The role of leadership and governance in changing institutional behavior : reframing universities in the Balkans

Abstract

Over the years higher education in the Balkans has been characterized by the context of turbulent change. When compared with their counterparts in Western Europe, the universities of South East Europe (the Balkans) are clearly faced with both context specific and global challenges. Among the global challenges is surely the notion of Europeanization of higher education inspired by the values of the Bologna Process. However, the universities in the Balkans are also faced with certain local challenges, which are manifested through political instability, economic recession and substantial loss of societal values and norms caused by the large-scale regional conflicts in the 1990s. Yet, while attempting to re-establish cooperation at regional level across the (recently created) borders, the Balkan universities are still being cast to margins of the global revolution due to the consequences of nearly a decade of international isolation and political disintegration (Balkanization.

Nowadays, nearly all of the regional countries find themselves in a process of transition and have initialized reforms of many aspects of their social, economic, and political life. The higher education reform appears to be high on the agenda of the new democratic governments throughout the region. Furthermore, it is generally agreed that struggling economies, outdated academic cultural traditions and obsolete organizational structures of the universities are among the problems facing the higher education in the Balkans today.

This study investigates the dilemma if the shift in traditional university leadership, and possibly a changed governance model will instigate the universities in the Balkans towards a greater responsibility for own development, less dependence on the State, and more innovation in the overall institutional performance. By drawing conclusions and recommendations from a case study research, this study identifies the intricacy of institutional leadership in a given governance model, and the challenges and opportunities that universities meet in the process of adaptation to the new governmental concepts and changes in the environment.