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Higher Education Policy: Autonomy and Accountability

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Finnish Public Administration

Part of the book series: Governance and Public Management ((GPM))

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Abstract

Over the past decades, universities as public organisations and societal actors have been impacted by policies emphasising accountability measures and incentive systems in the context of New Public Management (NPM) inspired governance reforms. At the same time, financing higher education has been a key issue in higher education policy. Nordic higher education policies have followed similar paths with NPM-oriented reforms. As a policy instrument, performance-based funding (PBF) has gained popularity among policymakers, reflecting their wish to encourage the achievement of the policy goals set for higher education. The PBF model has also increased universities’ awareness of the aspects measured and their performance has increased steadily on those outputs measured and rewarded. This chapter discusses Finnish higher education policy in the context of NPM-oriented reforms focusing on the PBF model and the role it plays in steering Finnish universities. We introduce the steering instruments and the PBF model utilised in the Finnish higher education system and discuss the equilibrium of autonomy and accountability in higher education governance and how PBF has affected these. Finnish higher education is set in Nordic context reflecting the findings as part of public administration reforms and discussing the future scenarios for the Finnish higher education sector.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Jussi Kivistö & Tea Vellamo

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  1. Jussi Kivistö
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  2. Tea Vellamo
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Correspondence to Jussi Kivistö .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Elias Pekkola

  2. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Jan-Erik Johanson

  3. Tampere University, Tampere, Finland

    Mikko Mykkänen

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Kivistö, J., Vellamo, T. (2023). Higher Education Policy: Autonomy and Accountability. In: Pekkola, E., Johanson, JE., Mykkänen, M. (eds) Finnish Public Administration. Governance and Public Management. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-34862-4_13

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