Sustaining change in universities: Continuities in case studies and concepts

Abstract

My book, Creating Entrepreneurial Universities, based on mid‐1990s research in five European universities, set forth five “pathways of transformation” by which public universities assume a highly proactive stance. On the basis of further research that tracks developments in these institutions during the late 1990s, this paper presents a conceptual transition from transformation to sustainability. How is change institutionally sustained after much transformation has taken place? Enduring components are found in a steady state of change that includes a bureaucracy of change. Further analysis suggests three dynamics of sustained change: reenforcing interaction among transforming elements; perpetual momentum resulting from steady accummulation of incremental changes; and ambitious volition embedded in the university as collective commitment and institutional will. A longer manuscript under preparation will explore the utility of the old pathways and the new sustaining features in case studies of entrepreneurial universities in other parts of the world.