3 Review(s)

This timely and important book provides a critical analysis of the changes and challenges that currently affect European universities. Using both theoretical contributions and applied case studies, leading experts argue that universities as institutions are in need of change - although the routes that the process may take are heterogeneous. The authors debate whether the reform of universities suffers from the undue influence of generalisations that do not stand up to scrutiny. It is simply too narrow to focus on strategies such as imitating a 'university model', hoping that best practices will solve the inefficiencies of the organisation as a whole, or relying on the presence of few external individuals on the universities' board to save the difficult relationships between the university and the surrounding economy and society. These ideas ignore the diversity of universities geographically and historically. Above all, they underestimate the power that such diversity holds in making universities survive across centuries. Researchers with an interest in university reform will appreciate this important contribution to the debate, whilst policymakers and university administrators will find this book invaluable in understanding the changes and problems facing European universities and gaining insights on possible solutions.