Leadership is a critical determinant of university performance. While much attention has been given to the personal traits of university leaders, the differences in leaders' political capital are largely neglected. Grounded in the framework of power relations in the management domain and contextualised in Chinese elite universities, the study has…

In order to foster the knowledge economy, collaboration between government, industry and academy is becoming increasingly important. The Triple-Helix (government-industry-academy) model is geared toward innovation in academic institutions and the transfer of academic knowledge to industrial and/or societal domains. This article studies crucial…

China has launched several national academic excellence initiatives since the 1990s, aimed at creating world-class universities. These projects contributed to the achievements of Chinese universities over the past decades and deeply influenced the field of Chinese higher education. This study focuses on the most recent Double World-Class (DWC)…

This study concentrates on the three phases of China's de facto higher education quasi-decentralization since 1949 and center-local relations during each of the phases. The three phases are: (1) the phase of the late 1950s and early 1960s, when provincial-level control was enhanced; (2) the phase of the late 1990s and early 2000s, when…

This paper investigates an institutional transformation at a European research university, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) by adopting a qualitative case study method. Open-ended interviews were held with 45 faculty members and administrators to investigate the driving forces and overall transformation of EPFL as well as their…

Owing to their common history, similarities in language and culture, long traditions in political collaboration and the shared Nordic societal model, an assumption is often made that the operational and regulatory context of universities is similar in the five Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. In this article, we…

Academic corruption in China's higher education institutions has become a serious issue in the last decade. This paper provides a critical discussion of the Chinese Ministry of Education's policy developments aimed to strengthen academic ethics and control academic corruption. It suggests that while the reactions of policy-makers to the apparent…

Changes in the governmental policies aiming at restructuring the Portuguese Higher Education system and institutions have been, over the last years, defined under the influence of New Public Management. External pressures induced by these reforms translate the attempts to create a new institutional environment particularly by changing…

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…

The Humboldtian educational ideal is based on the idea of the unity of teaching and research in universities ("Einheit von Forschung und Lehre"). The role of the state, according to Humboldt, was to fund universities in such a way that their autonomy was maintained. Much has changed in the funding mechanisms of higher education systems…

During recent decades master's studies have mainly become professional, but in some countries, like Israel, they still are a stepping stone toward doctorate studies. Changes in that respect may however occur due to recent university marketization processes. Using Tel Aviv University as a case study, we focus on the executive master's programmes…

In a knowledge intensive society, the research university is a key institution for social and economic development. Focused on the discovery of new knowledge and the development of the next generation of scholars, research universities are also becoming more international in focus. This article presents the Emerging Global Model (EGM) of the…

This article examines the challenges faced by a Portuguese technical university that is striving to develop its research base within a developing science, technology and higher education system. The paper identifies lack of resources, and also organizational factors, as particular challenges. These include faculty inbreeding, career structures and…

This is a preliminary survey of the laws and statutes that determine governance arrangements for higher education systems as well as individual institutions in 24 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an overview of recent higher education governance trends within Africa, it describes the current range of practice and most common approaches…

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…