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The relevance and impact of political scientists' professional activities outside of universities has become the focus of public attention, partly due to growing expectations that research should help address society's grand challenges. One type of such activity is policy advising. However, little attention has been devoted to understanding the extent and type of policy advising activities political scientists engage in. This paper addresses this gap by adopting a classification that distinguishes four ideal types of policy advisors representing differing degrees of engagement. We test this classification by calculating a multi-level latent class model to estimate key factors explaining the prevalence of each type based on an original dataset obtained from a survey of political scientists across 39 European countries. Our results challenge the wisdom that political scientists are sitting in an "ivory tower": the vast majority (80%) of political scientists in Europe are active policy advisers, with most of them providing not only expert guidance but also normative assessments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous universities throughout the world have established top-level advisory boards – informal bodies and councils that the institutional leadership may consult on issues perceived as important. Through a series of qualitative interviews with members of such entities as well as representatives of the institutions appointing them, the article sheds light on how strategic advisory bodies function, and how these entities frame and interact with the institutional leadership. We observe that strategic advisory boards represent a hybrid form of governance installing mutual dependencies between representatives of the boards and the institutional leadership – what we label as a kind of controlled collegiality. While university leadership acts as a gatekeeper controlling access to these boards, once members are nominated the power relations between the actors, become more equal. The study highlights the importance of strategic advisory boards as new elements in higher education governance – working in the shadow of more formal governance arrangements. Here, we argue that the establishment of these boards can be interpreted as a re-introduction of a collegial element in universities exposed to a number of reforms resulting in more streamlined and managerial governance structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gyroscopic rotor exposed to unbalance and internal damping is controlled with an active piezoelectrical bearing in this paper. The used rotor test-rig is modelled using an FEM approach. The present gyroscopic effects are then used to derive a control strategy which only requires a single piezo actuator, while regular active piezoelectric bearings require two. Using only one actuator generates an excitation which contains an equal amount of forward and backward whirl vibrations. Both parts are differently amplified by the rotor system due to gyroscopic effects which cause speed-dependent different eigenfrequencies for forward and backward whirl resonances. This facilitates eliminating resonances and stabilize the rotor system with only one actuator but requires two sensors. The control approach is validated with experiments on a rotor test-rig and compared to a control which uses both actuators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Populist radical right parties (PRRPs) have become more mainstream, increasing their relevance in European politics. While a lot is already known about them, there are still gaps in our knowledge. This article addresses one such gap by studying Western European PRRPs' positions on education policy. It focuses on the salience of education in election manifestos, substantive positions that parties hold, and in how far these positions reflect their core ideology. Constructing a novel framework based on core ideologies and three dimensions of education policies, including an often-neglected content dimension, the article presents results from a qualitative content analysis of 15 manifestos. The results show that education policy is relevant for PRRPs, albeit to varying degrees, and that their policies are informed by their core ideologies. The findings have important implications for understanding education policy dynamics in liberal democracies as PRRPs fundamentally challenge normative foundations of Western European education systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Norwegian politics have undergone significant changes since 1945. This paper analyzes over seven decades of policy agendas outlined in Norwegian executive speeches focusing on the composition and development of the agenda using categories from the Comparative Agendas Project. The analysis focuses on (a) the dynamics of agenda changes over time, (b) the diversity and distribution of attention, and (c) in how far external shocks or partisan factors drive major agenda shifts. Our results show that the Norwegian executive agenda has become more encompassing over time, that it is comparatively diverse, and that diversity increases as Norwegian politics becomes more complex. While there is generally a high degree of stability in the agenda, sudden punctuations also occur. Partisan factors only play a limited role in explaining these attention shifts, while external shocks seem to be more relevant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A gyroscopic rotor exposed to unbalance is studied and controlled with an active piezoelectrical bearing. A model is required in order to design a suited controller. Due to the lack of related publications utilizing piezoelectrical bearings and obtaining a modal model purely exploiting experimental modal analysis, this paper reveals a method to receive a modal model of a gyroscopic rotor system with an active piezoelectrical bearing. The properties of the retrieved model are then incorporated into the design of an originally model-free control approach for unbalance vibration elimination, which consists of a simple feedback control and an adaptive feedforward control. After the discussion on the limitations of the model-free control, a modified controller using the priorly identified modal model is implemented on an elementary rotor test-rig comparing its performance to the original model-free controller. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on academic recruitment processes have demonstrated that universities evaluate candidates for research positions using multiple criteria. However, most studies on preferences regarding evaluative criteria in recruitment processes focus on a single country, while cross-country studies are rare. Additionally, though studies have documented how fields evaluate candidates differently, those differences have not been deeply explored, thus creating a need for further inquiry. This paper aims to address this gap and investigates whether academics in two fields across five European countries prefer the same criteria to evaluate candidates for academic positions. The analysis is based on recent survey data drawn from academics in economics and physics in Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK. Our results show that the academic fields have different evaluative cultures and that researchers from different fields prefer specific criteria when assessing candidates. We also found that these field-specific preferences were to some extent mediated through national frameworks such as funding systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The International Association of Universities (IAU) is the only inclusive global university association, its membership barriers are low, yet few universities are members despite considerable benefits. What determines membership in this long-standing international university alliance? Reviewing recent trends toward a more networked, stratified and internationalized global higher education field, we argue that universities with a greater need for legitimation and those 'born' into a global era are more likely to become members of an inclusive international network like the IAU. Thus, we expect lower status and younger universities to be more likely to join. We apply regression models to test hypotheses implied by these arguments. Our findings are consistent with these hypotheses, even after controlling for other factors. We discuss these findings using neo-institutional arguments about legitimacy and imprinted logics and suggest potential analytical avenues for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apart from teaching, research and service to society, since 2015 higher education systems and institutions in Europe have faced an additional expectation – to respond to the largely unexpected yet nevertheless growing demand for higher education by refugees. This study explores system and organizational level responses to such environmental pressures in Germany and Flanders, both affluent systems, but different in terms of size, attractiveness as destination and the extent to which their languages are widely spoken. Relying primarily on document analysis and interviews, the study highlights three elements of policy dynamics: policy styles, main drivers, and extent of involvement of non-state actors. While, as expected, in both systems the dynamics were re-active, solution-driven, and with strong involvement of non-state actors, contrary to expectations both countries responded primarily in a bottom-up manner. The study provides a conceptual tool and a first empirical insight into this novel phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A foreword to the October 2023 issue of "Studies in Higher Education" is presented.

