The relationship between European higher education policies and the national and regional policy arenas : an analysis of European, Spanish and Catalan policies on university autonomy, funding and quality

Abstract

Higher education has become a politically sensitive issue, making it difficult to achieve institutionalised European-level cooperation and integration policies. Due to specific higher education policy initiatives at a European level and the appreciation of universities as key actors in the development of the European knowledge-based society and economy, it has become more common to emphasise the need for a European perspective on universities. However, nation-states are still solely responsible for regulating higher education and deciding national priorities. In this sense, university autonomy, funding and quality are three specific policy areas of interest for the European Union, as well as for Spain and Catalonia as demonstrated in the recent higher education policies and recommendations. The aim of this thesis is to study how European level higher education policies on university autonomy, funding and quality are adopted at national (Spanish) and regional (Catalan) levels. This research intends to achieve this objective by analysing the European, Spanish and Catalan arenas and by focusing on the three core policy issues selected. The study has a governance and multi-governance perspective with a special focus on how policies are adopted from level to level, and the match that these adoptions have in relation to the intrinsic characteristics of university autonomy, funding and quality. The methodology used to pursue this objective is of qualitative nature based on the analysis of policy documents and semi-structured interviews. The study reveals that the most common goals are very similar at the European, Spanish and Catalan levels. The greatest ‘match’ between policies at the different levels is found in the issue of university autonomy, whereas funding and quality assurance issues have a slight controversy and therefore do not ‘match’ so straightforwardly with the European policies. Reasons behind these findings can be found in the contextual elements of the Spanish and Catalan higher education systems, where in addition to the traditional academic values, historical, political and cultural issues have also an important role.