Concluding Remarks

Abstract

This study examines the structural reforms introduced in the higher education systems of six European countries, focusing specifically on the governance of these systems and on institutional governance.

Changes take some about two decades to bear fruit. In the 20 years that have elapsed between the mid-1980s and mid-2000s, the political climate and economic context was such that it gave governments, whatever their political persuasion, enough confidence to implement significant changes to their models of governance. The six reports have shown that each of the national reform processes has been characterised by its own specific pathways and that their reforms are very much embedded in the countries’ specific socio-economic contexts and cultures; however, they do present a number of features in common.

The reform of institutional governance, in its turn, has been accompanied by structural changes within the higher education environment, with the creation of research councils and quality agencies. All this points to the growing complexity of the systems, making the governance of higher education systems increasingly more complicated. At the same time, in recent years, competition between HEIs has grown not only at the national but also at the international level. The greater autonomy of universities; the specific university reforms, like the changes in funding systems; the growing importance of competitive research funds; the development of the European Higher Education Area; and the wide-scale publication of international university rankings have strengthened this tendency.