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Higher Education Funding in Canada, the U.S. and Western Europe – A Comparison

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Comparative Higher Education Politics

Part of the book series: Higher Education Dynamics ((HEDY,volume 60))

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Abstract

This chapter compares the higher education funding systems in the United States, Canada and Western Europe as described in the three previous chapters in this volume. To illustrate differences and commonalities between states we use a number of complementary perspectives and concepts: (1) Esping-Andersen’s three welfare regimes of liberal, conservative and social-democratic societies, (2) three key funding dilemmas/characteristics around funding, along with OECD statistics and information on these characteristics, (3) higher education governance modes as shown in Clark’s triangle of coordination, and (4) the perspective of policy frames driving higher education policy-making. The three policy frames we distinguish are: (1) economic competitiveness and labour market relevance, (2) scientific excellence and exclusiveness, and (3) societal challenges and inclusiveness.

Bringing these perspectives together allows us not just to describe the state-of-the-art in terms of the funding mechanisms of particular states, but also sheds light on the global movement towards market-type steering through the introduction of cost sharing, competition and performance-based funding in higher education. Our argument is that national higher education governance and funding systems differ in the degrees to which they will introduce (or already have embedded) particular manifestations – or varieties – of academic capitalism.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, Enschede, Netherlands

    Ben Jongbloed

Authors
  1. Ben Jongbloed
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ben Jongbloed .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway

    Jens Jungblut

  2. Université du Québec, Rimouski, QC, Canada

    Martin Maltais

  3. Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, USA

    Erik C. Ness

  4. Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Deanna Rexe

Appendix: Country Abbreviations

Appendix: Country Abbreviations

AT

Austria

AUS

Australia

BE

Belgium

CAN

Canada

CH

Switzerland

DE

Germany

DK

Denmark

ES

Spain

FI

Finland

FR

France

IE

Ireland

IT

Italy

NL

Netherlands

NO

Norway

NZ

New Zealand

PT

Portugal

SE

Sweden

UK

United Kingdom

U.S.

United States

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Jongbloed, B. (2023). Higher Education Funding in Canada, the U.S. and Western Europe – A Comparison. In: Jungblut, J., Maltais, M., Ness, E.C., Rexe, D. (eds) Comparative Higher Education Politics . Higher Education Dynamics, vol 60. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-25867-1_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-031-25867-1

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