Theoretical Framework: National Higher Education Policies between Transnational Communication and Institutional Path-dependence

Abstract

Our central objective is to analyse the extent to which the HE policies of the four countries under study have converged on a common model of HE governance over time. Policy convergence has emerged as a broadly studied phenomenon in the social sciences (Bennett 1991; Dolowitz and Marsh 2000; Drezner 2001; Knill 2005), including also studies examining convergence in HE degree structures (Bleiklie 2001; Rakic 2001). While these studies introduce a political science perspective, they remain at a rather descriptive level rather than trying to systematically explain domestic policy changes from a comparative perspective. This study seeks to reduce this research gap by benefiting from approaches undertaken for other policy areas. Recent studies have conducted more systematic, theory-driven testing to determine whether domestic and transnational factors account for increasing policy similarity, while placing greater focus on the impact of transnational communication (e.g. Dobbins and Knill 2009; Holzinger et al. 2008; Witte 2006).