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Disciplinary Versus Institutional Approaches, Higher Education

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  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions

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Synonyms

Agent theory; Disciplinary cultures; Historical institutionalism; Institutional culture; New institutionalism; Rational choice institutionalism; Resource dependence theory; Sociological institutionalism; Systems of higher education

Definition

Institutional perspectives focus on HEIs ar organisations and disciplinary perspectives focus on HEIs as cultural entities.

General Description

This entry discusses the strengths and weaknesses of cultural and institutional approaches to higher education and higher education research.

Disciplinary Versus Institutional Approaches

Universities and other higher education institutions (HEIs) can be approached from two main perspectives. The first one defines HEIs as organizations with their formal structures and processes. The second one approaches HEIs from the perspective of academic communities and disciplinary cultures. These two perspectives not only reveal different aspects of HEIs as organizations and as cultural entities based on...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland

    Jussi Välimaa

Authors
  1. Jussi Välimaa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jussi Välimaa .

Section Editor information

  1. OSPS, LACCUS, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland

    Gaële Goastellec

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Välimaa, J. (2018). Disciplinary Versus Institutional Approaches, Higher Education. In: Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_327-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_327-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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