Higher Education Governance and Policy Change in Western Europe

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-x

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2. Introduction: Higher Education Governance between Historical Roots and Transnational Convergence Pressures

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 1-20

3. Theoretical Framework: National Higher Education Policies between Transnational Communication and Institutional Path-dependence

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 21-51

4. France: More State, More Market, and More Humboldt?

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 52-78

5. Italy: The “Outsmarted” State?

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 79-109

6. Great Britain: Policy “Doubling-down” as a Response to Transnationalization?

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 110-138

7. Germany: From Humboldtism to “Constrained Marketization”

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 139-171

8. Comparative Conclusions

   • Michael Dobbins, Christoph Knill

   Pages 172-196

9. Back Matter

   Pages 197-232

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This book provides a comparative analysis of the impact of 'soft Europeanization' on higher education governance in Western Europe. Using concrete indicators of policy change, it focuses on university reform in Italy, France, Germany and the UK to explore how historical legacies and transnational communication have impacted policy pathways.

• Higher education governance
• Western Europe
• Bologna Process
• Germany
• Italy
• Great Britain
• France
• university reform
• knowledge economy
• Europeanization
• internationalization
• policy convergence
• communication
• education
• Europe
• Governance
• higher education
• Institution
• Nation
• Policy
• research
• Transnational
• transnationalization
• university

“Since the national process tracing of the HE reforms with a comparative perspective and multi-model analysis is rich and presents theoretical challenges to advance the field, I highly recommend Dobbins’ and Knill’s book to students and researchers in the fields of education policy, comparative education, and political science as well as policy-makers.” (Marcelo Marques, Journal of Education Policy, Vol. 31 (1), January, 2016)

• Goethe University of Frankfurt, Germany

  Michael Dobbins

• University of Munich, Germany

  Christoph Knill

Author Christoph Knill: Christoph Knill is Professor of Political Science and Public Administration at the University of Munich. Previously he has held positions at the Universities of Konstanz and Jena, the European University Institute in Florence and the Max-Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. He has authored numerous publications including Public Policy: A New Introduction (Palgrave Macmillan 2012, with Jale Tosun) and Environmental Politics in the European Union: Policy-making, Implementation and Patterns of Multilevel Governance (Manchester University Press, 2007, with Duncan Liefferink).

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