Reform of Higher Education and the Return of ‘Heroic’ Leadership: The Case of Denmark

Abstract

Denmark is experiencing a comprehensive package of educational reform aimed at enabling that country to recalibrate itself to the demands of the so-called 'global knowledge economy'. In relation to the higher education sector, a new system of university governance is being implemented where boards are appointed (ultimately) by the State and comprised of a majority of members external to the institution. To further shape (if not direct) the work of universities, the new University Law requires that institutions prepare a 'development contract' with the Ministry, and that this is used as a framework within which universities direct their activities. To facilitate this process a new conception of leadership is invoked. Whilst university leaders ('rektors' in the Danish context) were previously elected by the academic staff of the institution, the new arrangements require that they be appointed by the board which looks to the rector to 'run' the institution and fulfil the demands of the development contract on their behalf. The study reported here utilises ethnographic method to explore such issues at a time of unprecedented change in Denmark. Notions of the leader as 'hero' - common in contemporary universities despite the general shift in the business world to notions of transformational and distributed leadership - appear not only difficult to eradicate but positively emboldened by the current reform movement. The paper explores different understandings of leadership, both in the literature and 'in action' via the perspectives of university leaders and decision-makers in the Danish case, before considering whether the current reforms make necessary such models of control and if the scope of action of such leaders is seriously curtailed by contemporary education policy. Key words: Leadership, University Reform, Education Policy Introduction '...we appear to be programmed towards seeking out single causes or sources to order complexity.. .observing a flock of birds in flight makes us assume straight away that the bird out in front is the leader who sets the flight path.. .yet no such thing happens.' (Lakomski 2005:16) The Danish University Law of 2003 (MVTI 2003) represents both a continuation of a process of change in Danish higher education as well as a clear departure from existing practice and tradition. On the one hand, the reform continues a process of opening up universities to their constituencies, streamlining management and funding processes and improving the connections between education and employment. In other respects, though, the Law represents a violent departure from Danish custom; imposing from above new hierarchies and power relations and removing from universities themselves the obligation of self-governance from amongst the faculty (see Krejsler 2006 for an elaborated discussion of the changing discursive space of Danish universities). The overall policy script for these changes is the partially understood challenge of the so-called 'knowledge economy'. Universities are being identified, along with the formal schooling system, as key contributors to Denmark's future economic prospects. Educational programmes are being shaped to better meet the needs of the labour market and research provision is presently being rationalised to create 'economies of scale' that will enable fewer but larger Danish institutions to compete 'globally'. Research is also under pressure to become more commercially-oriented both in terms of formal agreements to share and transfer knowledge, and more generally in terms of disseminating findings to the public. This latter demand will play an increasingly significant role in researchers' own administration of what counts as 'relevant' and thus legitimate. The 2003 Law is a central element in this overall policy framework. Here, university governance and management have been subject to a radical overhaul. Decisionmaking processes have been reformed via the establishment of new boards comprising a majority of members from beyond the university itself. …