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This paper aims to analyse the shift in the internal power balance between managerial and academic self-governance as reflected in the perceptions of teaching and non-teaching staff on the tendencies, decision-making processes and actor's roles in these processes. The empirical data used in this paper were gathered on the basis of an on-line survey, distributed throughout 2014 and 2015 in all Portuguese higher education institutions. Responses were interpreted taking into account the influence of governance narratives on the development of boardism, i.e., a decrease of academic self-governance reflecting the decline of the power of teaching staff in HEIs' governance; an increase of managerial governance as reflected in the reinforcement of hierarchies and organisational top-down decision-making; and the influence of external stakeholders. The analysis contributes to dig into the complexity of the governance arrangements challenging the prevailing influence of the NPM governance narrative while underlining the internal dynamics of HEIs, where Portuguese teaching staff continue to play a key role.

This paper analyses the purposes of cooperation as they challenge the European governance of higher education. Using Brexit to analyse meanings of "cooperation" and conveying secondary data analysis of ten case studies undertaken in the framework of the exploratory research project titled "Brexit and higher education in the UK and Europe: Towards a cross-country investigation," this study identifies a plurality of meanings of cooperation. These meanings resonate within the scenarios of Europe 2025 traced by the European Commission. In the scenarios (1) "nothing but the single market," (2) "doing less more efficiently," (3) "those who want more do more," the different meanings of cooperation put at risk the future of cooperation driven by academic values and beliefs at the core of the Europeanisation of knowledge policies. Ultimately, the paper underlines that cooperation as a driver of the internationalisation of higher education questions the role of national openness and/or closure in framing shared European interests and the value of international cooperation.

Based on thematic data analysis of reports from a qualitative cross-country study, the article explores the perceptions of Brexit and collaborations with the UK in different EU countries through the lens of discursive institutionalism. We suggest that in the context of uncertainty characteristic of the post-Brexit referendum period, ideas related to economic concerns and strategic repositioning of national higher education systems subsume the values attached to the European dimension of higher education and research policies. The ideal of educational cooperation based on cultural diversity and national varieties is overridden by concerns expressed in terms of economic rationales. These findings corroborate research that argues that collaboration/cooperation has become a pragmatic and instrumental endeavour. In time, and if the current climate of uncertainty persists, this may further reconfigure institutional strategies and lead institutions to focus on problem-solutions rather than the pursuit of the political ends of cooperation.

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.

In Europe and beyond, managerialism triggered the rise of "boardism" as a distinctive governance praxis in higher education, involving both normative assumptions and technical and practical elements. In this paper, we examine to what extent strategizing processes in Portuguese higher education institutions reflect the reconfiguration of power relationships at the institutional level. The paper draws on survey data to examine the perceptions of the teaching staff and non-teaching staff in public and private Portuguese higher education institutions. It aims at identifying what strategizing processes reveal about the implications of the decrease of academic self-governance, the increase of managerial governance and the increasing influence of external members in the composition of the governing bodies. The analysis of the Portuguese case contributes to the understanding of governance challenges in managing change in a context of uncertainty with an eye on how governance practitioners might deal with the issues it raises.

How do the constituencies in higher education re-interpret Bologna's function with regard to the European Higher Education Area? This research examines how institutional actors re-construct the policy framework in the light of their own institutional agendas. Drawing on empirical data from a survey of academics, students and administrative and management staff this article focuses on the processes of mediation. It examines how at institutional level actors perceived Bologna whilst themselves being in the midst of Bologna's on-going policy dynamic. It dissects the tensions between macro political processes and the role status and function of the different constituencies and sheds new light on the role played at the institutional level by the three estates in re-interpreting the Bologna Declaration whilst adopting the reforms it introduces.

This paper addresses convergence as a political issue stemming from the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. From the perspective of cultural theory, this issue relies on the fact that the influence of ways of life are not evenly influential in the political coordination of the European Higher Education Area. Convening the results of previous studies on the progress of Bologna, this paper underlines how goal displacement is challenging convergence in the ambit of the broader European Union political project. Additionally, the paper concludes that education within the European Higher Education Area is being configured by the prominence of the individualist and the fatalist ways of life.

