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European Higher Education at the Crossroads pp 655–673Cite as

Higher Education Reforms in Europe: A Comparative Perspective of New Legal Frameworks in Europe

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Abstract

In this chapter, a comparative analysis of recent changes in the governance of higher education institutions is presented, using as examples recent reforms in several European countries. There are some detectable patterns, including the concentration of power on central administrators, the dismissal of collegiate decision-making, performance based funding and the use of market regulation as a tool of public policy. However, each national reform presents specific characteristics that in a number of details deviate from similar reforms in other countries. This is in agreement with the idea that “managerialism as an ideology has not imposed a single, convergent model of behaviour on higher education systems and their institutions” (Amaral A, Fulton O, Larsen IM, A managerial revolution? In: Amaral A, Meek LV, Larsen IM (eds) The higher education managerial revolution? Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, pp 275–296, 2003: 291).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    It is interesting to note that Adam Smith did not agree with the authority of academics over the university arguing if authority resides in the body corporate in which the majority of members are also academics, “they are likely to make a common cause, to be all very indulgent to one another, and every man to consent that his neighbour may neglect his duty, provided he himself is allowed to neglect his own” (Smith 1976, 1978: 343).

  2. 2.

    Performance related salaries were proposed by Adam Smith: “It is the interest of every man to live as much at his ease as he can; and if his emoluments are to be precisely the same, whether he does, or does not perform some very laborious duty, it is certainly his interest… either to neglect it altogether, or, if he is subject to some authority… to perform it in as careless and slovenly a manner as that authority will permit” (Smith 1776: 343). A view also shared with Bernard Mandeville: “Professors should, besides their Stipends allowed ‘em by the Publick, have Gratifications from every Student they teach, that Self–Interest as well as Emulation and the Love of Glory might spur them on to Labour and Assiduity... Universities should be publick Marts for all manner of Literature...” (Mandeville 1924, pt.i.335, ed. Kaye i.293–4).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIPES, Rua 1.º de Dezembro, 399, 4450-227, Porto, Portugal

    Alberto Amaral, Orlanda Tavares & Cristina Santos

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  1. Alberto Amaral
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  2. Orlanda Tavares
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  3. Cristina Santos
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Correspondence to Alberto Amaral .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania

    Adrian Curaj

  2. Institute of Education, London, United Kingdom

    Peter Scott

  3. , Sociology Department, Bucharest University, Bucharest, Romania

    Lazăr Vlasceanu

  4. European University Association, Brussels, Belgium

    Lesley Wilson

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Amaral, A., Tavares, O., Santos, C. (2012). Higher Education Reforms in Europe: A Comparative Perspective of New Legal Frameworks in Europe. In: Curaj, A., Scott, P., Vlasceanu, L., Wilson, L. (eds) European Higher Education at the Crossroads. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3937-6_35

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