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The Nordic countries are often perceived as a coherent group representing the Nordic model of welfare states, with a strong emphasis on the public provision of universal welfare and a strong concern with social equality. But today we see a change in the Nordic model as part of a global knowledge economy. The aim of this article is to examine education in the five Nordic countries utilising three dimensions of political change: deregulation, marketisation and privatisation. We also analyse the parallel changes in relation to segregation and differentiation in education. The analysis shows that the themes related to deregulation seem to show fairly similar patterns and structures in all contexts. The emerging differences were discovered mainly in the themes of marketisation and privatisation. Institutional segregation emerges in all Nordic countries to different extents along the lines of these three processes, and we observe a simultaneous social segregation and differentiation with an ambiguous connection to them. Based on these findings, the question of what is left of the "Nordic model" could be raised.

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This article presents a model for analysing dynamics in higher education politics (DHEP). Theoretically the model draws on the conceptual history of political contingency, agenda-setting theories and previous research on higher education dynamics. According to the model, sociohistorical complexity can best be analysed along two dimensions: the political situation and political possibilities. Politics as a situation connotes the idea of an opportune moment when politics can be changed, and political possibilities concern the different alternatives the actors see in different situations. Depending on whether the situation is favourable or unfavourable to change, and on whether the possibilities are politicised or settled, the DHEP model introduces four types of dynamic: reform, gridlock, consensual change and friction. On the empirical level the model has been tested and developed in the context of Finnish higher education by means of interviews and documentary material. It was found, in the Finnish context, that four policy threads functioned according to each of the dynamics. It appears from the empirical findings that dynamics in higher education politics are strongly related to changes that are external to the higher education political system, the changing positions of the actors in different policy threads and the unexpected nature of the dynamics. The DHEP can also be used to shed light on the effects of the silent, settled possibilities that may enable or disable other policy threads within a higher education system.

Taking complexity as an epistemic starting point, this article enhances understanding of dynamics in higher education. It also reviews the relevant literature on path dependency, complexity research, and studies of political change and contingency. These ideas are further developed with reference to the political situation and political possibilities as concepts. It is claimed that the key issues in understanding irreversibility on a system level are institutional change and politicisation. It is deduced from two case studies in the Finnish context that founding new institutions created bifurcations in both. Then again, the politicisation for disbanding existing institutions has proved rather futile. The key findings are that the choices in higher education politics increase the complexity of the system, and that many of the choices made are irreversible for reasons to do with contingency.

Quality assurance and evaluation (QAE) have become a vital part of education governance, both globally and nationally. This article is an attempt to represent and analyse first, how the idea of education indicators has arrived, has been accepted and has been modified in Finland. Secondly, it describes what are the aims given and actions taken in developing national indicators by different actors. The article sketches the development of education indicators in Finland through two time periods of high adaptational pressure of Europeanisation. During the 'short 1970s' (c.1970-76), the idea of social indicators was introduced for the very first time on the Finnish comprehensive education policy agenda. This first attempt faded away by the mid 1970s. However, the 'long 1990s' reinvented the idea and it seems that this period, beginning from c.1986, is still ongoing. Drawing on Börzel & Risse's thoughts, the authors explain the differences in these two decades mainly with the changes in 'facilitating factors' and the duration of adaptational pressure.

The focus in this article is on Brazilian education policy, specifically quality assurance and evaluation. The starting point is that quality, measured by means of large-scale assessments, is one of the key discursive justifications for educational change. The article addresses the questions of how quality evaluation became a significant feature of Brazilian education, and how international organisations are related to this. The notion of measurement emerged at the beginning of the 20th century among an active educational community, strongly inspired by US educational thinking and supported by instrumental educational cooperation with US agencies and universities. Largescale assessment became more and more popular in the 1960s-1980s, mainly within this setting. Educational indicators have been under development since the 1990s, alongside the educationrelated programmes of international organisations. Drawing on earlier research and documents, the article analyses historical and political influences from both international and national actors on the emergence of quality assessment in Brazilian basic education. The authors also point out

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