@article{MarquesPowell, author = {Marques, Marcelo and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {Ratings, rankings, research evaluation: how do Schools of Education behave strategically within stratified UK higher education?}, series = {Higher Education}, volume = {79}, journal = {Higher Education}, number = {5}, doi = {DOI: 10.1007/s10734-019-00440-1}, pages = {829 -- 846}, abstract = {While higher education research has paid considerable attention to the impact of both ratings and rankings on universities, less attention has been devoted to how university subunits, such as Schools of Education, are affected by such performance measurements. Anchored in a neo-institutional approach, we analyze the formation of a competitive institutional environment in UK higher education in which ratings and rankings assume a central position in promoting competition among Schools of Education (SoE). We apply the concepts of "institutional environment" and "organizational strategic actors" to the SoE to demonstrate how such university subunits articulate their qualities and respond to the institutional environment in which they are embedded—by using ratings and rankings (R\&R) to compete for material and symbolical resources as well as inter-organizational and intra-organizational legitimacy. Through findings from 22 in-depth expert interviews with members of the multidisciplinary field of education and a content analysis of websites (n = 75) of SoE that participated in REF 2014, we examine the stratified environment in which SoE are embedded (1). We uncover how R\&R are applied by SoE within this competitive, marketized higher education system (2). Finally, we indicate the strategic behaviors that have been triggered by the rise of R\&R in a country with a highly formalized and standardized research evaluation system (3). The results show both homogenization and differentiation among SoE in their use of organizational vocabulary and the applications of R\&R while simultaneously revealing strategic behavior, ranging from changes in internal practices to changes in organizational structures.}, language = {en} } @article{MarquesZappPowell, author = {Marques, Marcelo and Zapp, Mike and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {Two Worlds of Educational Research? Comparing the Levels, Objects, Disciplines, Methodologies, and Themes in Educational Research in the UK and Germany, 2005-2015}, series = {Research in Comparative and International Education}, volume = {12}, journal = {Research in Comparative and International Education}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1177/1745499917740658}, pages = {375 -- 397}, abstract = {Embedded in social worlds, education systems and research reflect distinct national trajectories. We compare two contrasting traditions of educational research (ER). Whereas British ER exhibits a multidisciplinary and pragmatic character, German ER reflects pedagogy and mainly humanities-based traditions. Yet, in both countries, policymakers' growing demand for evidence in ER resulted in increased funding, specific research programs, and mandatory large-scale assessments. These have reshaped the field, suggesting more similar ER agendas. Based on a comprehensive original dataset of basic ER projects funded by the main grant-making agencies in both countries (2005-2015), we analyze five dimensions: levels, objects, disciplines, methodologies, and themes. We find epistemic drift, with partial convergence characterized by a multi-level focus, multidisciplinary approach, strongly empirical and quantitative methodology, and a premium on teaching and learning themes. The cases remain distinct in exploring systemic questions in a wider contextual frame (UK) or concentrating more narrowly on the individual learner (Germany).}, language = {en} } @incollection{MarquesZappDusdaletal., author = {Marques, Marcelo and Zapp, Mike and Dusdal, Jennifer and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {Higher Education Organizations as Strategic Actors in Networks: Institutional and Relational Perspectives Meet Social Network Analysis}, series = {Theory and Method in Higher Education Research}, volume = {7}, booktitle = {Theory and Method in Higher Education Research}, editor = {Huisman, Jeroen and Tight, Malcolm}, publisher = {Emerald Publishing Limited}, address = {Bingley}, isbn = {978-1-80262-442-7}, doi = {10.1108/S2056-375220210000007004}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {55 -- 73}, abstract = {Informed by multiple disciplines, theories, and methods, higher education scholars have developed a robust and diverse literature in many countries. Yet, some important (organizational) sociological perspectives, both more established and more recent, are insufficiently linked. In particular, we identify two theoretical strands - institutional and relational - that, when joined, help to explain contemporary developments in global higher education and yield new organizational insights. We review relevant literature from each perspective, both in their general formulations and with specific reference to contemporary higher education research. Within the broad institutional strand, we highlight strategic action fields, organizational actorhood, and associational memberships. Within the relational strand, we focus on ties and relationships that are especially crucial as science has entered an age of (inter)national research collaboration. Across these theories, we discuss linkages between concepts, objects, and levels of analysis. We explore the methodological approach of social network analysis as it offers great potential to connect these strands and, thus, to advance contemporary higher education research in a collaborative era.