An introduction is presented which discusses articles in the issue on topics including, knowledge exchange activities between higher education institutions and business stakeholders; and societal role of universities and the importance of knowledge exchange for economic and social development.

Scholars may be diversely engaged in boundary-crossing work, either staying more confined in academic settings, or reaching out to the policy world. Despite growing theoretical attention, there is little empirical knowledge on the extent to which scholars indeed engage in boundary-crossing activities, and the conditions that foster or jeopardize this. We use original survey data from European political scientists to investigate how frequently they 'travel' to the policy world, what patterns of engagement are visible, and how these are determined. The article introduces a typology capturing different boundary-crossing profiles and shows that political scientists are rather frequent travelers across the border between academia and the policy world. Yet, individual characteristics matter. Having (had) a position outside of academia has an especially strong effect on the likelihood of boundary-crossing. Our results also reveal that not every scholar has the same chance to be involved, depending on gender or seniority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing reliance on market mechanisms in higher education is analysed both as one of the approaches to steering as well as in relation to the consequences of markets for quality and accessibility of higher education. This article goes beyond the normative considerations of market elements as inherently good or bad and the economic theory-guided focus on freedoms of users and providers, by presenting an alternative conceptualization. The conceptualization adapted from studies of markets in other parts of the welfare state to the context of higher education is based on two dimensions: (1) who effectively controls production of certain goods and services and (2) how access to and funding of these goods and services are regulated. It focuses on interests of three main actors—the state, the users (students) and the providers (higher education institutions). This leads to six conceptually distinct markets, whose key characteristics are illustrated by examples from Denmark, England, India, Norway, Portugal and Serbia. The key message is that this alternative conceptualization allows identifying variance in marketization of higher education with regards to (1) which actors are empowered, (2) who are the likely winners and losers and (3) what might be the risks of introducing specific market elements in a higher education system. More generally, a more nuanced analysis relying on this conceptualization can potentially contribute to a deeper understanding of political and policy dynamics in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to articles in the issue is presented which explore topics that include the entrepreneurial nature of team structure, the nature of trust building between university spin-offs (USOs) and parent institutions, and an analysis of networks that support the evolution of regional spin-offs.

