Higher education reform efforts in Ecuador during the last decade have been described as a process that has radically shaped local institutions. With the government at the forefront of mandating this reform, we examined the perspectives of stakeholders in the country who have been charged with enacting policies seeking to improve higher education.…

Though government funding has shrunk, Nepal's higher education (HE) sector has expanded in the last three decades in terms of the establishment of new institutions and the implementation of a series of projects funded by the World Bank. Using neoliberal instrumentalism as a theoretical framework and critical policy sociology as a methodological…

Evaluation and accountability are two of the most popular catchwords employed by higher education reformers in the Western world over the last 25 years. For 25 years governments throughout Western countries have been using evaluation and institutional accountability as policy tools to steer their university systems at a distance. From a…

One of the aims of the implementation of a two-tier degree system was that the new Bachelor's degree should serve two functions: as a basis for further studies (Master's level), and at the same time to qualify for the labour market. This twofold function may be present to a different degree in various countries, but was an explicit policy…

Are the central pedagogical concepts and practices of the Humboldtian university, with "Bildung" as the overarching goal, only part of an elitist history of the university in the past or may they still be of relevance for the 21st century? What processes are involved in fostering "Bildung" then and now? This article…

This article describes and analyses changes made in the organisation of higher education studies in Germany and Norway, following the recommendations of the Bologna Declaration. In both countries, the characteristic modes of university study have been circumscribed by the tradition of Humboldtian values and ideals, albeit to a different extent. On…

The article analyses how steering and organisation of German and Norwegian universities have developed after both countries with Humboldtian university traditions introduced New Public Management-inspired governance reforms during the first decade of the 21st century. The article outlines different organisation ideals and values involved in…

Focuses on the redefinition of South Africa's Colleges for Advanced Technical Education into research organizations in higher learning. Discusses inconsistencies between different policy documents, practical problems emerging at the implementation stage, and views of the technikon umbrella organization on the progress so far. (EV)