Abstract
Our central objective is to analyse the extent to which the HE policies of the four countries under study have converged on a common model of HE governance over time. Policy convergence has emerged as a broadly studied phenomenon in the social sciences (Bennett 1991; Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Drezner 2001; Knill 2005), including also studies examining convergence in HE degree structures (Bleiklie 2001; Rakic 2001). While these studies introduce a political science perspective, they remain at a rather descriptive level rather than trying to systematically explain domestic policy changes from a comparative perspective. This study seeks to reduce this research gap by benefiting from approaches undertaken for other policy areas. Recent studies have conducted more systematic, theory-driven testing to determine whether domestic and transnational factors account for increasing policy similarity, while placing greater focus on the impact of transnational communication (e.g. Dobbins and Knill 2009; Holzinger et al. 2008; Witte 2006).
Keywords
- Policy Change
- Historical Institutionalism
- Policy Convergence
- Mimetic Isomorphism
- Transnational Communication
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Notes
This segment is based largely on the article: A Dobbins, A Knill, and A Vögtle (2011) An analytical framework for the cross-country comparison of higher education governance, Higher Education 62(5): 665–683.
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© 2014 Michael Dobbins and Christoph Knill
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Dobbins, M., Knill, C. (2014). Theoretical Framework: National Higher Education Policies between Transnational Communication and Institutional Path-dependence. In: Higher Education Governance and Policy Change in Western Europe. Palgrave Studies in Global Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137399854_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137399854_2
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
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