Numerous studies focused on the linkages between the Bologna Process and system – as well as organizational-level changes – implying significance of the process for higher education policy dynamics. However, what has been lacking is a closer examination of the political importance of Bologna for the different actors involved and whether this varies over time, space and types of actors. The present study investigates the changes in the size and rank of delegations of national governments and European stakeholder organizations to the Bologna ministerial conferences in order to assess Bologna's political saliency in relation to (1) a more concrete interest in the actual European policy preferences for higher education and (2) an interest in the symbolic aspect of European policy coordination in higher education. The results suggest that the Bologna Process is primarily losing political appeal for the national governments of European Union (EU) members, while for the EU candidates and potential members as well as for the European stakeholder organizations it remains politically salient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

German universities have traditionally been characterized as homogenous. However, recent policies such as the excellence initiative were supposed to introduce differentiation and incentivize universities to develop more specific missions. This study analyzes the mission statements of German universities using a quantitative content analysis. It focuses on the question, whether the mission statements of German universities can be clustered in different groups and if so, whether the membership in one of these groups correlates with a university's success in one of the initiatives or other organizational characteristics. The results show that German universities today have somewhat differentiated mission statements focusing either on research or education. Additionally, half of the universities created significantly longer mission statements with more diverse profiles. However, the characteristics of a university's mission statement are found not to be related to the university's success in the excellence initiative, the Competition for Teaching Excellence or the type of institution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An editorial is presented on higher education research. Topics include playing an important role for innovation and national economic development as well as competitiveness; and universities becoming more important for modern societies as tools for helping in addressing grand social challenges and securing economic development.

Many studies analysing partisan politics assume differing preferences based on parties’ ideological backgrounds without providing matching empirical analysis. This is especially true for specialized policy areas like higher education policy, which are often not included in large comparative analysis of manifestos addressing core policies. Additionally, the limited existing literature that includes higher education focuses only on the re-distributive dimension of partisan competition. However, the main theoretical argument of this article is that in order to fully capture partisan dynamics, it is necessary to include a second analytical dimension, addressing the question how higher education is governed. Based on this framework, theoretical expectations for partisan preferences of different party families are deduced. Subsequently, these expectations are tested using originally coded election manifestos and a qualitative content analysis for all relevant parties in four European countries (the UK, Germany, Norway, and the Netherlands). The findings show that parties do hold differing preferences which can be structured along two dimensions. While many parties fulfil the theoretical expectations, there is also a fair amount of variation within party families, which can be explained by pointing to the importance of institutions, their legacies, and the resulting constraints for the formation of partisan preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A new design for an active piezoelectric bearing with rotating actuators is presented and experimentally investigated in this paper. First, the theory of an active bearing with rotating actuators is presented. Afterwards, a model-free control approach based on the transform domain least mean squares algorithm is presented. The required transformation is extended by an efficient algorithm to compensate its delay. The mechanical and electrical design of the new device with three rotating actuators is presented afterwards. Experiments on a rotor test-rig are used to validate the functionality of the bearing with a feedforward control and passive rotor run-ups. The run-ups reveal vibrations of the third rotor order. A simple model comprising a hysteresis is presented to give a possible explanation for this phenomenon which shows that the order corresponds to the number of used actuators. A run-up on the test-rig with a prototype comprising five actuators shows strong vibrations of the fifth order. The paper closes with a thorough discussion on the feasibility of the new device as an active balancing device which includes a comparison to already existing devices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines conceptually the role of political parties in higher education policy. It discusses in how far political parties matter for changes in higher education policy, whether they offer different policy positions that might result in differing policy outputs and how one can conceptualize these differences. To do so, it develops a two-dimensional analytical framework consisting of one dimension that captures re-distributive conflicts and one dimension that captures conflicts over the control of the higher education system. To exemplify this, the article presents illustrative higher education systems and develops hypotheses about where different parties would ideally position themselves in relation to the framework. The article expands on these ideal positions by introducing different forms of path dependencies that might limit political parties and thus lead to a situation of constrained partisan preferences. Finally, it proposes a research agenda based on the analytical framework and the hypotheses generated from it. Overall, the article argues that political parties can be expected to favour different higher education systems and thus matter for changes in higher education policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the discussion on teaching and learning playing an important role in the field of higher education due to several factors. Topics include globalization of higher education leading to growing international competition and an increasing demand for quality education from higher education; and multiple stakeholders such as employability and entrepreneurship from employers or parents giving rise to close scrutiny and supervision.

An introduction is presented in which the authors discuss various topics within the issue, including third mission activities in higher education, the business models of universities, and entrepreneurial universities.

