Higher education, internationalisation, and the nation-state: recent developments and challenges for governance theory

Abstract

The new phenomenon of European integration has again challenged our conceptual and empirical tools for higher education studies to integrate the international dimension into frameworks that tend to concentrate on the single nation state and domestic policies even where international comparisons are made. It drives as well the awareness of certain blind spots: namely (1) the concentration on policy effects, neglecting the input side of policy formation, and (2) the concern with macro level policy-making and meso level organisational adaptation, neglecting to some extend the micro dynamics and effects in the actual practices and performances of academic work. This paper makes an attempt to contribute from a certain perspective on governance studies to the ongoing debate on the challenges “internationalisation” or “globalisation” bring up for higher education policy analyses and especially for comparative research in that area. The development of governance theory towards a multi-level and multi-actor approach is discussed and its strengths and weaknesses for higher education studies in an internationalising environment are addressed.

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