The Evaluative State, Institutional Autonomy and Re-engineering Higher Education in Western Europe: The Prince and His Pleasure

260 Pages·2012·1.493 MB·English

by  Guy Neave (auth.)

The Evaluative State, Institutional Autonomy and
Re-engineering Higher Education in Western Europe
IssuesinHigherEducation
Titlesinclude:
JürgenEndersandEgbertdeWeert(editors)
THECHANGINGFACEOFACADEMICLIFE
AnalyticalandComparativePerspectives
JohnHarpur
INNOVATION,PROFITANDTHECOMMONGOODINHIGHEREDUCATION
TheNewAlchemy
V.LynnMeekandCharasSuwanwela(editors)
HIGHEREDUCATION,RESEARCH,ANDKNOWLEDGEINTHEASIA-PACIFIC
REGION
ThorstenNybom,GuyNeaveandKjellBlüchert(editors)
THEEUROPEANRESEARCHUNIVERSITY
GuyNeave
THEEVALUATIVESTATE,INSTITUTIONALAUTONOMYANDRE-ENGINEERING
HIGHEREDUCATIONINWESTERNEUROPE
ThePrinceandHisPleasure
MaryAnnDanowitzSagaria
WOMEN,UNIVERSITIES,ANDCHANGE
SnejanaSlantchevaandDanielLevy
PRIVATEHIGHEREDUCATIONINPOST-COMMUNISTEUROPE
SverkerSörlinandHebeVessuri
KNOWLEDGESOCIETYVS.KNOWLEDGEECONOMY
VoldemarTomusk
THEOPENWORLDANDCLOSEDSOCIETIES
IssuesinHigherEducation
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The Evaluative State,
Institutional Autonomy
and Re-engineering Higher
Education in Western
Europe
The Prince and His Pleasure
Guy Neave
CIPES,Matosinhos,Portugal
©GuyNeave2012
Foreword©AlbertoAmaral2012
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To
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Unsurpassed in scholarship, inspiration and friendship
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Contents
Foreword ix
AlbertoAmaral
Preface xiv
Part I AWorldSetUpsideDown
1 SettingtheScene 3
2 AutonomyandtheChangingContractbetweentheState
andHigherEducation 25
3 TheEvaluativeState:AFormativeConceptandan
Overview 36
4 TheSignificanceofEvaluativeHomogeneity 48
Part II Re-engineeringTwoHigherEducation
Systems
5 France:TheAsterixSyndromeandtheExceptionalCase 63
6 StrengtheningtheEvaluativeState:Strategy,Valuesand
Rhetoric 80
7 DiscordDissected:The‘NewUniversity’andsomeofits
Discontents 92
8 Spain:DefiningAutonomy,SettingUpEvaluation 105
Part III Portugal:AFocusedAccount
9 Portugal:LayingouttheHigherEducationLandscape 119
10 TheDynamicinPortugal’sHigherEducationPolicy 126
11 Re-focusingInstitutionalAutonomy:ThePortuguese
DecreeLawof2007 143
12 ReformattheCuttingEdge:TheInstitutionalLevel 160
vii
viii Contents
13 PortugueseHigherEducationReform:FourKey
Dimensions 170
Part IV ThePromiseoftheEvaluativeState
Evaluated
14 AFlightovertheEvolvingEvaluativeState 191
15 BacktotheFuture 204
Notes 217
Bibliography 226
Index 241
Foreword
InmanyEuropeancountries,anumberofrecentreformstoincreasethe
efficiency of higher education institutions and promote their respon-
siveness towards society’s needs and demands are in hand. A few
countries are engaged in creating more stratified higher education sys-
temsbystronglyinvestinginalimitednumberofresearchuniversities
to increase their capacity to compete in a globalized world. These
reformspresentsomecommon trends–increasinginstitutionalauton-
omy,reinforcedpowerofcentraladministration,decreasingcollegiality
and changing quality systems from improving accreditation to diver-
sifying funding sources. New public management plays an increasing
roleinthepublicsector,includinghighereducation.Markets(orquasi-
markets) are increasingly used as instruments of public policy: by the
European Commission, through the implementation of the Bologna
ProcessandtheLisbonstrategy,andbytheOECD,throughinfluencing
reformsatasupranationallevel.
At a ‘macro’ level, convergence by higher education systems is clear.
Itmaybeseenasaresponsetoglobalizationandtoemergingneoliberal
policies.However,atamicrolevel,pronouncedlocalandnationalchar-
acteristicspersistandareseenasholdingoutagainstuniformity,despite
thefactthatinternalreformstothehighereducationsystemarelegiti-
mated,atleastrhetorically,bythenation’sneedtoassertitsplaceinan
increasinglyglobalizedworld.Nationalspecificitiesaremediatedbythe
actsofthestate,whichparadoxicallyrampupthestate’sregulatorypow-
ers. The contradiction between the external weakening of sovereignty
andtheinternalstrengtheningofthestatestandsatitsmostclearwith
theimplementationoftheBolognaProcess.Nationalinterestsmaskthe
Europeanpoliticalobjectivesaseachcountryreturnstoanationallogic
tomeetnationalobjectives.
Guy Neave analyses recent changes in Portuguese higher education
fromacomparativeperspective,settingthembothaspartofandagainst
a broad European backdrop and by placing them against the corre-
sponding policy dynamic in French and Spanish higher education.
What is fascinating in Neave’s analysis is the use of the interplay of
national developments with the concepts of autonomy and the Evalu-
ative State in comparing the three countries. He brings the two paths
ix