The Theoretical and Policy Context

Abstract

Chapters 1 and 2 of this volume noted broader shifts in higher education, including higher education policy, that are impacting university governance. This chapter does not revisit these shifts in detail but considers, instead, the impacts on policy and governance at the theoretical level. It commences with a discussion of the relationship between higher education and the state (which might be at the level of the nation state, and/or at the level of individual states in federal government systems such as the US and Australia, for example). However, higher education is not only a national but also a global policy field and the second section of this chapter discusses theories and practices of globalisation, including neoliberalism, managerialism and the knowledge economy, and the ways in which they can potentially impact on university governance, including academic governance. The chapter concludes with a brief discussion of theories of governance, the state and higher education.