Beerkens, E., Kaiser, F., Boezerooij, P., Huisman, J., Jongbloed, B., Kaulisch, M., Luijten-Lub, A., Maassen, P., Salerno, C., Theisens, H. and Vossensteyn, H. (2004), Higher education policy and trends. An update on higher education policy issues in 11 Western countries 2004. Enschede: CHEPS, Jan 1, 2005
Uploads
Papers by Jeroen Huisman
where various institutional pressures force them to position themselves
on a national-international orientation scale in order to gain legitimacy
in the eyes of different constituents with different expectations. Empirical insights, however, on how HEIs respond to these forces and position themselves within this debate are largely lacking. Hence, this study builds on organizational identity theory and institutional theory to assess the national and international identity claims expressed by the mission statements, a dominant organizational identity narrative, of HEIs as well as institutional factors affecting the selected position. A mixed methods analysis of the mission statements of 120 US universities indicates that universities’ identity claims can be classified in five categories of national claims and five of international claims. The findings suggest that institutional forces affect the position of universities on the national/international continuum but that universities’ attempts to reconcile these pressures are much more refined than expected as universities try to strike a subtle balance between being similar and different.
with national and institutional governance arrangements offering more institutional autonomy and providing significant scope for identity development and profiling, this case study shows that these relationships between identity, governance, and autonomy are not that obvious. In
this particular case, the opposite happened. Despite more autonomy, VU Amsterdam was not able to maintain its historically distinctive identity, nor was it able to replace this with a new, unambiguous identity. External factors (demographics) and internal dynamics (leadership strategies) explain the anomalies.
our study is that it highlights important discursive mechanisms underlying the reproduction of deficit thinking in times of contestation.
time, and they delegitimate concrete, time-bound measures that define specific outcomes against well-defined deadlines. By explicitly bringing a temporal dimension into our analysis, we argue that defensive institutional work deflects questions regarding what
ought to be achieved when, and contributes to the slow pace of gender change in academia.
where various institutional pressures force them to position themselves
on a national-international orientation scale in order to gain legitimacy
in the eyes of different constituents with different expectations. Empirical insights, however, on how HEIs respond to these forces and position themselves within this debate are largely lacking. Hence, this study builds on organizational identity theory and institutional theory to assess the national and international identity claims expressed by the mission statements, a dominant organizational identity narrative, of HEIs as well as institutional factors affecting the selected position. A mixed methods analysis of the mission statements of 120 US universities indicates that universities’ identity claims can be classified in five categories of national claims and five of international claims. The findings suggest that institutional forces affect the position of universities on the national/international continuum but that universities’ attempts to reconcile these pressures are much more refined than expected as universities try to strike a subtle balance between being similar and different.
with national and institutional governance arrangements offering more institutional autonomy and providing significant scope for identity development and profiling, this case study shows that these relationships between identity, governance, and autonomy are not that obvious. In
this particular case, the opposite happened. Despite more autonomy, VU Amsterdam was not able to maintain its historically distinctive identity, nor was it able to replace this with a new, unambiguous identity. External factors (demographics) and internal dynamics (leadership strategies) explain the anomalies.
our study is that it highlights important discursive mechanisms underlying the reproduction of deficit thinking in times of contestation.
time, and they delegitimate concrete, time-bound measures that define specific outcomes against well-defined deadlines. By explicitly bringing a temporal dimension into our analysis, we argue that defensive institutional work deflects questions regarding what
ought to be achieved when, and contributes to the slow pace of gender change in academia.
In this volume, contributors from Europe, Australia, Africa and the US critically address ongoing issues with a set of key questions to guide their analysis: What do we know? What are the missing links and gaps in past research? What are the implications for further research?
Key themes include: The nature of higher education, higher education and society, staff and students in higher education, teaching and learning, and curriculum and assessment.
Critical, engaging and international in scope, Researching Higher Education will be a valuable guide for academics, researchers, postgraduate students and policy makers in the higher education community.