Higher Education Governance and Reforms

In many countries, higher education systems have gone through a significant and rapid transition from being elite to being mass or universal in a relatively short period of time. “Elite” higher education can be understood as a historical approach to providing higher education to only a privileged few that preceded the transition to higher education for all (Trow 1974). It was characterized by limited and selective access based on birth, talent, or both of these; highly structured curricula; uninterrupted, full-time studies directly after secondary education; a small number of homogenous universities; institutional governance of small elite groups who shared basic values and assumptions in decision-making; and broadly shared and relatively high academic standards. In contrast, modern mass higher education is characterized by larger access with meritocratic criteria, flexible curricula, direct or delayed entry after….