Due to their common history, Finland and Sweden share many similarities. However, important differences have also developed in constitutional law, political culture and governance models. These differences have affected the implementation of international trends in the governance of higher education in the two countries. Both the Finnish and…

The global establishing of school choice has often and convincingly been criticised in terms of social inequality because parents have very different access to resources to enforce their expectations and demands as 'costumers'. What is less discussed in the literature is the perspective of the 'providers': Do schools have to give up their position…

Higher education (HE) scholarship often focuses on the so-called 'entrepreneurial' university as a consequence of new public management reforms. Simultaneously, the remarkable expansion of private HE is said to fragment, specialize, and diversify HE systems. Such diagnoses are misleading as they ignore wider environmental pressures and…

Whilst Hong Kong's return to Chinese sovereignty in 1997 has influenced education in various ways, major reforms perceived as promoting mainland control have been resisted. For two decades, Hong Kong's educational autonomy under the 'one country, two systems' formula was thus largely maintained. This changed radically with the response to the…

The European Convention on Human Rights guarantees freedom of education, including opportunities to create and operate faith-based schools. But as European societies become religiously more diverse and "less religious" at the same time, the role of religious schools increasingly is being contested. Serious tensions have emerged between…

This paper examines Indonesia's experience with neo-liberal higher education reform. It argues that this agenda has encountered strong resistance from the dominant predatory political, military, and bureaucratic elements who occupy the state apparatus, their corporate clients, and popular forces, leading to continuation of the centralist and…

Since the mid-1980s, a number of East Asian societies have consistently performed well in international tests, and their education systems have emerged as models of "best practice", including Hong Kong, which has been extensively referenced by politicians and their advisers in England. In parallel, local dissatisfaction with the…

In the present study we provide an interpretation of a general narrative of transnational governance of higher education. All the elements of the narrative--competition, ranking autonomy and accountability--are visibly present in contemporary higher education policy agenda. We examine these not as separate ideas and practices but as an interlinked…

The concepts of differentiation and profiling are cornerstones in discussions about the organisation of contemporary higher education systems, following the trends of massification and global competition. This contribution provides a system-level description and comparison of the German and Dutch higher education systems regarding these topics,…

This article investigates the changing state-university relations in Japan and Malaysia. Its main objective is to identify and examine possible lessons for Malaysia, based on the Japanese experience. Notably, since the late 1970s, Malaysia has been looking towards Japan as a model for socio-economic development (the "look-east" Policy)…

Explores issues of academic freedom and autonomy in various systems of higher education in Latin America, with emphasis on the Brazilian case. Analyzes the issues of financial and administrative autonomy and tensions between the universities and the state during three historical periods: 1920s-50s, 1960s-70s, and 1980s-90s. (Contains 28…

Higher education in Australia and the Netherlands illustrates two international trends: restructuring toward systems of fewer, larger institutions; and government tendencies to continue setting broad policies while decentralizing other responsibilities to institutions. Success in restructuring is attributed to the interaction of public policy and…

Drawing from interviews with key-informants in planning and policy-making institutions at central and local levels, reports on 1985 education reform programs. Highlights some of the most drastic aspects of the reform and discusses specific issues in basic education, technical/vocational education, and higher education. Notes variety and…

An unintended outcome of Swedish higher education reform, and one detrimental to academic work, was that the more numerous the reforms, the larger the size of the coordinating bodies above the local units and the more rapid the growth in bureaucratic personnel within local institutions of the higher education system. (MH)

Examines the impact of impending political transition to Chinese control on Hong Kong's higher education system, 1982-97. Focuses on conflicts among the incoming and outgoing sovereign powers and local university groups, and on three related colonial transition processes within the "one country, two systems" framework--forms of…