Higher Education and Inequality in Anglo-American Societies

This analysis focuses on changes in higher education governance in Poland and Romania in the post-communist era. The author applies a theoretical framework based on institutional isomorphism and historical institutionalism and maps the policy trajectories of both systems on the basis of three governance ideal-types. The public higher education systems of both countries initially took a markedly different reform path after 1989. Polish higher education by and large returned to its historical model of ‘academic self-rule’ and has resisted pressures for stronger marketization, even during the Bologna Process, while Romania has been characterized by an early and strong isomorphic orientation towards higher education models primarily of Anglo-American inspiration. The main argument of the paper is that – after a period of marked divergence – both systems are visibly ‘re-converging’ towards a new hybrid governance model. The new governance model aims to (re-)embed the research mission of universities to foster homegrown research and innovations. These new hybrid constellations enable both countries to simultaneously deal with global pressures for change and liberate themselves from economic dependence on the West, while not throwing historical institutions entirely overboard.

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Introduction

Learning and Teaching ◽

10.3167/latiss.2019.120101 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 12 (1) ◽

pp. 1-16 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Mariya Ivancheva ◽

Ivo Syndicus

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

Education Policy ◽

Higher Education Policy ◽

Research University ◽

Policy Reform ◽

Special Issue ◽

Global Policy ◽

American Research ◽

The Common ◽

Anglo American

In recent years, an increasing body of work has addressed the ‘corporatisation’ and ‘commodification’ of universities, as well as higher education sector reforms more broadly. This work refers mostly to the traditional core hubs of higher education, such as the Anglo-American research university. In the emerging anthropology of higher education policy, accounts of the implementation and negotiation of reforms in more ‘peripheral’ contexts often remain absent. This collection of articles addresses this absence by focusing on the interplay between narratives of global policy reform and the processes of their implementation and negotiation in different contexts in the academic ‘periphery’. Bringing together work from a range of settings and through different lenses, the special issue provides insights into the common processes of reform that are underway and how decisions to implement certain reforms reaffirm rather than challenge peripheral positions in higher education.

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China Meets Anglo-America on the New Silk Road

China and Europe on the New Silk Road ◽

10.1093/oso/9780198853022.003.0014 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 255-283

Author(s):

Simon Marginson ◽

Lili Yang

Keyword(s):

Higher Education ◽

State Intervention ◽

Silk Road ◽

Liberal State ◽

American Higher Education ◽

Individualized Approach ◽

Rise Of China ◽

Similarities And Differences ◽

Anglo American ◽

The Rise Of China

The New Silk Road strategy and the rise of China in higher education raises the stakes in the engagement between China’s universities and their Western counterparts, including Anglo-American universities. The chapter focuses on the similarities and differences between Sinic and Anglo-American political and educational cultures (state, society, family, individual) and in collectivism and individualism, and the implications for higher education. The state in China is a comprehensive state rather than an Anglo-American limited liberal state. China has greater potential for collective ties, shared goods, and state intervention in higher education. These are long-standing differences. Since 1949, both state power and indigenous individualism have been enhanced in China, while Anglo-American higher education has moved toward a more exclusively individualized approach to outcomes. There is closer convergence between China and Anglo-American in universities than in the configuration of society, suggesting ongoing potential for divergence in higher education.

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