IFRIS - Institut Francilien Recherche Innovation Société

In Search of Academic Quality

Catherine Paradeise and Jean-Claude Thoenig

Coming August 2015

Catherine Paradeise was Professor of Sociology at several French higher education institutions, lastly at Université Paris Est-Marne la Vallée (U-PEM). She was deputy director at the department of social sciences and humanities of French National Centre for Scientific Research and Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan (ENS-C), and co-founded the Institute for Research and Innovation in Society (IFRIS). Jean-Claude Thoenig was Professor at the Lausanne Federal Institute of Technology, Dean and Professor at INSEAD (Fontainebleau), co-founder of EGOS (European Group for Organizational Studies) and the Ecole de Paris du Management, and Senior Researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research.

About the book:

Are higher education and research in the process of becoming more and more alike? Global standards such as performance rankings and New Public Management approaches provide an identical rationale for launching major reforms. The way to produce an academic quality at the local level is expected to be aligned according to such standards.
In Search of Academic Quality questions the relevance of such an evolution scenario. Based on an international comparison observing in-depth a series of universities, the book suggests that diversity remains massive when considering how single institutions position themselves in terms of quality standards and combine resources, as well as the alternatives they have access to given their organizational and cultural governance path dependence. This volume explores a series of analytical tools applicable for management purposes such as improving academic quality upgrading.

Contents:

Introduction I:

THE ROAD TO ACADEMIC EXCELLENCE

1. Addressing Evolving Societal Expectations

2. When Numbers Define Academic Quality

II: MAKING SENSE OF DIVERSITIES

3. Quality Regimes And Organisational Instrumentation

4. Evaluating Faculty Contributions

5. Social Values, Norms, Cultures

6. Integration And Differentiation Processes

III: THE ILLUSION OF A ONE BEST WAY

7. The Top Of The Pile Regime As Quality Reference

8. Is The Reference Model Replicable? Conclusion Toward Post-Excellence Quality?

Hardback 9781137298287

Aug 2015  £75.00 $115.00 $133.00CAN