Stakeholders in Universities and Colleges in Flanders

The way in which governance structures in higher education institutions have changed as a consequentie of the rise of the Stakeholder Society is discussed in this paper. The authors examine changes in the stakeholders' roles in Flemish higher education. The central question concerns the issue whether external stakeholders have become more influential with regard to the educational activities of universities and colleges. Like Larsen, they use a neo-institutional perspective. They conclude that all Flemish higher education institutions experience growing pressures from the `outside world', but that the way in which stakeholders are actually involved in the internal affairs of the institutions differs remarkably between universities and colleges.