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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. (Contains 1 table.)

This paper addresses the value of the Bologna Process in placing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) on a solid institutional footing. How far has Bologna contributed to firming up the views academia, management and students have of the EHEA? The article is based on a survey administered across four systems of higher education in 2008. It underlines the importance for those active in shaping policy both at national and at European level to take fully into account the views of the different interests in higher education, difficult and at times non committal though these latter might be.

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.

This paper addresses the interaction between European Union policies and national higher education sectors in the countries involved in the TRUE project (England, France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, Portugal and Switzerland) making the case for European governance. Relevant for this matter is the role of political processes that evolve at European level shaping political discourses and practices, thus creating a common grammar for European higher education governance. By empirically focusing on evaluation and funding policies the paper argues that European governance reflects in how this common grammar is being created and reconfiguring the environment within which European higher education systems and institutions are developing.

Government policies are central factors shaping the environment of higher education institutions. European governments have included in their higher education political strategies the principal goal of implementing the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). The perceptions that key actors of higher education institutions (HEIs) have about political developments are important as they may influence the achievement of government policy. The Bologna Process is at the heart of policy coordination, the instrument selected at European and national levels to establish EHEA. This article seeks to discuss empirically the views of institutional actors about the Bologna Process, taking into consideration the achievement of EHEA. The discussion is based on the analysis of the EHEA implementation in seven HEIs located in four higher education systems--Germany, Italy, Norway and Portugal. This paper draws on the theoretic-methodological approach of the policy cycle to analyse the perceptions of HEIs' constituencies about Bologna. (Contains 1 table and 2 notes.)

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. (Contains 1 figure, 1 table and 1 note.)

For several years Portuguese higher education institutions have been waiting for the legislation framework necessary for the implementation of the Bologna process. Such legislation was passed quite recently (2006) and has resulted in an unexpected flood of proposals presented at very short notice by higher education institutions to the Ministry. It is possible that such fast implementation rate corresponds to implementation "in form" rather than "in substance", thus softening tensions between the European and the national and local levels. This hypothesis will be tested by analysing the outcomes of a survey conducted in all higher education institutions that have presented proposals of Bologna-type degree programmes or adaptations of old degree programmes to the new Bologna-type structure.

In this paper the authors argue that the use of the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) in the implementation of the Bologna process presents coordination problems that do not allow for the full coherence of the results. As the process is quite complex, involving three different levels (European, national and local) and as the final actors in the implementation process higher education institutions (HEIs) have considerable degree of autonomy, assuming that the implementation of Bologna is a top-down linear policy implementation process does not account for the developments taking place, which produce implementation difficulties at several different levels. Constraints resulting from economic concerns at European and national levels may be an obstacle for the Bologna's contribution to a social Europe.

Portuguese internationalisation policies essentially intend to promote an attitude favouring participation in internationalisation activities. However, as higher education institutions are autonomous, those policies aim at creating opportunities for development and management of these activities instead of imposing them. In this article we attempt to analyse Portuguese HEI responses to internationalisation. After reviewing briefly the recent changes in national and EU policies aiming at promotion of higher education internationalisation, we present the results of six organisational case studies, conducted with the goal of obtaining an answer to the question: how are Portuguese higher education institutions facing the internationalisation challenge? Based on the internationalisation profiles of the six institutions selected, we identify which factors foster and which factors impede the development of international activities at the organisational level in the Portuguese higher education system. Simultaneously we analyse the rationale explaining the different patterns of international activity between and within institutions.