Higher education seems to be in a perpetual state of 'crisis'. The many hundreds of books and papers containing this specific, or other relevantly similar expressions, convey a sense of fear and angst. Yet, what are these various crises about, and which values and beliefs are seen as threatened or 'under attack'? This paper will provide an…

Debate continues on the effects of the global proliferation of private higher-educational institutions, especially for-profit institutions. We examine two related questions for Peru using mixed methods: Who attends private institutions and what are their perceived advantages/disadvantages? Longitudinal quantitative data suggest higher-educational…

Various scholars have argued that higher education is becoming increasingly similar across Europe as a result of processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation, as well as the creation of a European Higher Education Area. While much of this body of work has focussed on governance, institutional structures and reforms related to teaching and…

Under the knowledge-based economy, higher education plays an important role in cultivating talents and enhancing national competitiveness. Compared with other countries, China is a latecomer in the expansion of higher education but has undergone considerable transformation from elite to massification in a short time since 1998. Most important,…

The innovative teaching, knowledge and technology production and societal service activities of academics are largely discussed within the entrepreneurial university discourse in Higher Education journals. Therefore, this research focuses on a meta-synthesis of Higher Education articles to better understand the concepts of the entrepreneurial…

This article conveys the results of a reflexive investigation of the managerial practices and entrepreneurial discourses that shape the academic trajectories of early career scholars. Beginning with the experiences of early career scholars in research-intensive universities in Canada and Hong Kong, the authors explore some of the social and…

In the last few decades, the Chinese higher education system has changed considerably from an elitist model to a massified one with public and "minban"/transnational provisions. Accordingly, this study sets out against the context of higher education expansion initiated in late 1998 to critically examine the major trends of non-state…

Deputy and pro-vice-chancellors (DVCs and PVCs) are core members of the executive team and play a pivotal role in university management. Nevertheless, they have rarely been the subject of empirical investigation. This study addresses this research gap, utilising a census to examine the size and remit of the DVC and PVC cohort in English pre-1992…

Interdisciplinary programmes have proliferated across post-secondary education in recent decades. Despite this, little attention has been paid to the manner in which interdisciplinary programmes promote themselves to external constituents. To study this process, we conduct a content analysis of the online self-descriptions of 203…

This study focuses on how and to what extent factors identified in the literature influence academic and commercial outcomes, as well as the candidates' perception of the success and satisfaction from the results of PhD projects. Based on a survey of 607 PhD graduates and candidates, the relationship between contextual factors and subjective…

As market-led higher education systems become the "new normal", a wider variety of organisational forms is likely to emerge. This paper reports on the findings of a qualitative and historical study that aimed to explore the meaning of collaborative governance in a unique and long-standing higher education joint venture in England.…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have been a prominent topic of recent educational discussion and debate. MOOCs are, in essence, university-affiliated courses offered to large groups of online learners for little or no cost and are seen by many as a bellwether for change and reform across higher education systems. This study uses content and…

This article explores the emergence and impact of the mission groups in British higher education. The central argument is that given the development of a mass and diversified model of higher education it was inevitable that the higher education institutions would form pressure groups, while increased marketisation and growing inter-institutional…

This paper attempts to propose an alternative policy frame for higher education policy by demonstrating the inadequacy of the market approach adopted by the 2011 English higher education policy in addressing the economic and social agenda, and by reframing higher education as a mechanism that selects and distributes talents to vocational sectors…

The last decade has seen an acceleration of change in the way British universities have been governed, led and managed. This has substantially been driven by the instability of the external environment, which has encouraged a greater centralisation of decision-making leading to less governance and more management, but it is also a consequence of…