This paper explores two new perspectives for the research on higher education. Building on the case of Europe with a special focus on France, it first addresses the trend toward more competition and more differentiation that can be observed in countries that traditionally were more egalitarian and the strong implication of European states in…

Given the importance of higher education in social and economic development, governments need to build a strong higher education data and policy research infrastructure to support informed decision-making, provide policy advice, and offer a critical assessment of key trends and issues. The author discusses the decline of higher education policy…

Higher education in Europe has undergone remarkable transformations over the last two decades. Germany is a very interesting case in point here. While the country was labeled as a laggard in the process, over the last decade the pace of higher education reforms in Germany has grown considerably. This paper will focus on the by now visible effects…

From the perspective of the UK, this paper addresses two main themes. It presents a higher education (HE) research agenda for the next decade linked to key policy challenges and reflects on the dynamics of the research-policy landscape. The paper begins by identifying four dimensions of the UK that will continue to be important as a focus for…

Initially emerged in 1978, higher education research institutes (HERIs) in Mainland China have experienced rapid expansion and have become a major force in higher education reform in the last three decades. The development of these research institutes is closely related to the substantive growth of the higher education system itself as well as…

This paper makes a plea for the construction of a common agenda for higher education and science, technology and innovation (STI) policy research. The public higher education and research sector in all countries is currently in the grip of several challenges arising from increased accountability, internationalization and in some cases dwindling…

Transformation in higher education in South Africa over the last 20 years has been strongly shaped by post-apartheid pressures. Recent research shows that South Africa's current higher education system can be described as medium knowledge-producing and differentiated, with low participation and high attrition. In the decade following 1994,…

Policy decision-making in Malaysia has long used an approach based on intuition, ideology, or conventional wisdom. But as Malaysian society matures within an increasingly complex policy environment, a move toward an evidence-based approach to public policy-making is called for. This paper discusses the experience of the National Higher Education…

Postsecondary institutions always have been in a state of change. The author discusses four key areas of higher education--systems of tertiary education, privatization, academic work, and technology--that demand careful analysis that have always been of concern but now are entering a new phase of change. The author offers an interpretation of the…

Establishing the links between research and policy involves taking into account not only who the educational researchers are but also the context in which they act. In this paper, public higher education policies are analyzed, since they represent a principal object of study for researchers and a relevant sphere for their interactions with…

Higher education as a field of study emerged as universities became complex institutions requiring data and interpretation for effective management and governance. The field expanded in the mid-20th century, and now includes many research and other journals, books, and other reports and publications. Academic departments and centers have been…

Australia has had a mixed history in the way in which policy research has related to higher education policy. Recognising a history of policy-related research and to some extent research-informed policy-making, Australia has followed the trend of other New Public Management-driven systems of de-emphasising policy-oriented independent research. In…

This paper contributes new perspectives on the underrepresentation of female faculty in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines by identifying how faculty themselves conceptualize or make sense of the problem. We conducted in-depth interviews with 19 STEM faculty members. The interviews were employed to identify…

Taking complexity as an epistemic starting point, this article enhances understanding of dynamics in higher education. It also reviews the relevant literature on path dependency, complexity research, and studies of political change and contingency. These ideas are further developed with reference to the political situation and political…

Preparing future leaders is a long-standing priority in higher education, but doubts have been raised about whether this goal is being achieved. Pedagogical research suggests that leadership development can be improved by taking account of students' pre-existing beliefs about leadership; however, little is currently known about those beliefs.…