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Stakeholder influence in university alliance identity – an analysis of European Universities initiative mission statements
Abstract
The European Commission recently incentivized universities to establish alliances in order to institutionalise regional collaboration through the European Universities Initiative (EUI). Alliances are envisioned to maintain Europe’s global position and enhance regional integration. Their mission statements are ways of signalling identity and legitimacy and are used for strategic planning and performance frameworks. This study explores how 31 EUI alliances communicate their identity using insights from institutional theory and strategic balance. Findings reveal that EUI alliances anchor their identity within low risk and easily accepted areas of value to stakeholders and project homogenisation in regionally institutionalised areas. However, alliance missions also articulate in varying levels of detail a range of ambitions in claims, which demonstrate areas alliances chose to distinguish themselves. The findings provide insight into how alliances exert bounded agency within a regional initiative and highlight potentially competing tensions within the initiative.
... Promoting European values along with multiculturalism and multilingualism to facilitate collaboration going beyond countries and increasing competitiveness and quality of European universities are the objectives defined in the calls for alliances (European Commission, 2018). Putting the students in the center of the learning process and employing a challengebased approach, free mobility is promoted between members of the alliances (Hartzell et al., 2023). EUI is also effective in supporting universities for a more efficient communication by means of exchanging knowledge and good practices (Cino Pagliarello, 2022). ...
... Therefore, from the beginning, gender has been one of the core elements and particular emphasis has been attached to gender in the EUI, which is usually contained in "fostering inclusiveness and diversity" as in EELISA; ". . . promotes equity, inclusion and diversity while pledging to eliminate barriers" as in FilmEU; "..we commit ourselves fully to gender equality, non-discrimination and social equity" as in Civis and "full integration of people with disabilities and members of minority groups, and equality between women and men prevail" as in SEA-EU (Hartzell et al., 2023). For example, one of the objectives shared by the alliances is to realize institutional change through such initiatives as gender equality plans (Arnaldo Valdes and Gomez Comendador, 2022). ...
The world has become a place where information can be accessed quickly and disseminated widely in the knowledge society in parallel with the speed of technological advancements. The shift of focus toward knowledge economy has necessitated the transformation of higher education institutions to meet the demands of the current era, as indicated by the commencement of the 4th industrial revolution, also referred to as Industry 4.0 (I4.0). Universities are now expected to equip their graduates with necessary competencies for the jobs of the future so that they will fulfill the professional demands and requirements of I4.0. To be able to achieve this, modifications have taken place in many spheres of higher education including but not limited to the adoption of new instructional methodologies, changes in the teaching and learning environment and the redefinition of student competencies in line with the requirements of the current era. In parallel with this approach, the aim of the European Universities Initiative (EUI) is to transform the quality and competitiveness of European higher education where the alliances are expected to become universities of the future with a specific focus on student-centered curricula and innovative teaching approaches. To this end, employing a comparative survey design, this study will explore perceptions of academics in a European University Alliance (EUA) concerning the extent to which already existing academic practices align with good practice indicators defined for Higher Education 4.0 (HE4.0). Data was collected from an EUA through a statistically valid and reliable scale devised by the researcher. In total, 161 academics from nine different European Universities participated in the research. Factor analysis, validity and reliability testing, and comparative statistical methods (Kruskal Wallis-H, Mann Whitney-U, One-Way ANOVA, Independent Samples T Tests, Pearson Correlation) were performed for data analysis. The findings indicate that female academics and academics actively involved in EUA activities demonstrate higher awareness of good practice indicators in the scope of HE4.0. Being actively involved in EUAs to mainstream good academic practice across higher education institutions will contribute to keeping up with the rapidly changing academic landscape in the 4th industrial era.
... The objectives of the alliances are clearly defined although they may align themselves with core objectives of individual members to varying degrees. These findings align with the results of recent studies showing that EUI alliances tend to anchor their identities within generally accepted areas of value to key stakeholders (Hartzell et al., 2023). ...
