Abstract
This chapter provides an overview and analysis of mergers in Norwegian higher education. We distinguish between three phases of mergers: state-initiated forced mergers of regional colleges in the first half of the 1990s, voluntary merger initiatives and mergers between higher education institutions from the turn of the millennium to 2013, and state-initiated forced ‘voluntary’ mergers from 2014 on. In 1994, the non-university higher education sector was reorganised through the merger of 98 professional and vocationally-oriented colleges into 26 university colleges. This was followed by many voluntary merger initiatives, primarily between university colleges, which were planned as a strategy for the merged university colleges to apply for university status. Only four of these processes were completed, leading to a 2014 governmental initiative to further reduce the number of higher education institutions through a policy of forced ‘voluntary’ mergers. By using an institutional logic perspective as a starting point for the analysis of this development, the chapter argues that different logics fit well with mergers as a solution to perceived problems in the sector, and that this makes mergers more attractive throughout the sector.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bower, J. L. (2001). Not all M&As are alike and that matters. Harvard Business Review, 79, 92–101.
Christensen, T., & Lægreid, P. (Eds.). (2003). New public management? The transformation of ideas and practice. Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing Company.
Clark, B. R. (1983). The higher education system. Academic organisation in cross-national perspective. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Friedland, R., & Alford, R. (1991). Bringing society back in: Symbols, practices, and institutional contradictions. In W. W. Powell & P. DiMaggio (Eds.), The new institutionalism in organizational analysis (pp. 232–263). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Fumasoli, T., & Huisman, J. (2013). Strategic agency and system diversity: Conceptualizing institutional positioning in higher education. Minerva, 51, 155–169.
Gumport, P. (2000). Academic re-structuring: Organizational change and institutional imperatives. Higher Education, 39, 67–91.
Harman, G., & Harman, K. (2003). Institutional mergers in higher education: Lessons from international experience. Tertiary Education and Management, 9, 29–44.
Kyvik, S. (1981). The Norwegian regional colleges: A study of the establishment and implementation of a reform in higher education. Oslo: Institute for Studies in Research and Higher Education.
Kyvik, S. (1983). Decentralisation of higher education and research in Norway. Comparative Education, 19, 21–29.
Kyvik, S. (2002). The merger of non-university colleges in Norway. Higher Education, 44, 53–72.
Kyvik, S. (2004). Structural changes in higher education systems in western Europe. Higher Education in Europe, 29, 393–409.
Kyvik, S. (2009). The dynamics of change in higher education. Expansion and contraction in an organisational field. Dordrecht: Springer.
Kyvik, S., & Stensaker, B. (2013). Factors affecting the decision to merge: The case of strategic mergers in Norwegian higher education. Tertiary Education and Management, 19, 323–337.
Nordling, J. (1996). The Mid-Sweden University College – A recent amalgamation. In U. Dahlløf & S. Selander (Eds.), Expanding colleges and new universities (pp. 327–339). Stockholm: Almqvist & Wicksell International.
Rowley, G. (1997). Mergers in higher education: A strategic analysis. Higher Education Quarterly, 51, 251–263.
Salmi, J. (2009). The challenge of establishing world-class universities. World Bank Publications.
Scott, W. R. (2014). Institutions and organizations. Ideas, interests, and identities. London: Sage.
St.meld. 18. (2014–2015). Konsentrasjon for kvalitet. Strukturreform i universitets- og høyskolesektoren. Oslo: Kunnskapsdepartamentet.
Stensaker, B. (2004). The transformation of organizational identities. Enschede: University of Twente.
Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logic perspective. A new approach to culture, structure and process. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ursin, J., Aittola, H., Henderson, C., & Välimaa, J. (2010). Is education getting lost in university mergers? Tertiary Education and Management, 16, 327–340.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Kyvik, S., Stensaker, B. (2016). Mergers in Norwegian Higher Education. In: Pinheiro, R., Geschwind, L., Aarrevaara, T. (eds) Mergers in Higher Education. Higher Education Dynamics, vol 46. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21918-9_2
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21918-9_2
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21917-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-21918-9
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)