MORE@DIAG Seminar: Explaining Performance of Governance Reforms in Higher Education. A Systematic Assessment in a Comparative Perspective
Speaker:
Giliberto Capano, Scuola Normale Superiore, Institute for Humanities and Social Science, Florence
Data dell'evento:
Monday, 29 May, 2017 - 11:30
Luogo:
DIAG: Aula Magna
Contatto:
Giuseppe Catalano and Cinzia Daraio (E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected])
In higher education, reforms have long been driven by the theory that system performance depends on governance design; yet it remains far from clear which arrangements can actually deliver results, as shown in the analysis of various streams of research devoted to assessing performance in higher education. Such a question can be better answered if research aims for a mechanistic explanation and operationalizes it to avoid the shortcomings of both ‘variable-oriented’ and ‘case-oriented’ strategies. We therefore develop a ‘diversity-oriented’ mechanistic framework that explains differences in performance by differences in policy tool mixes, which we define as governance regimes. This set of policy tools is meant as a configuration of properties of delivery vehicles, decision-making design, and accountability design. Such an explanatory focus has many advantages: policy tools are manipulable, as they depend on political and administrative decisions; moreover, they are efficient causes, as they trigger mechanisms at the individual level that directly account for both individual and institutional behavior and, hence, performance. Obviously the empirical adoption of this framework asks for specific operationalization of conditions (mainly policy instruments) and thus of their coding.
Short BIO:
Giliberto CAPANO, 1960, PhD in Political Science, is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the University of Bologna and at the Scuola Normale Superiore, Firenze. His main research interests are: theories of public policy, higher education policy, legislative behaviour, public administration reforms, and the policy-making role of interests’ groups. He is the co-editor of the journal Policy & Society, and Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. His research focuses on governance dynamics, policy change, legislative behavior, policy design and policy instruments, and comparative public policy. He has published on these issues in a number of journals, including the Journal of European Public Policy, Public Administration, Comparative Education Review, Higher Education, Higher Education Policy, European Political Science, Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis, South European Politics and Policy, Journal of Legislative Studies; Policy Sciences. His latest books are: (coeditor with M. Howlett and M. Ramesh) Varieties of Governace. Dynamics, Strategies, Capacities, Palgrave 2015; (co-author with M.Regini, M.Turri), Changing Governance in Universities. Italian Higher Education in Comparative Perspective, Plagrave 2016; (co-author with M.Regini and Turri), Come Salvare l’università italiana. Oltre i miti e i tabù, Il Mulino, 2017, forthcoming.