Since 2019, the European Union has encouraged the establishment of 'new' university alliances, that is transnational strategic groupings involving more than three hundred higher education institutions in the European Union and associated partner countries. This paper treats the European Universities Initiative (EUI) as an instance of a meta-organization and investigates how decision-making processes have unfolded thus far reflecting four 'classic' decision-making models (i.e., the rational actor model, the collegial model, the political model and the garbage can model). More specifically, the study investigates two main stages in the alliances-the initiation stage and the consolidation stage-in more depth. The paper benefits from several (internal) documents and semi-structured interviews conducted with key staff from the selected alliances, the Circle U. and FORTHEM European alliances. The findings ultimately demonstrate the prevalence of key features associated with three of the four decision models, all except for garbage can, eventually resulting in hybrid decision dynamics. The data clearly show that most decisions are made by consensus, and that resource dependency, soft power, trust, and tensions underpin these decision-making processes. The paper provides insights on the mechanism underpinning alliance-level value frameworks, focusing on how different logics and values are blended, negotiated, and/or legitimized.
... xx). Furthermore, a study of EUI alliance mission statements by Hartzell et al. (2023) revealed alliances "displayed fairly homogeneous statements around the EU identity in terms of values and multilingualism; cooperation within the alliance and the region; competition relating to the individual and globally, and the EU degree in terms of mobility and pedagogy" (p. 252). ...
Launched by the European Commission in 2018, The European Universities Initiative (EUI) now stands at a more mature stage in its development. This provides an opportunity to acknowledge the accomplishments of the EUI, as well as consider the challenges facing the initiative. This chapter explores the incremental implementation of the EUI through five rounds of expansion alongside the need to consolidate the alliances created to ensure they have a sustainable future. Following this, it considers how the network of networks structure—a series of self-contained, unique alliances developed using a bottom-up approach, which are united through their membership of a top-down strategic scheme with common overarching aims and objectives—adopted for the EUI has worked in practice and continues to evolve. The achievements of the EUI are then considered by the three missions of the university: teaching, research, and externally orientated. This reveals how the alliances have delivered a wide range of activities that align with the original ambitions of the scheme, such as seamless and virtual mobility and the commitment to ‘a challenge approach’—where education and research respond to real-world challenges. Progress has also been made on the complex issues of the European degree and a legal identity of the alliances. However, as the chapter notes, it will take time for the full impact of the EUI to be known. Moreover, the long-term financial sustainability of all the alliances created by the EUI remains in question.
... Scholars have explored the origin of the initiative and what brought higher education institutions together to establish themselves as alliances (Charret & Chankseliani, 2023;Lambrechts et al., 2023;Stensaker et al., 2023). Through its attempts to trigger new types of transnational cooperation, the initiative has presented possibilities for renewing integration processes in European (higher) education and novel understandings of the European (higher) education space (Brooks & Rensimer, 2023;Cino Pagliarello, 2022;Gunn, 2020;Hartzell et al., 2023;Marques & Graf, 2024). Finally, the alliances have been tasked to find solutions to European and global societal challenges, whilst many legal and financial obstacles remain in the way for them to become sustainable and fully operation on the long run (Frame & Curyło, 2022;Maassen et al., 2022;Martín Bautista-Cerro et al., 2023;Pina Stranger et al., 2023). ...
Since 2019, the European Union has set out on the endeavour to create ‘European Universities’ through its latest flagship higher education programme, the European Universities Initiative. These ‘European Universities’ are transnational university alliances that have been given the ambitious task to ‘transform the higher education landscape in the European Union’. European Union institutions, member states, and these ‘European Universities’ have different visions and understandings of what this transformation implies and what direction it could take. This paper offers a novel conceptual framework, plastique palimpsestes, to explore how different and entangled national institutional contexts, historical perspectives, and higher education policy priorities configure the development of the European Universities Initiative. This study investigates the first two pilot phases of the European Universities Initiative through the analysis of policy documents and 70 semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders at national and European level involved in the development of the initiative. This inquiry aims to provide an empirical and conceptual contribution to interdisciplinary scholarship in higher education, public policy, and European studies.
