At last! Here is a research rich and conceptually coherent account of two interlinked policy domains that have scarcely featured in either the Europeanisation or higher education literature. Such a book is needed. During the last decade, a European Higher Education Area has emerged and EU higher education and research are now strategic issues for EU growth and innovation policies. The book offers a convincing demonstration of why policy evolves in different ways, even in related policy areas. The eight case studies, written by established scholars and rising academic stars, point up the clash of institutionally embedded tensions in EU policy-making. These tensions are sector-specific. But, thanks to the comparative nature of the study, we can also appreciate a historical dimension to tensions of governance. This explains why in some cases European integration is accepted, in others treated with suspicion. This is a breakthrough book and as such is warmly recommended for both European studies and higher education studies teachers, researchers and students.' - Anne Corbett author of Universities and the Europe of Knowledge: Ideas, Institutions and Policy Entrepreneurship in European Union Higher Education Policy and former Visiting Fellow, European Institute, London School of Economics and Political Science, UKBuilding the Knowledge Economy in Europe investigates the dynamics of emerging knowledge policy domains on the European political agenda, and the dynamics of this in relation to knowledge policies. This volume brings 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 This book is the first comparative volume on European research and higher education policies. The chapters cover topics such as the idea of the European Research Area, sustainability of the Bologna Process, institution building for a Europe of Knowledge, domestic impact of EU level initiatives, and the role of the crisis in the European Higher Education Area. It accounts for the creation of key institutions administering EU funding and addresses the core issues of European integration in the knowledge domains. This thought provoking book will engage academic readers interested in European integration analyzed from general political science, administrative science, organization theory perspectives as well as in higher education and science studies. National policy-makers, European policy-makers and practitioners will also find much policy-relevant content, particularly because the European Research Area is formally scheduled to be completed by 2014. Contributors include: M.-H. Chou, M. Elken, A. Gornitzka, H.F. Hansen, C. Hoareau, J. Metz, J. Real-Dato, M. Vukasovic

This book introduces the concept of 'knowledge alchemy' to capture the generic process of transforming mundane practices and policies of governance into competitive ones following imagined global gold standards. Using examples from North America, Europe and Asia, it explores how knowledge alchemy increasingly informs national and institutional policies and practices on economic performance, higher education, research and innovation. The book examines how governments around the world have embraced global models of world-class university, human capital and talent competition as essential in ensuring national competitiveness. Through its analysis, the book shows how this strongly future-oriented and anticipatory knowledge governance is steered by a surge of global classifications, rankings and indicators, resulting in numerous comparisons of various domains that today form more constraining global policy scripts.

This edited volume introduces readers to the relationship between higher education and transnational politics. It shows how higher education is a significant arena for regional and international transformation as well as domestic political struggle replete with unequal power relations. This volume shows: The causes and impacts of recent transformations in higher education within a transnational context; Emerging similarities in objectives, institutional set-ups, and approaches taking place within higher education institutions across different world regions; The asymmetrical relations between various kinds of institutional, commercial and state actors across borders; The extent to which historical and colonial legacies are important in the transformation of higher education; The potential effects these developments have on the current structure of international political order. Drawing on case studies from across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, the contributors develop diverse perspectives explaining the impact of transnational politics on higher education-and higher education on transitional politics-across time and locality. This book is among the first multi-disciplinary effort to wrestle with the question of how we can understand the political role of higher education, and the political force universities exert in the realm of international relations.

This edited volume introduces readers to the relationship between higher education and transnational politics. It shows how higher education is a significant arena for regional and international transformation as well as domestic political struggle replete with unequal power relations. This volume shows: The causes and impacts of recent transformations in higher education within a transnational context; Emerging similarities in objectives, institutional set-ups, and approaches taking place within higher education institutions across different world regions; The asymmetrical relations between various kinds of institutional, commercial and state actors across borders; The extent to which historical and colonial legacies are important in the transformation of higher education; The potential effects these developments have on the current structure of international political order. Drawing on case studies from across the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Europe, the contributors develop diverse perspectives explaining the impact of transnational politics on higher education-and higher education on transitional politics-across time and locality. This book is among the first multi-disciplinary effort to wrestle with the question of how we can understand the political role of higher education, and the political force universities exert in the realm of international relations.

The field of policy studies has always been interested in analyzing and improving the sets of policy tools adopted by governments to correct policy problems, and better understanding and improving processes of policy analysis and policy formulation in order to do so. Past studies have helped clarify the role of historical processes, policy capacities and design intentions in affecting policy formulation processes, and more recently in understanding how the bundling of multiple policy elements together to meet policy goals can be better understood and done. While this work has progressed, however, the discussion of what goals policy designs should serve remains disjointed. Here it is argued that a central goal, in fact, 'the' central goal, of policy design is effectiveness. Effectiveness serves as the basic goal of any design, upon which is built other goals such as efficiency or equity.