The Institutional Dynamics of the European University

The role of higher education institutions in regional transition paths towards sustainability

“…Activities to incorporate sustainability into teaching are highly dependent on the bottom-up motivation of single faculty members and the top-down consolidation of the university management. While a theoretical incorporation of sustainability into teaching contents may raise awareness, the investigations reveal that a certain degree of institutionalization (Olsen 2007), e. g. in terms of whole study programmes as well as student projects and final thesis on sustainability issues in cooperation with regional actors have longterm effects on RTPS. HEIs are learning organisations (Benneworth et al 2009) and, as such, an increased institutionalization of sustainability can be confirmed as also being a result of the interaction with the regional environment.…”

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

“…As such the university has shown a remarkable institutional dynamics of change that allowed it to maintain a flexible and rather effective balance between internal continuity and external responsiveness. This balance not only showed its effectiveness at times when the university's environment was rather stable with incremental change demands, but also at times when the university's societal functions and its underlying ideas were debated in more fundamental ways (Olsen 2007).…”

“…The necessary reforms consist of the following elements: less government, more institutional autonomy and accountability, increased private investments in higher education (including tuition fees), partnerships with industry (also in education), and increased mobility of students and staff. The dominant language is emphasizing ''modernization'', the economic functions of higher education, necessary adaptations to economic and technological change, innovation-and use-orientation, and efficiency (Olsen 2007).…”

Humboldt Meets Schumpeter? Interpreting the ‘Entrepreneurial Turn’ in European Higher Education

“…The rise of the entrepreneurial paradigm in higher education, while tackling some solutions to traditional dilemmas associated with the lack of structural-and cultural-integration (Clark 1983), the multiplicity of goals and functions (Castells 2001), task-ambiguity (Musselin 2007), and resource stringencies and the allocation of funds (Covaleski and Dirsmith 1988), nonetheless leads to a new set of tensions and volitions intrinsically linked with the university as a distinct organizational form and relatively autonomous social institution (Olsen 2007;Pinheiro et al 2012a) on the one hand, and to strategic imperatives like the need to survive/succeed in an increasingly volatile and competitive environment at the local, regional, national and international levels (Kehm and Stensaker 2009;Marginson 2004), on the other. Going back to the beginning of this essay, and the notion of the multiversity (Kerr 2001;Krücken et al 2007), it is worth paraphrasing renown sociologist Manuel Castells who contends that:…”