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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.

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.

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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.