Different Faces of Danish Higher Education Mergers

Abstract

This chapter looks at three selected cases of Danish university mergers in more detail: University of Copenhagen, Aarhus University and Aalborg University. Through these three cases the chapter shows how the Danish university merger processes – in spite of a common starting point and the same overall political incentives – have had a number of different faces across the sector. Whereas some mergers – in particular Aarhus University – have been large and comprehensive, involving a number of different types of institutions from different parts of the country, others have been more modest in scope – e.g. Aalborg University. In between these extremes is the merger involving Copenhagen University, which although comprehensive in scope only involved universities located in close geographical proximity. The chapter highlights a complex interplay between top down and bottom up dynamics and shows how individual institutions have translated and transformed the overall national objectives in order to make them fit with their own institutional goals.