Dutch Higher Education Research Articles

Neo-Functionalism in Recent Dutch Higher Education Legislation

Neo-Functionalism in Recent Dutch Higher Education Legislation

Worlds apart? Amalgamation and the restructuring of the higher education system in Australia and the Netherlands

Both in Australia and the Netherlands, the higher education system is experiencing profound changes. In this article an attempt is made to analyze these changes and to explore to what extent similarities exist between two countries who are geographically far apart and whose higher education systems are located within different traditions. The article focuses an two main themes. In the first part the change and reforms within higher education policy are explored. After presenting an overview of the Dutch higher education system and the recent policy developments which have taken place, a comparison is made with the recent changes that have occurred in Australia. In this comparison, emphasis is placed on governmental steering, control and institutional autonomy. In the second part of the paper, one of the major instruments adopted in both countries for system change is discussed, namely institutional amalgamation or merger.

Quality Control in Dutch Higher Education: Internal versus External Evaluation

In the current discussion in the Netherlands on the way the quality of higher education should be assessed and controlled there seems to be broad agreement on the startingpoint that the institutions of higher education themselves should be responsible for the development of an adequate quality control system. This view was stated in a government paper (HOAK, 1985), which stands for 'Hoger Onderwijs: Autonomie en Kwaliteit' 'Higher Education: autonomy and quality'), in which self-regulation was proposed as the new mechanism for steering higher education, and the development of a formal quality control system was regarded as an important condition for the transition from central guidance and regulation to self-regulation. However, this new approach also created an area of tension between the responsibilities of government and those of the institutional governing boards in that it is at odds with the sections of the two new Higher Education Laws enacted in 1986 on the role of government in ensuring the quality of higher education. Since the publication of the HOAK paper, therefore, the debate has focused on the question whether external evaluation activities by or on behalf of government are legitimate and desirable. Before outlining the positions of the interested parties, the major elements of HOAK and some developments in Dutch higher education relevant to its contents will be discussed briefly.

WOMEN AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE NETHERLANDS

This is a summary, written for CEPES, of the background paper prepared for the study conference “Women and Higher Education” organized by the Study Centre OTO, October 29‐30 1980 in Noordwijkerhout, Netherlands. The article summarizes the principal currents of discussion in the Netherlands pertaining to the question of women in higher education, and draws an analytical picture of major obstacles encountered by women in Dutch higher education.