}, language = {en} } @book{MarquesZappPowell, author = {Marques, Marcelo and Zapp, Mike and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {European Educational Research (Re)Constructed. Institutional Change in Germany, the United Kingdom, Norway and the European Union}, publisher = {Symposium Books Ltd}, address = {Oxford}, isbn = {9781910744024}, doi = {10.15730/books.102}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {253}, abstract = {This book examines contemporary educational research and its governance, addressing key questions via a multidisciplinary theoretical framework of comparative institutional analysis with original data and applying multiple methods. The authors explore and explain important changes in the governance of educational research and the contents of scholarship in education and related disciplines across Europe since the 1990s. This volume synthesizes findings from a multi-year comparative research project, including in-depth empirical case studies of three distinct educational research cultures evolving in Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom. The authors reconstruct and compare changing conceptualizations of educational research, embedded in increasingly internationalized contexts of research, and examine shifts in its governance, including patterns of funding, publication, and evaluation. They examine the producers of European educational research and the distinct role of the European Union in constructing a European Educational Research Area, in establishing cross-border networks, and in (re)shaping educational research agendas. Through innovative empirical analysis of programs of research on various levels and education researchers' collaborations in scientific networks, they provide insights into (supra)national dynamics in education-related scholarship. Theory-guided content analysis of research projects funded by leading national funding agencies and by the most highly developed supranational research funding instrument - the EU Framework Programme - enables the authors to embed findings on Germany, the United Kingdom, and Norway in a broader European perspective.}, language = {en} } @article{MarquesPowellFuetal., author = {Marques, Marcelo and Powell, Justin J.W. and Fu, Yuan C. and Tseng, Yuen-Hsien and Baker, David P.}, title = {An evolving international research collaboration network: spatial and thematic developments in co-authored higher education research, 1998-2018}, series = {Scientrometrics}, volume = {127}, journal = {Scientrometrics}, number = {3}, doi = {10.1007/s11192-021-04200-w}, pages = {1403 -- 1429}, abstract = {Co-authored research articles in the disciplinarily heterogeneous field of higher education have dramatically increased in this century. As in other fields, rising international co-authorships reflect evolving international collaboration networks. We examine higher education research over two decades, applying automated bibliometric topic identification and social network analysis of 9067 papers in 13 core higher education journals (1998-2018). Remarkable expansion in the volume of papers and co-authorships has, surprisingly, not resulted in a more diverse network. Rather, existing co-authorship patterns are strengthened, with the dominance of scholars from a few Anglophone countries largely maintained. Researchers globally seek to co-author with leading scholars in these countries, especially the US, UK, and Australia—at least when publishing in the leading general higher education journals based there. Further, the two-mode social network analysis of countries and topics suggests that while Anglophone countries have led the development of higher education research, China and Germany, as leading research-producing countries, are increasingly influential within this world-spanning network. Topically, the vast majority of co-authored papers in higher education research focuses on individual-level phenomena, with organizational and system or country-level analysis constituting (much) smaller proportions, despite policymakers' emphasis on cross-national comparisons and the growing importance of university actorhood. We discuss implications thereof for the future of the multidisciplinary field of higher education.}, language = {en} } @article{MarquesZappPowell, author = {Marques, Marcelo and Zapp, Mike and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {Blurring the boundaries. University actorhood and institutional change in global higher education}, series = {Comparative Education}, volume = {57}, journal = {Comparative Education}, number = {4}, doi = {10.1080/03050068.2021.1967591}, pages = {538 -- 559}, abstract = {Higher education (HE) scholarship often focuses on the so-called 'entrepreneurial' university as a consequence of new public management reforms. Simultaneously, the remarkable expansion of private HE is said to fragment, specialize, and diversify HE systems. Such diagnoses are misleading as they ignore wider environmental pressures and simultaneous changes in both public, non-profit and for-profit HE. We argue that putative diversity in HE operates as a ceremonial fa{\c{c}}ade behind which large-scale isomorphic change across national HE systems, sectors, and organizational forms occurs. Multiple causes trigger such change originating in the increasingly global HE environment, including a burgeoning international HE regime, accounting and accountability practices, increased permeability of HE systems facilitated by open borders, education markets, and global science as well as (neo)liberal ideologies stressing human capital and human rights. As other organizations, those in HE become subject to these pressures turning universities into more rationalized, standardized, and strategic actors.