Public, Private, or in Between? Institutional Isomorphism and the Legal Entities in Swedish and Finnish Higher Education

Autor/inn/en	Holmén, Janne; Ringarp, Johanna
Titel	Public, Private, or in Between? Institutional Isomorphism and the Legal Entities in Swedish and Finnish Higher Education
Quelle	In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Educational Policy, 9 (2023) 1, S.57-71 (15 Seiten) PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
DOI	10.1080/20020317.2022.2155348
Schlagwörter	Higher Education; Institutional Characteristics; Cross Cultural Studies; Laws; Educational History; Comparative Education; Foreign Countries; College Administration; Neoliberalism; Public Agencies; Administrative Organization; Corporations; Private Sector; Sweden; Finland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Hochschulbildung; Hochschulsystem; Hochschulwesen; Cultural comparison; Kulturvergleich; Law; Recht; History of education; Bildungsgeschichte; Vergleichende Erziehungswissenschaft; Ausland; College administrators; Hochschulverwaltung; Neo-liberalism; Neoliberalismus; Öffentliche Einrichtung; Unternehmen; Privater Sektor; Schweden; Finnland
Abstract	In the past few centuries, an accelerating process of legalization and classification have moulded the diverse range of earlier institutions into a limited number of isomorphic organizational forms. Today, institutions of higher education, with their roots in the corporate forms of medieval universities, can also have the legal status of, for example, government agencies, associations under public law, foundations, and joint stock companies. This article investigates the types of legal entities Swedish and Finnish institutions of higher education have been organized into in the period from the 1990s until 2020, and why these particular types have been chosen. It also explores how the special characteristics, aims, and demands of the university have caused adaptations to organizational forms such as joint stock companies and foundations. Comparative studies benefit from investigating societies that are as similar to each other as possible, making it easier to identify and isolate the effects of the factors that actually differ. In this respect, Finland and Sweden are ideal for comparative studies. Both Swedish and Finnish institutions of higher education have experienced coercive, mimetic, normative, and managerial-professional isomorphic pressure. However, there are important pre-existing national differences, such as the greater reliance on public agencies in Sweden and the multiplicity of semi-private legal entities in Finland, most significantly the associations under public law. These differences made the transition of universities into independent legal entities seem natural in Finland in 2009, while it was too radical in the Swedish context. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2024/1/01