An Institutional Perspective on Higher Education Policy: The Case of Academic Quality Assurance

Abstract

An important theoretical development in the social sciences is the re-emerging interest in institutions.² Conceptual definitions of institutions vary by discipline, but there is increasing convergence on the notion of institutions as those rules, norms of behavior, and their enforcement characteristics, which shape human interaction (North, 1990), This very broad definition of institutions is helpful in clarifying that an institution is not the equivalent of an organization. Formal organizations such as business corporations or nonprofit entities can be understood as institutions because they also structure human interaction. But human behavior within formal organizations is also affected by the more basic institutional framework of a society such as the legal context of antitrust and liability laws, the nature of market competition, as well as prevailing social beliefs such as the tradition of academic tenure. Governments may thereby attempt to reform a class of organizations not only by regulating them directly, but also by altering the institutional framework within which they operate.

I wish to express my sincere appreciation to Harry de Boer, Ben Jongbloed, and to the other participants in the CHEPS/NIG Seminar on the Application of Neo-Institutional Approaches in Higher Education for their helpful criticisms of an earlier version of this chapter. Of course, I retain sole responsibility for the arguments advanced.