... The EUI is currently generating growing scholarly debate in the higher education field, which focuses not only on the Initiative itself but also provides new insights to interpret the changing environment of European higher education, as well as European HEIs (Brooks & Rensimer, 2023;Cino Pagliarello, 2022;Frame & Curyło, 2022;Gunn, 2020;Hartzell et al., 2023;Kanniainen & Pekkola, 2023;Maassen et al., 2022). EUI opened the door to a comprehensive re-evaluation of internationalisation and Europeanisation in higher education, paving the way to new means of capturing these two dynamic concepts. ...
The myriad international crises in recent years have highlighted the importance of responses from Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in contending with global challenges. In the European Higher Education Area, HEIs play a core role in implementing the international and European dimensions in higher education. Internationalisation and Europeanisation are shaped by HEIs' structures and individuals , and due to their evolving nature, they are dynamic concepts with contested definitions. Through the institutional logics' perspective, this paper will investigate (1) how international and European dimensions diverge within HEIs in the EHEA, (2) explore the predominant steering mechanisms employed by HEIs to facilitate the inclusion of the international and/or European dimensions, (3) outline the roles that individuals play in fostering international and European dimensions, and (4) what effects do external factors have on HEIs' organisational autonomy. This conceptual analysis will provide researchers and stakeholders with a framework which show-cases how internationalisation and Europeanisation, despite their dynamicity, can be captured within HEIs, following the logics embedded in their activities.
Higher education institutions (HEIs) often function in an environment where various institutional pressures force them to position themselves on a national-international orientation scale in order to gain legitimacy in the eyes of different constituents with different expectations. Empirical insights, however, on how HEIs respond to these forces and position themselves within this debate are largely lacking. Hence, this study builds on organizational identity theory and institutional theory to assess the national and international identity claims expressed by the mission statements, a dominant organizational identity narrative, of HEIs as well as institutional factors affecting the selected position. A mixed methods analysis of the mission statements of 120 US universities indicates that universities’ identity claims can be classified in five categories of national claims and five of international claims. The findings suggest that institutional forces affect the position of universities on the national/international continuum but that universities’ attempts to reconcile these pressures are much more refined than expected as universities try to strike a subtle balance between being similar and different.
Measuring access to higher education for underrepresented groups is a relevant yet challenging task. The article shows that while social inclusion is recognised as a priority, policymakers, academics, and institutional leaders struggle to define, operationalise, and measure it. This makes answering the question of what constitutes a socially inclusive higher education institution quite difficult. While the answer to this question may be context‐specific, there is a clear need for a set of commonly defined indicators that allow higher education institutions to measure their progress throughout time and in relation to others. The article synthesises insights from policy, practise, and scientific research to identify which indicators are the most promising for assessing the access of under‐representative students to higher education. By discussing indicator relevance, validity and feasibility, the article contributes to the quest for internationally comparable social inclusion indicators of underrepresented student groups.
Across Europe, assumptions are often made within the academic literature and by some social commentators that students have come to understand the purpose of higher education (HE) in increasingly instrumental terms. This is often linked to processes of marketisation and neo-liberalisation across the Global North, in which the value of HE has come to be associated with economic reward and labour market participation and measured through a relatively narrow range of metrics. It is also associated with the establishment, in 2010, of the European Higher Education Area, which is argued to have brought about the refiguration of European universities around an Anglo-American model. Scholars have contended that students have become consumer-like in their behaviour and preoccupied by labour market outcomes rather than processes of learning and knowledge generation. Often, however, such claims are made on the basis of limited empirical evidence, or a focus on policies and structures rather than the perspectives of students themselves. In contrast, this paper draws on a series of 54 focus groups with 295 students conducted in six European countries (Denmark, England, Germany, Ireland, Poland and Spain). It shows how understandings of the purpose of HE are more nuanced than much of the extant literature suggests and vary, at least to some extent, by both nation-state and higher education institution. Alongside viewing the purpose of HE as preparing them for the labour market, students emphasised the importance of tertiary-level study for personal growth and enrichment, and societal development and progress. These findings have implications for policy and practice. In particular, the broader purposes of HE, as articulated by the students in this study, should be given greater recognition by policymakers, those teaching in HE, and the wider public instead of, as is often the case, positioning students as consumers, interested in only economic gain.
