Mergers in Danish Higher Education: An Overview over the Changing Landscape

Abstract

The Danish Higher Education landscape has experienced profound changes as a result of mergers over the past 15 years. All parts of the higher education system, including short-cycle and medium-cycle institutions, the university sector and the governmental research institutes (GRIs), have been involved in these processes, resulting in a considerable reduction in the number of institutions. However, the processes have differed in both timing and content across the different sectors. This chapter outlines the changes across three different higher education sectors – short, medium and long-cycle – and analyses the merger processes in the university and GRI sectors in more detail. Although there are important differences between the three sectors, it is argued that the similarities in development between these sectors are substantial. The chapter also analyses and discusses the specific Danish setting which enabled and supported the merger processes and highlights some of the major challenges associated with the actual processes.