Justifying the Evaluative State: New Public Management Ideals in Higher Education

Abstract

In recent years, public reform policies related to higher education have undergone significant change in Western Europe. This analysis discusses three theoretical perspectives on the tasks and organizational structure of modern universities and looks at how those viewpoints form the basis of different organizational ideals. The author examines how those ideals affect the function of universities, their relationship to public authorities, and the extent to which they are defined as government agencies, cultural institutions, or corporate enterprises. This discussion is followed by a brief look at the development of university policy in Norway, the state's role in relationship to the universities, and the government reforms that actually comprise university policy in that country.1