The Europeanization of higher education has gained considerable scope and momentum over the past quarter century. Whereas the coordinative Bologna process, with soft governance mechanisms, has facilitated standardization across countries, European Commission funding programs target universities more directly. The Erasmus Mundus Joint Degree Programme, as an incentive-based program, epitomizes the dynamics of such European funding management. Notably, it has established expanding university networks across Europe and unique new tertiary degrees that facilitate international student mobility. Applying social network analysis to 561 participating universities through several program cycles, we longitudinally examine three key patterns in the program’s development: the expansion of the program, the consolidation of pan-European networks, and the participation of and coordination by central universities in these Europeanization processes. Program participation increased considerably across cycles, even as established networks were consolidated, largely through re-accreditation of established programs. Moreover, we identify those universities that assume a central position in the inter-organizational structure of this international program. These universities actively facilitate the evolving Europeanization of higher education by strengthening inter-university networks via a signature EU program.
In higher education research, theoretical approaches stressing isomorphism dominate the discourse on how higher education institutions ‘behave’ in their higher education and research systems. We argue that research should address both instances of similarity and differences. Using theoretical notions from institutionalism and the branding/marketing literature, and focusing on how UK universities are different and similar in their welcome addresses—as expressions of the institutions’ images—we are able to offer a balanced view of patterns of similarities and differences as well as share findings of patterns over time (2005–2015). Using quantitative and qualitative content analysis, our findings show overall high levels of homogeneity of images across the universities. But younger and less prestigious institutions were (both in 2005 and 2015) more inclined to show distinctive images.
This article explores the factors affecting the content of universities’
mission statements. We conceptualize missions as identity narratives, a
type of symbolic representation of an organization. Based on the
literature on organizational identity we argue that universities need to
address two major challenges when crafting their mission statements, (i)
to pursuit legitimacy in spite of multiple and competing expectations,
and (ii) to properly balance similarity and distinctiveness from other
universities. We identify factors that affect this strategic effort and
develop hypotheses that we test in the empirical context of the United
Kingdom’s higher education system. Results show that (i) among
competing expectations, universities choose claims that are plausible to
external constituents and consistent with the values of internal
members, and that (ii) they adopt claims similar to universities
belonging to the same organizational form while differentiating from
geographically closer universities in order to reduce competitive overlap.
Often there is no exhaustive definitive formula for strategising problems because of the complexity of the causal interconnections; therefore, there is no definite stopping point when a problem is solved, i.e., such a thing as the one and only strictly objective problem solution does not exist (for an outline of planning dilemmas, see Rittel & Webber, 1973).
Building the Knowledge Economy in Europe investigates the integration of emerging knowledge policy domains on the European political agenda, and the dynamics of this in relation to knowledge policies. Professors Meng-Hsuan Chou and Åse Gornitzka bring together leading experts who address the two central pillars of the 'Europe of Knowledge', research and higher education, to reveal the vertical, horizontal and sequential tensions in European knowledge governance. © Meng-Hsuan Chou and Åse Gornitzka 2014. All rights reserved.
