning and definition of positional and institutional autonomy - it dissects the profound shifts in the external relationship between higher education, government and society. Changes in external relationships demands radical revision to the internal balance of power. Re-distribution of authority and responsibility re-define the functions thatboth institutional and positional autonomy are expected to assume. Drawing on rich data from France, Spain and Portugal, this book also examines the role in the rise of the evaluative state played by such pioneering systems as Britain, France and the Netherlands. It demonstrates the centrality the two key concepts have for higher education policy in Western Europe today and charts how autonomy has mutated from being of integral value in higher education to becoming an instrument of policy.

ISBN 0230348033   Pages 264 ISBN13 9780230348035 (What's this?)   Weight (grammes) 432 Publisher Palgrave Macmillan   Published in Basingstoke Imprint Palgrave Macmillan   Series title Issues in Higher Education Format Hardback   Height (mm) 222 Publication date 09 May 2012   Width (mm) 144 DEWEY 378.4   Spine width (mm) 20 DEWEY edition DC23   Academic level Professional / Scholarly

Avant Propos. Foreword; A.Amaral PART I: A WORLD SET UPSIDE DOWN Setting the Scene The Many Faces of Autonomy: Institutional, Positional and Linguistic. The Evaluative State: a Formative Concept and an Overview The Significance of Evaluative Homogeneity PART II: RE-ENGINEERING TWO HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEMS France: The Asterix Syndrome and the Exceptional Case Strengthening the Evaluative State: Strategy, Values and Rhetoric Discord Dissected: the French New University and some of its Discontents Spain: Defining Autonomy, Setting up Evaluation PART III: PORTUGAL A FOCUSED ACCOUNT Portugal: Laying out the Higher Education Landscape The Dynamic in Portugal's Higher Education Policy Re-focusing Institutional Autonomy: the 2007 Decree Law Reform at the Edge that Cuts: The Institutional Level Portuguese Higher Education Reform: Four Key Dimensions PART IV: TWO CONCLUSIONS AND AN ENVOI A Flight over the Evaluative State Evolving Portugal and its Neighbours Re-engineering the University: Policy as Endgame Envoi: An Opening Gambit on a Board with no White Squares Notes References Bibliography

"A rich account of current developments with respect to the relationship between the state and higher education, highly rewarding for those that dare to invest in the detailed account provided." - Higher Education Policy

 Be the first to write a customer review