Gentlemen, Scholars, and Administrators

Abstract

In Western Europe, the rise of higher education as a self-standing field of enquiry is a relatively recent development. The influences that brought about the emergence of this sector of the academic community vary from country to country. But generally speaking, in the Western European context, this field of enquiry coincided with fundamental changes in the institution of higher education itself. Prime among these was the transition of higher education from an instrument of elite cultivation to an agency for mass training. In certain countries, Britain being one, the higher education research community was largely self-nurtured. In Sweden, by contrast, the development of this particular community is interesting from several points of view. In the first place, its work was closely aligned with the research requirements of government commissions set up to plan future developments for Swedish higher education. In the second place, the Swedish higher education research community may be seen as an example of government intervention designed to create a strategic research capacity in academia to assist in the elaboration of long-term policy. And finally, in contrast to its counterparts in Britain and France, the disciplinary dynamic that has characterized Swedish