We offer an institutional explanation for the contemporary expansion of formal organization—in numbers, internal complexity, social domains, and national contexts. Much expansion lies in areas far beyond the traditional foci on technical production or political power, such as protecting the environment, promoting marginalized groups, or behaving with transparency. We argue that expansion is supported by widespread cultural rationalization in a stateless and liberal global society, characterized by scientism, rights and empowerment discourses, and an explosion of education. These cultural changes are transmitted through legal, accounting, and professionalization principles, driving the creation of new organizations and the elaboration of existing ones. The resulting organizations are constructed to be proper social actors as much as functionally effective entities. They are painted as autonomous and integrated but depend heavily on external definitions to sustain this depiction. So expansion creates organizations that are, whatever their actual effectiveness, structurally nonrational. We advance institutional theories of social organization in three main ways. First, we give an account of the expansive rise of “organization” rooted in rapid worldwide cultural rationalization. Second, we explain the construction of contemporary organizations as purposive actors, rather than passive bureaucracies. Third, we show how the expanded actorhood of the contemporary organization, and the associated interpenetration with the environment, dialectically generate structures far removed from instrumental rationality.
In their mission statements, universities are trying to differentiate themselves from other universities that are perceived as their competitors as well as highlight organizational specificities and brand unique images. However, at the same time, mission statements rely heavily on institutional specificities. On the basis of a combined discourse analysis, sequential analysis, and content analysis of mission statements of German universities, this article provides empirical evidence to the conclusion that mission statements allow universities to position themselves in particular niches and competitive groups, in which group similarities are highlighted vis-à-vis other groups’ differences.
This article synthesizes the large but diverse literature on organizational legitimacy, highlighting similarities and disparities among the leading strategic and institutional approaches. The analysis identifies three primary forms of legitimacy: pragmatic, based on audience self-interest; moral, based on normative approval; and cognitive, based on comprehensibility and taken-for-grantedness. The article then examines strategies for gaining, maintaining, and repairing legitimacy of each type, suggesting both the promises and the pitfalls of such instrumental manipulations.
This article investigates the form of European universities to determine the extent to which they resemble the characteristics of complete organizations and whether the forms are associated with modernization policy pressure, national institutional frames and organizational characteristics. An original data set of twenty-six universities from eight countries was used. Specialist universities have a stronger identity, whereas the level of hierarchy and rationality is clearly associated with the intensity of modernization policies. At the same time, evidence suggests limitations for universities to become complete, as mechanisms allowing the development of some dimensions seemingly constrain the capability to develop others.
Many scholars across various academic disciplines are investigating the following questions: What do individuals know or believe about an organization? How does a focal organization (and/or other interested entity) develop, use, and/or change this information? and How do individuals respond to what they know or believe about an organization? Cross-disciplinary research that centers on these questions is desirable and could be enhanced if researchers identify and develop consistent terminology for framing these questions. The authors work toward that end by identifying four central “viewpoints” of an organization and proposing labels to represent each of these viewpoints: identity, intended image, construed image, and reputation.
Mission statements are ubiquitous in higher education. Accreditation agencies demand them, strategic planning is predicated on their formulation, and virtually every college and university has one available for review. Moreover, higher education institutions are constantly revisiting and revising their mission statements: as recently as the mid-1990s, the Association of American Colleges found that fully 80% of all colleges and universities were making major revisions in their mission statements, goals, curricula, and general education courses. It would seem that not having a mission statement begs the very legitimacy of a college or university. Of course, the crafting (and re-crafting) of such documents consumes considerable institutional resources, particularly that most precious resource: time. So, why bother? Some would argue that articulating a shared purpose is a requisite first step on the road to organizational success. Others are far less sanguine about such efforts and view them as rhetorical pyrotechnics—pretty to look at perhaps, but of little structural consequence. The purpose of this study is to begin an exploration of these hypotheses by first attempting to understand what institutions actually say in their missions and by exploring the relationship between these rhetorical elements and institutional type.