}, language = {en} } @article{MarquesZappPowell, author = {Marques, Marcelo and Zapp, Mike and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {Europeanizing Universities. Expanding and Consolidating Networks of the Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degree Programme (2004-2017)}, series = {Higher Education Policy}, volume = {35}, journal = {Higher Education Policy}, doi = {10.1057/s41307-020-00192-z}, pages = {19 -- 41}, abstract = {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.}, language = {en} } @incollection{GrafPowell, author = {Graf, Lukas and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {The Origins and Contemporary Development of Work-based Higher Education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone Countries?}, series = {Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education}, booktitle = {Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education}, editor = {Knight, Elizabeth and Bathmaker, Ann-Marie and Moodie, Gavin and Orr, Kevin and Webb, Susan and Wheelahan, Leesa}, publisher = {Palgrave}, address = {London}, doi = {10.1007/978-3-030-84502-5_7}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {125 -- 144}, abstract = {Higher education is typically viewed as offering the most assured pathways to secure careers and low unemployment rates. Yet, increasingly some groups, not least higher education graduates and their families paying ever-higher tuition fees, question the taken-for-granted contributions higher education makes to individuals and society. While participation rates have climbed worldwide, higher education systems continue to produce winners and losers. In the face of such challenges globally, which alternatives exist? A prominent possibility, pioneered in Germany, is 'dual study' programmes. These programmes fully integrate phases of higher education study and paid work in firms, illustrating how employer interests and investments are (re)shaping advanced skill formation. Co-developed and co-financed by employers, they could ameliorate the global trend towards saddling students with ever-higher education costs and student debt. Grounded in neo-institutional analysis, expert interviews, and document analysis, we analyse the genesis and rapid expansion of dual study programmes, emphasizing the role of employer interests and highlighting distributional conflicts in the new politics of advanced skill formation. Furthermore, we discuss lessons other countries might glean from a new form of work-based higher education in Germany. Reference: Graf, L./Powell, J.J.W. (2022) The Origins and Contemporary Development of Work-based Higher Education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone Countries? In: Knight, E./Bathmaker, A-M./Moodie, G./Orr, K./Webb, S./Wheelahan, L. (Eds.) Equity and Access to High Skills through Higher Vocational Education. London, Palgrave, 125-144.}, language = {en} } @book{GrafPowellFortwengeletal.2014, author = {Graf, Lukas and Powell, Justin J. W. and Fortwengel, Johann and Bernhard, Nadine}, title = {Dual Study Programmes in Global Context: Internationalisation in Germany and Transfer to Brazil, France, Qatar, Mexico and the US}, volume = {77}, edition = {Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst: Dok \& Mat}, address = {Bonn}, isbn = {978-3-87192-913-7}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-24317}, publisher = {Hertie School}, pages = {129}, year = {2014}, abstract = {This exploratory study is devoted in equal measure to the status quo and the future perspectives of the internationalisation of dual study programmes, a special hybrid form of vocational training and higher education developed in Germany. Building on the earlier DAAD studies 'Sachstand: Duales Studium als Exportmodell' (Maschke 2012) and 'Modelle und Szenarien f{\"u}r den Export deutscher Studienangebote ins Ausland' (Schreiterer and Witte 2001; see also DAAD/HRK 2012), the authors examine both the degree of internationalisation of existing dual study programmes in Germany (with special emphasis on students' geographical mobility) and the possibilities and limits of systematically transferring this emergent educational model to selected countries. Two recent trends have helped put issues of internationalisation and the transfer of German education concepts higher up on the policy agenda again: first, the current economic situation in Germany, which has remained robust despite the recent financial and economic turmoil, reflected most importantly in comparatively low levels of youth unemployment. Dual vocational education and training models are seen as a key factor contributing to this success. Second, the concept of dual studies reflects an emergent model of skill formation at the nexus of initial vocational training and tertiary education. This innovative hybrid form is seen as having the potential to play a crucial role in the development of competencies for twenty-first-century occupations, not least against the backdrop of the pressing skills gap.}, language = {de} } @article{GrafPowell, author = {Graf, Lukas and Powell, Justin J.W.}, title = {How Employer Interests and Investments Shape Advanced Skill Formation}, series = {PS: Political Science \& Politics}, volume = {50}, journal = {PS: Political Science \& Politics}, number = {2}, doi = {10.1017/S1049096516002936}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:kobv:b1570-opus4-24359}, pages = {418 -- 422}, language = {en} }