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Rethinking governance from the bottom up: the case of Muslim students in Dutch universities

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Abstract

This paper discusses the results of a study of faculty and university staff at two major universities in the Netherlands: the University of Amsterdam and the Free University of Amsterdam. I sought to understand how faculty viewed the role of the university in relationship to national and European goals promoting social cohesion and the integration of Islamic minorities in Dutch society. To a person, my informants were convinced that European universities did not, and should not, play a major role in promoting social cohesion. Some faculty members were merely indifferent to the problem and the university’s role; others were actively hostile to the idea that the university should address what was clearly, in their minds, a state political problem. The paper discusses the governance implications of promoting social cohesion within these challenging institutional contexts, by building social networks among students and reinterpreting traditional policies of pillarization.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Fulbright New Century Scholar programme, U.S. Department of State. Special thanks to CIES, Anna Kroth, and especially my Fulbright colleagues, comrades and collaborators: Stephen Heyneman, Nancy Lesko, and Richard Kraince. The paper, however, is entirely the work of the author.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education, University of Michigan, 610 E. University, 2117 SEB, Ann Arbor, MI, 48109, USA

    Michael N. Bastedo

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  1. Michael N. Bastedo
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Correspondence to Michael N. Bastedo.

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An earlier draft of this paper was presented at the International Forum of the annual meeting of the Association for the Study of Higher Education, Anaheim, CA, November 1-2, 2006.

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Bastedo, M.N. Rethinking governance from the bottom up: the case of Muslim students in Dutch universities. Prospects 37, 319–332 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11125-008-9033-6

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