From ongoing practices and rhetorics of globalization have emerged a new set of actors, logics and relations between and beyond institutions of higher education and research. As universities across the world continue to grapple with fundamental changes in resource structures and institutional missions, the ‘rolling back’ of state support and involvement in university governance has given way to more decentralized and market-oriented forms of organization, leading to new strategies for cooperation and competition. For a variety of reasons, universities are increasingly seeking to develop internationalization strategies and programmes as a part of their evolving institutional missions, and an increasingly important element of these strategies is engagements with and through international consortia. Despite the wealth of scholarship that has emerged exploring internationalization discourses as a predetermined institutional priority, there is a lack of scholarship on the politics and transformative potential of consortia as deliberative spaces capable of reframing internationalization agendas. This article attempts to sketch and interrogate the transformative potential of international consortia by developing a theoretical framework for agency in globalizing universities, and then exploring an empirical case from an international consortium of prestigious research universities in the Asia Pacific. By understanding the discourses and practices of internationalization as always ‘in the making’, we can draw our attention to where and how certain ideas, projects and norms of internationalization become established, and perhaps we can expand our ability to make them differently.
Addresses the relationship between organizational culture, identity and image. Argues that contemporary organizations need to define their corporate identity as a bridge between the external position of the organization in its marketplace and other relevant environments, and internal meanings formed within the organizational culture. Offers an analytical framework using the concepts of organizational culture, identity and image and suggests implications, including the need for symbolic management in and of the organization and the need to combine knowledge from the disciplines of marketing and organization studies.
Higher education institutions on their way to quasi-markets have to identify their distinct characteristics and nowadays, most of the German universities have published a mission statement. But since the tasks and mission of German universities are set for them by state regulation, the paper analyses for what mission statements have been introduced and what universities are stating in their mission statements. Addressing this question, the article reveals that mission statements contribute to constructing corporate images. Instead of defining a single overarching organizational identity that is distinct from other universities, mission statements express the tasks and missions that are set for them by higher education law and supplement these missions with distinct images. An important implication of this symbolic profile-building is that the underlying intuitional models of these images are related to the history, subject profile and often geographical location of the universities and thus, contribute to creating competitive fields of universities.
This study seeks to compare the mission statements of higher education institutions in Wales as well as to compare these with regional level policy statements and demands from the market. The underlying idea is to reveal the extent to which mission statements actually differ and are (or are not) in line with such regional policies and market demands. The importance of the study is that it highlights the extent to which expectations from either government or the market are actually taken on board by institutions and the extent to which this could threaten institutional diversity. The study shows that congruence of missions is expressed in elements relating to excellence, research and a commitment to Wales and its economy. At the same time, missions are very diverse, with no two institutions stressing the same set of mission elements. The findings do not indicate that mission diversity is threatened by policy or market forces.
The paper reflects on the implications of two influential albeit contrary movements affecting research universities in Australia (and many other nations): global rankings, which normalize the comprehensive science‐based research university; and the policy emphasis on diversification. It critiques the global rankings developed by the Times Higher Education Supplement and the Shanghai Jiao Tong University, which tend to shift control over the definition and purpose of university activity to the rankings agencies themselves. Taken together, rankings and diversity pose for university executives and governing bodies the question of university mission and strategy. It is knowledge creation that distinguishes universities. To go to the root of mission and strategy is to revisit the academic fundamentals, focusing on the mixed public/private character of the core academic ‘products’ of universities and on the internal ethical regimes essential to sustain free scholarship and research.
What makes organizations so similar? We contend that the engine of rationalization
and bureaucratization has moved from the competitive marketplace to the state and
the professions. Once a set of organizations emerges as a field, a paradox arises:
rational actors make their organizations increasingly similar as they try to
change them. We describe three isomorphic processes--coercive, mimetic, and
normative-leading to this outcome. We then specib hypotheses about the impact of
resource centralization and dependency, goal ambiguity and technical uncertainty,
and professionalization and structuration on isomorphic change. Finally, we suggest
implications for theories of organizations and social change.