Over time, inclusive education has evolved in the search for more appropriate designations for its target audience, aiming to promote inclusive language and combat prejudiced and discriminatory behavior. More current paradigms, such as the Universal Design for Learning and the Multilevel Approach, propose completely abandoning the use of designations for students (1). This qualitative study uses a documentary analysis to examine how the statutes of 26 Portuguese public higher education institutions (HEIs) designate students who need academic support and to understand the educational concepts associated with these designations (2). The results revealed that Portuguese HEIs still adopt various student designations, often based on a medical model of classification and diagnosis. Furthermore, these designations do not fully encompass academic diversity, nor do they consider the diverse needs that students may present throughout their academic journey, which consequently limits access for all to inclusive practices in higher education (3). Considering these findings, there is an urgent need to abandon student designations in Portuguese HEIs and promote inclusive practices that cater to everyone, ensuring that students remain in and succeed in higher education, regardless of medical validation (4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent shifts in university governance have relied on increased autonomy. Within this context, the enhanced role attributed to governance boards at the expense of academic bodies and the role of external stakeholders has gained momentum. With the aim of understanding the extent of the influence of external stakeholders at the institutional level, the perceptions of Rectors and Senate members from 26 European higher education institutions were analysed. Their views saw external members of boards as representing the interests of the society at large and bringing outside beliefs and pressures to the university. However, Rectors would prefer to see them as allies, avoiding interfering strongly in the private lives of institutions.

Copyright of Revista da Faculdade de Letras: História is the property of Universidade do Porto, Faculdade de Letras and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In this section, participants in the Universities in the Knowledge Economy project (UNIKE 2013–2017) and European Universities – Critical Futures (2019–2022) write about the distinctive features of these projects, their contribution to contemporary debates about the reform of higher education, and how Sue's ideas and ways of working influenced their own research and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The universalization of schooling has triggered issues about the organization and management of more inclusive education systems. Several transnational organizations have produced guidelines that have contributed to the concept of inclusive education being incorporated into national educational policies. To identify the ideas underpinning this concept, we mobilized a policy cycle theoretical–methodological proposal. From a thematic analysis of (inter)national texts, four themes emerged: the recognition of diversity, the struggle for equity, the promotion of school autonomy and the emphasis on the participation of the educational community. In this article, we analyze the ideas underpinning the themes of struggle for equity and promotion of school autonomy to analyze the challenges and opportunities resulting from their articulation. Analysis of the Portuguese case revealed that the legal and normative framework shaped by international documents underlines a tension between these two themes, raising questions regarding the practices enacted by national and institutional actors. The findings suggest that equity is conditional on school autonomy; nevertheless, granted autonomy may not translate into improved equity. The extent to which our analysis of the Portuguese case reflects other national contexts where effective autonomy enhances equity remains to be seen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While a lot has been written regarding the changing management and governance arrangements in higher education, less is known about how this progression relates to quality in higher education. The purpose of this article is to describe the context of governance in Portuguese higher education institutions and how institutional governance arrangements impact on quality and quality assurance mechanisms of higher education. The study is based on four institutional cases studies, comprising two universities and two polytechnic institutions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with senior managers, middle managers, academics and students from Arts and Engineering, and documentary analysis was undertaken. The main findings show that national and institutional features of governance and management may influence the implementation of quality policy and procedures, and indeed quality improvement. The different institutional actors seem to be aware of the dynamic nature of the equilibrium between positive and negative impacts and recognise the need for checks and balances in the governance and management structures of higher education institutions, especially between collegial and managerial facets.

This article analyses the impacts of the Portuguese quality assurance system on academic cultures, using the Cultural Theory proposed by Douglas (1970, 1982) and developed by Thompson, Ellis and Wildavsky (1990) as an explanatory framework for Portuguese academics' preference formation in relation to quality assessment. The Portuguese higher education system has been undergoing a change of paradigm by moving from traditional collegial system to a legal framework influenced by New Public Management. The former institutional context, where academic collegiality was the basis of democratic decision, promoted the egalitarian way of life, where the group dimension is stronger. However, recent legislation has promoted two different logics. On the one hand it has decreased the influence of the group dimension by favouring individualistic values and beliefs. On the other, it has reinforced the grid dimension through greater centralisation of power and separation of roles of universities and polytechnics, thus promoting the hierarchic way of life. The new legislation framework has produced changes that have strongly modified traditional governance structures and mechanisms and are likely to affect academics' perceptions of quality assurance processes and impacts as much as they influence the development of beliefs and values.

This article focuses on the interaction between the European dimension driven by the creation of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) and the development of national reforms to fulfil that objective. On the basis of data gathered in eight countries involved in EuroHESC project TRUE (Transforming European Universities), the curricular and the governance reforms are examined in order to identify the tension between the European dimension and the implementation of reforms in national contexts. European higher education policies take the momentum of the implementation of the Bologna Process at national level and European Union (EU) governance brings to the forefront the need for political coordination.

