This paper offers a historical analysis of organizational identity development at a particular Dutch university, the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam. Our analysis contributes to the discussion on what factors contribute to organizational identity maintenance and evolution. Whereas the literature suggests a rather straightforward development,…

This paper provides an overview of the policies of school autonomy in Australian public education from the Karmel report in 1973 to the present day. The key focus is on the social justice implications of this reform. It tracks the tensions between policy moves to both grant schools greater autonomy and rein in this autonomy with the increasing…

This article examines the concept of academic autonomy within the "Yugoslav model" of higher education as a peripheral system characterised by an eclectic mix of elements from different systems, resulting in mutations with unique features during its development. The hitherto under-researched history of this higher education model has by…

In the United States and Europe, "para-university" institutions have often been viewed as postsecondary institutions that satisfy some needs not addressed by universities. Such para-universities might be technical institutes or research centers affiliated with a parent university and/or a nation-state. In stateless nations, however,…

The term tertiary education has gained prominence in recent policy debates in the UK [Morgan (2023). "Labour 'would review whole landscape' of tertiary education." "Times Higher Education," 28 November. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/labour-would-review-whole-landscape-tertiary-education]. This paper presents…

It is widely recognised that academic freedom and university autonomy in Turkey are currently under pressure. Many scholars have produced articles discussing the Turkish predicament, linking it to the recent authoritarian and populist turn of the country. This paper offers a different interpretation, arguing how academic freedom and institutional…

Spreading like wildfire, school autonomy with accountability (SAWA) policies have transformed education worldwide. Rooted in new public management, SAWA is a 'policy bundle' that links greater decision-making at the school level with standardization and monitoring practices like large-scale assessments and performance indicators. As with every…

This article examines the causes and outcomes of two university reforms during the single-party era in Turkey (1923-1946), focusing on the implications of the reforms in terms of higher education governance models--the state-control and academic self-governance--that are ultimately characterized by the balance between the type and degree of…

Some contemporary urban educational reformers believe that empowering principals with increased school-based autonomy will help them lead educational improvement more effectively. We consider this popular reform idea by examining how principals experienced and exerted autonomy in different forms in two distinct eras in New York City. Our findings…

This article addresses the inadequacy of the universal approach to academic freedom, which fails to account for the extent to which academic freedom can be exercised. Instead of considering the fixed meaning of academic freedom, the article proposes a relational approach. One that focuses on the relation between academic freedom and the common…

When the Carnegie Foundation was established in 1905, universities in Canada and Newfoundland were eligible for grants, on strict conditions that were seen by some as "colonial," "continentalist," or "imperial" intrusions on autonomy; for example, a Carnegie plan to create a federation of Maritime universities. This…

The aim of this article is to explore how Swedish principals experienced the decentralisation and re-centralisation reforms and how they affected principals' autonomy and decision-making capacity. Data were obtained from three surveys of Swedish principals, carried out in 2005, 2012 and 2019. The results show that principals experienced a high…

The relationship between regulation and quality assurance of higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) has a long and complicated history, which contributed to the foundation of the UK Quality Assurance Agency for higher education (QAA) in 1997. After March 2023, the UK-wide QAA will stop being the Designated Quality Body (DQB) for English…

The study examines the selective adoption of the school-autonomy-with-accountability (SAWA) reform at upper secondary school level in Iceland. It draws on a review of policy documents (acts, amendments to acts, regulations) and interviews with 17 individuals, including four former ministers of education that served over the period 1995-2017. The…

In its pursuit of global university rankings, Indonesia introduced a series of higher education policies, one in 2014 to grant autonomy to a select group of universities, and another in 2017 to tie financial and promotional incentives to scientific publications for all researchers. To examine scientific productivity surrounding these policies, we…