The role of shadow organizing in dealing with overflows of knowledge and ambition in higher education

Abstract

Over recent decades we have witnessed a considerable debate which questions the capacity of higher education institutions to address the challenges posed by complex developments. These include the increasing pace of knowledge production; real or imagined pressures with respect to global competition; and the ambition to combine world-class excellence with the need to provide a diverse labor market with knowledge and skills. In this context, the need to rethink the structures and practices of universities and colleges is high on policy and research agendas. However, what has received less attention is how ‘concerned groups’ take a forward-looking responsibility for knowledge and learning and develop parallel arrangements that take on some critical functions. These may be understood as shadow arrangements that typically emerge alongside formal institutions’ arrangements and have properties other than those of higher education institutions. Using examples from a study of legal education in Norway, this chapter shows how an entire shadow education system initiated by employers in both the private and public sectors has evolved. Moreover, it discusses how, owing to its greater flexibility, shadow organizing represents an efficient way of handling tensions and demands in the field related to professional socialization, recruitment practices, and the reproduction of elites.