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Performance agreements for clearer institutional profiles and better division of labour

Tertiary Education and Management volume 26, pages 311–327 (2020)Cite this article

Abstract

Performance agreements in higher education are seen as a promising steering tool in many countries, including Norway. The aims of the performance agreements in Norwegian higher education are to enhance quality and diversity through clearer institutional profiles and better division of labour between institutions. An expert group that carried out an assessment of the funding system recommended the Norwegian Ministry of Education & Research to implement institutional multi-year performance agreements to enhance quality, diversity and cooperation. In 2016–17 the Ministry implemented an incremental process covering initially five plus other five pilot institutions. This article gives an overview of the context, process and framework of performance agreements at the national level as well as how this new steering tool is being handled in one of the pilot institutions. It focuses on the implementation process and is based on qualitative observations and written communication between the Ministry and the pilot institutions. Although, it is still too early to evaluate the results and the impact of performance agreements in Norwegian higher education, the experience so far indicates that it seems to be possible through negotiations between the Ministry and the institutions to strengthen the institutional profile by prioritizing goals and measures. The content in the pilot agreements differ and no obligatory indicators are part of the agreements. The incremental implementation process has limited the discussion on complementarity. Even though actions towards the division of labour between institutions are an important part of some of the agreements, this seems to be a more challenging task than profiling.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Norwegian Ministry of Education & Research, Box 8119 Dep, 0032, Oslo, Norway

    Ingvild Marheim Larsen, Mai-Lin Hofsøy & Zheng Ørvim Yuan

  2. University of South-Eastern Norway, Box 235, 3603, Kongsberg, Norway

    Petter Aasen

Authors
  1. Ingvild Marheim Larsen
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  2. Mai-Lin Hofsøy
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  3. Zheng Ørvim Yuan
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  4. Petter Aasen
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Correspondence to Ingvild Marheim Larsen.

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Appendix

Appendix

USN Partnership & USN Professional

List of qualitative and quantitative indicators.

Table 1 USN Partnership
Full size table
Table 2 USN Profession
Full size table

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Larsen, I.M., Hofsøy, ML., Yuan, Z.Ø. et al. Performance agreements for clearer institutional profiles and better division of labour. Tert Educ Manag 26, 311–327 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-019-09034-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-019-09034-z

Keywords

  • Diversity
  • Governance
  • Higher education policy/development
  • Institutional performance measures
  • Strategic planning