Policy and Practice in Higher Education : Reforming Norwegian Universities

Change in higher education policy reflects and transforms the relationship between the state, the higher education institution and the individual. Drawn from the perspectives of political science and sociology, this volume describes and analyses the interplay of factors at all three levels, using Norway as a case study. The last thirty years have been a period of rapid growth and change in the Norwegian higher education system. This book details the nature of the intensive change and how it has redefined the location and mission of higher education. At the level of the institution itself it analyses processes of growth, diversification and integration and how these affect individual learning; it looks at recent organisational trends towards managerialism, theoretification and hierarchisation. The authors examine the influence and identity of the academic profession and knowledge formation for the future `knowledge society'.