Using a dataset of higher education institutional alliances within the framework of the European University initiative (EUi), we test empirically whether the policy-defined goal of a relative balance between excellence and inclusiveness within the scheme has been achieved. Specifically, we provide a descriptive and analytical account of the diversity of the higher education institutions (HEIs) participating in the EUi, the composition of- as well as the mechanisms behind the formation of individual alliances. We observe that alliance formation activated the deep sociological mechanisms of hierarchisation, with the alliances largely reproducing the existing hierarchy of European HEIs. Specifically, we argue that the global level stratification hierarchy cast by rankings influences the participation of individual institutions and–although to a more limited extent–the formation/structure of the alliances. Further, we demonstrate that the EUi has strengthened existing ties since most alliances thus far have built on existing forms of collaboration. However, we also show empirically that some of the distinctive policy design measures, namely the requirement for broad geographical coverage and generically framed rules for participation, as well as opening the initiative to new alliances and encouraging enlargement of the existing ones, have generated opportunities for involvement of the lower-status institutions. This broadened the scope of the EUi beyond the core of top-ranked research universities located in the knowledge production centres of Europe. We suggest that these observations may have important implications for how the intended extension of the EUi may be implemented in the future. An updated peer-reviewed version of this work has been published at Lambrechts, A.A., Cavallaro, M. & Lepori, B. The European Universities initiative: between status hierarchies and inclusion. High Educ (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01167-w
Over the past three decades, Meyer, Jepperson, and colleagues have contributed to the development of one of the leading approaches in social theory, by analyzing the cultural frameworks that have shaped modern organizations, states, and identities. Bringing together key articles and new reflections, this volume collects the essential theoretical ideas of 'sociological neoinstitutionalism.' It clarifies the core ideas and situates them within social theory writ large. Among other topics, the authors discuss the changing nature of the “actors” that have operated within contemporary social structure. The book concludes with the evolving frameworks that have structured social activity in the post–World War II period of 'embedded liberalism,' in the more recent neoliberal period, and in an emergent post-liberal period that appears to be a radical departure.
Purpose
Mission statements are perceived as effective strategic tools and foundations of an organization's objectives, driving the development of strategic plans to meet the established goals. A vast number of studies have investigated mission statements in industry; however, little is known on how mission statements affect institutes in the higher education sector. Every university is intrinsically different, with its own mission and goals. This study aims to explore how mission statements make the difference among universities, by understanding the values delivered by the mission statements.
Design/methodology/approach
This study attempts to understand the core values of universities through a content analysis of the mission statements of the top 250 universities worldwide.
Findings
The results show four core dimensions in university mission statements, namely, “Education Philosophies”, “Strategic Orientation”, “Social Responsibility” and “Values to Stakeholders”, while the most common core values are “Research”, “Educate” and “Student”.
Research limitations/implications
Mission statements offer insightful venues for the analysis of the strategic directions of universities. The results show that top universities present their core values through their mission statements. Some mission statements are more service-oriented (towards students) and some are more social-oriented (towards society and stakeholders). These mission statements are communicated to various stakeholders. “Education philosophies” are communicated to educators and students, “Social responsibility” is to the society, “Values to the stakeholders” are towards the different parties involved in the education system and the last one “Strategic orientation” is for the strategy setting.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a new methodology of mission statement studies, covering not only studies on mission statements but also the internationalization strategies of universities, which attract attention from academics and education researchers.
As the Bologna Process reaches its twenty-year mark, reflecting on its global influence is of particular value. This special issue aims to take stock of the Bologna Process’ international function by critically examining the motivations and interests behind its ‘global strategy’ as well as scrutinising how the reform has been perceived and applied beyond Europe. The issue offers a ‘bi-directional’ perspective on the externalisation of the Bologna Process by examining both motivations behind it (with a particular focus on the EU as a leading actor) and global responses to it. This introductory article sets the stage for this discussion by unpacking the relevant literature related to the Bologna Process and its global strategy, providing both a contextual and theoretical background to the ensuing contributions. The article considers the Bologna Process through a foreign policy lens by revealing the underlying EU interests tied to the reforms, and higher education policy more broadly. Through this perspective, the article aims to launch a discussion on higher education as a foreign policy tool and the wider implications for EU policy and global higher education.