Using the seminal contribution by Gornitzka and Maassen on hybrid steering approaches in higher education as a foundation, this paper offers three main contributions. First of all, an analysis is provided of how the concept of hybrid steering approaches has been used since 2000 in the higher education literature. Second, the paper delivers a theoretical underpinning for the existence of hybrid steering in higher education stemming from institutional theory and policy analysis. Third, the paper deepens and broadens the concept of hybrid steering emphasizing the permanence of hybrids, their potential homogeneity and convergence over time. Furthermore, their relation to multi-level governance arrangements as well as interaction between global scripts and national filters is addressed. In the conclusion, several avenues for future research are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Introduction of a novel deformation coordinate for rotors with active bearings. • Minimizing the deformation reduces bearing forces. • Weighting of control part eliminates difference of deformation and displacement. • Control of rotor deformation eliminates all resonances on test-rig. An elastic gyroscopic rotor system is modelled using the finite element method. The rotor is supported with two piezoelectric actuators which allow a dynamic manipulation of the rotational axis. The piezos are modelled as displacement actuators causing a base excitation. It is known from the literature that actively reducing the displacements of the rotor in the self-centring area leads to increasing bearing forces. We propose an approach which theoretically allows the use of the rotor displacements for active control without significantly increasing the bearing forces, even in the self-centring area. We use the relative displacements of the rotor for control which are proportional to the deformation of the rotor. The relative displacements are the difference between the absolute displacements, which describe the rotor centre, and a virtual active rotor axis which is a linear interpolation of the theoretically load-free actuator displacements of the piezos. A combination of integral force feedback and the least-mean-squares algorithm is chosen for control which takes full advantage of complex time signals. The analytic optimum of this control shows resonances which match with the resonances of the unsupported rotor if only the bearing forces are minimized. We refer to them as force-free resonances. While minimizing the absolute displacements in addition to the bearing forces only eliminates the first resonance, minimizing the relative displacements in addition eliminates all resonances. Using an additional weighting of the controller part prevents the force-free resonances and eliminates the difference between using the absolute and relative displacements. This is confirmed by experiments on the test-rig. However, there is no additional resonance when using the absolute displacement in addition to the bearing forces. Using the relative displacements allow for a higher reduction of the bearing forces caused by unbalance excitation in comparison to the absolute displacements when no weighting of the controller output is used. The test-rig results also show that it is not possible to eliminate the first conventional resonance peak which comprise forward and backward whirl vibrations by only controlling the bearing forces in the first bearing plane. The additional consideration of the absolute or relative displacements is able to eliminate these resonances with just a low increase of the bearing forces after the second resonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the guest editors discuss the theme of the issue, case studies from North Western Europe, East Asia and Southeast Asia, comparing and contrasting their policies, patterns, and practices of university governance and leadership.

A foreword to the issue is presented which discusses various reports on the effective use of the online encyclopedia Wikipedia by academics as a pedagogical and assessment tool for their higher education students.

Due to an oversight by the Publisher during typesetting stage, there was an error in respect to the name of Siri B. Borlaug. The country "Norway" was mistakenly captured as part of the first name, hence the presentation "Norwary Siri B. Borlaug". His name is now correctly presented here as well as in the original article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to the understanding of how different actors in the academic field perceive the challenges that Brexit poses for European higher education. Based on a narrative analysis of 28 interviews, this paper highlights how actors' narratives convene discursive elements stemming from competing discourses on cooperation and competition. In doing so, the exploratory study focuses on two countries, Portugal and Germany, which correspond to distinct cases regarding their performance in the European research and higher education landscape. The analysis highlights that there are national differences between the perceptions of Brexit and allows identifying commonalities in the narratives in both countries. In addition, we identify the presence of a pragmatic managerial attitude in response to Brexit. The three overarching narratives are the narrative of concerns, the narrative of hopes, and the narrative of beliefs. These narratives reflect the struggle of the cooperation and the competition discourses in ascribing meaning to Brexit. The competition discourse has assumed a dominant role in the perceptions of Brexit and cooperation is mainly fueled through the academics and their professional ethos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines shifts in the structures of Ukrainian higher education and research based on historical institutionalism with a focus on the dynamics of change and stability during critical junctures. We show how critical political junctures influence higher education, how institutions of higher education and research have experienced conversion and drift, and how international trends such as quality assurance and the concept of the research university have been implemented in Ukraine. We find that gradual institutional change (conversion) and deliberate non-change (drift) in a political environment characterized by widespread corruption have resulted in a high degree of diversion of both financial and intellectual resources. Due to a lack of political support for the implementation of reforms and rampant political favoritism, organizational forms frequently are mismatched with their core organizational tasks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recruitment is one of the main strategic tools for universities, which aim to hire the best possible candidates for their academic positions. However, not every institution can hire whom they perceive as the best. Our paper investigates what are perceived to be the most pressing hindrances to attracting the best researchers. We focus on national and disciplinary differences in researchers' perceptions of barriers to recruiting the best scholars in their fields. We surveyed researchers in economics and physics in the Netherlands, Norway, and the UK and find that economists emphasize salary level and institutional prestige as the main barriers, while physicists underline competition from non-academic actors and career development opportunities. We further find differences by country. In Norway, limited institutional prestige is a key barrier to attracting the best researchers, while researchers in the UK highlight salary levels. Respondents at Dutch universities claim that they experience multiple, equally important barriers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]