Differentiated integration was conceived of as a political methodology and as a technology to achieve a European "union" in the field of knowledge policies. However, the non-achievement with regard to the political goals of the European Higher Education Area has highlighted the limitations of this approach to promote furthering the EHEA. In this paper, unthinking is both a research strategy aiming to question those limits and a pedagogical tactic to question the assumptions about the futures. As a research strategy, articulations between unity and diversity are examined. Based on the analysis of the documents endorsed by the Education Ministers in keeping the pace of the Bologna process, the paper contributes to expand knowledge on the nature of Bologna's differences and underlines the paradoxes in dealing with those differences. As a pedagogical tactic, unthinking questions the assumptions about the future scenarios sketched for higher education. Alternative ways to further integration are discussed on the basis of the idea of integration of the "differences", bringing to the centre education as a political concern, as higher education institutions, professors, and students/graduates are those at the core of the political management of the "differences". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Lusofona de Educacao is the property of Universidade Lusofona de Humanidades e Tecnologias, CEIEF and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The aim of this article is to discuss the contribution of the theory of differentiated integration to understanding Bologna as an instrument for building up the European Higher Education Area (EHEA), and to learn from that analysis what can be used to enrich the theory of differentiated integration. The analysis uses secondary data to grasp the national and the institutional appropriation of the Bologna process and to identify the dimensions that characterise the type of differentiated integration promoted by Bologna. The analysis underlines the role of national and institutional factors to understand how the EHEA, from its inception and its evolution, is a project of differentiated integration stemming from the translation of policy into action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Educação, Sociedade & Culturas is the property of Centro de Investigacao e Intervencao Educativa (CIIE) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The implementation of the governance reform of Portuguese higher education has been developed under the influence of 'new public management' resulting in the loss of collegial governance. Additionally, the need for meta-governance of the higher education system and institutions to monitor institutional performance against policy objectives has become evident. By examining the implementation of the legal framework for higher education on the basis of document analysis covering the period from 2007 to 2011 the 'new governance' perspective allows a broader interpretation of the governance reform outcomes. This has implications for the enhancement of institutional autonomy induced by governance reforms impacting on European higher education systems and highlights the tools approach in public management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at looking at governance instruments beyond managerial technicality. It intends to do so by analysing the impact of governance reforms on the universities autonomy assumed as a regulation instrument to politically steer systems and institutions. The regulation efforts undertaken at the European and national levels reflect a trend towards coordination of devolved governance processes (meta-governance). Although there is a wide consensus about awarding autonomy to universities and increasing self-governance, governments need to ensure that their goals are actually pursued, enhancing their regulation frames and meta-governance efforts. This paper focuses on how the governance reform interacts with institutional contexts. The changes promoted by the governance reform are an opportunity to understand how far these apparently contradictory forces operate in three selected Portuguese universities with regard to institutional autonomy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At European level the implementation of both the Bologna process and of the Lisbon Strategy have been promoting the development of policy implementation tools. In this paper, we discuss the tools of policy implementation and how they contribute to changing the European higher education systems towards the establishment of a European Higher Education Area (EHEA), a goal of the Bologna process. Empirical data is used to assess how far the use of soft law mechanisms has been effective for the implementation of the Bologna process at institutional level, including its coordination capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education has always been considered an area of national sensitivity, and that for a number of reasons. These range from the obligation of the state to provide compulsory education to the role of educational institutions as nationally embedded socialising institutions. Yet, despite the tenuous nature of the legal basis that gives some substance to policy-making at European Community level, the European Commission is assuming taking on an increasing role in education, and particularly in higher education. The main vehicles for re-defining the Community's role in this domain embrace the implementation of both the Bologna process and the Lisbon Strategy. In this paper, we discuss the European policy implementation processes and how they contribute to change European higher education while enabling the creeping competence of the European Commission in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cultural theory is tentatively used to understand how far quality assessment affects institutions by influencing the group and grid dimensions. This paper argues that the self-assessment phase of the Portuguese system, in use until recently, promoted the egalitarian (logic of mistrusting power and expertise) and the individualist (logic of freedom and autonomy) ways of life as its structure was based on academic cooperation and closed to society. However, the external assessment phase emphasised the individualist and hierarchical ways of life, the latter promoting the logic of authority and expertise. This analysis presents the dynamics of quality assessment as a step-by-step process rather than a broad-spectrum development. This attempt to apply the grid/group cultural theory to the opinions expressed on the establishment of quality assessment systems of Portuguese universities is promising. Moreover, if it is accepted that pressures from outside will enforce the grid dimension, to avoid the fatalist way of life the group dimension should be reinforced, by adopting policies and strategies to increase the group membership. These policies might be linked either to social capital or to collegiality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses the research findings of a PhD project4, which assesses how the Bologna process institutionalizes the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The paper uses the perceptions of the university constituencies. The main findings of this paper reveal the importance of the historians' perspective in the (re)contextualization of the Bologna process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]