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Is Education Getting Lost in University Mergers?

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Abstract

Mergers are common phenomena in higher education institutions. Improving educational quality is typically one of the stated goals of university mergers. Yet, little information exists about how merging institutions approach this goal. This paper presents results from a study of planning documents created prior to four mergers in the Finnish higher education system. These documents show that there was little concrete attention given to the educational issues related to the mergers. Most attention was placed on administrative issues and issues related to research. When educational issues were mentioned, it was almost always in the form of vague goals with few details provided about how the goals were to be reached. We conclude that this lack of attention to the educational aspect of mergers is a significant weakness of the planning process in these mergers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Finnish Institute for Educational Research, University of Jyväskylä, P.O. Box 35, Jyväskylä, FI-40014, Finland

    Jani Ursin, Helena Aittola & Jussi Valimaa

  2. Mallinson Institute for Science Education, Western Michigan University, Michigan, USA

    Charles Henderson

Authors
  1. Jani Ursin
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  2. Helena Aittola
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  3. Charles Henderson
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  4. Jussi Valimaa
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Correspondence to Jani Ursin.

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Ursin, J., Aittola, H., Henderson, C. et al. Is Education Getting Lost in University Mergers?. Tert Educ Manag 16, 327–340 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2010.533379

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