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.
Argues that the formal structure of many organizations in post-industrial society dramatically reflect the myths of their institutional environment instead of the demands of their work activities. The authors review prevailing theories of the origins of formal structures and the main problem which those theories confront -- namely, that their assumption that successful coordination and control of activity are responsible for the rise of modern formal organization is not substantiated by empirical evidence. Rather, there is a great gap between the formal structure and the informal practices that govern actual work activities. The authors present an alternative source for formal structures by suggesting that myths embedded in the institutional environment help to explain the adoption of formal structures. Earlier sources understood bureaucratization as emanating from the rationalization of the workplace. Nevertheless, the observation that some formal practices are not followed in favor of other unofficial ones indicates that not all formal structures advance efficiency as a rationalized system would require. Therefore another source of legitimacy is required. This is found in conforming the organization's structure to that of the powerful myths that institutionalized products, services, techniques, policies, and programs become. (CAR)
This paper addresses the performance consequences of firm-level strategic similarity. Past research observed that firms face pressures to be different and to be the same. By differentiating, firms reduce competition. By conforming, firms demonstrate their legitimacy. Both reduced competition and legitimacy improve performance. This paper begins building a theory of strategic balance by synthesizing the differentiation and conformity perspectives. The theory directs attention to intermediate levels of strategic similarity where firms balance the pressures of competition and legitimation. Empirical support for the theory is found in a longitudinal study of commercial banks. Several suggestions for developing a theory of strategic balance conclude the paper. The theory’s major implication is that firms should be as different as legitimately possible.
Organizations are socially constructed phenomena. A crucial task for organizational research is to analyze how and why people construct organizations rather than other social forms. In this paper, it is argued that recent public-sector reforms can be interpreted as attempts at constructing organizations. Public-sector entities that could formerly be described as agents or arenas have been transformed into 'more complete' organizations by installing or reinforcing local identity, hierarchy and rationality. This interpretation helps to explain important aspects of the reform process.
This article attempts to provide clarity in the maze of international inter‐organisational arrangements in higher education. Developments that fuel the establishment of such linkages are identified. First, the changes in the production of knowledge, changes in resource dependencies and increased opportunities for interaction through new technologies, demand interaction with other universities and organisations, in activities that previously took place within the organisational boundaries of the university. In addition, universities increasingly cross national borders. Students, scholars and employers demand and value the experience gained through international experiences. Liberalisation of trade markets and new modes of delivery expand opportunities for transnational education and the need for inter‐organisational interaction. On the basis of several classifications of cooperation in higher education and using concepts from organisational and management studies, we develop a multidimensional typology of international inter‐organisational cooperation. Critical dimensions identified in this typology are size, scope, nature of integration and intensity.
This paper argues that the impact of individual higher education institutions’
strategies on system diversity should be explored. By looking at how universities
respond strategically to governmental policies as well as to the actions of other (competing)
institutions, our understanding of determinants of diversity can be enriched. A
conceptual framework focusing on institutional positioning is explained using the
dimensions deliberateness of organizational actions versus environmental influence, on
the one hand, and differentiation versus compliance, on the other.We posit institutional
positioning as the mechanism through which organizational and environmental levels
are linked. Our model features multiple dimensions and relations reflecting how higher
education institutions locate themselves in specific niches, i.e. positions where they are
able to gather the necessary resources for their core activities. The implications for
research on diversity and for policymaking are discussed
European integration and the transformation of higher education
- M Elken
- A Gornitzka
- P Maassen
- M Vukasovic
European Council meeting 14 December - Conclusions
- European Council
Future challenges for the european Higher Education Area
- S Bergan
Evolving models of university governance. The governance models of the
- T Estermann
- B Pruvot
- E Stoyanova
Draft Council conclusions on moving towards a vision of a European Education Area Brussels
- Eu Council