The Evaluative State, Institutional Autonomy and Re-engineering Higher Education in Western Europe: The Prince and His Pleasure

This vigorous study provides an alternative framework for reflecting on the changes in Western Europe's higher education systems over the past quarter century. Building from two basic concepts – the rise of the evaluative state and the shifts in meaning and definition of positional and institutional autonomy - it dissects the profound shifts in the external relationship between higher education, government and society. Changes in external relationships demands radical revision to the internal balance of power. Re-distribution of authority and responsibility re-define the functions thatboth institutional and positional autonomy are expected to assume. Drawing on rich data from France, Spain and Portugal, this book also examines the role in the rise of the evaluative state played by such pioneering systems as Britain, France and the Netherlands. It demonstrates the centrality the two key concepts have for higher education policy in Western Europe today and charts how autonomy has mutated from being of integral value in higher education to becoming an instrument of policy