Mergers between governmental research institutes and Universities in the Danish HE sector

ABSTRACT

This article presents an analysis of the mergers in the Danish Higher Education (HE)-sector with a particular emphasis on the 2007 mergers involving universities and Government Research Institutes (GRIs). Furthermore, it follows the post-merger processes up to 2014/2015 at two Danish universities and examines the consequences of the changes seen from the perspective of the key stakeholders, the university managements and the employees. It is shown that the two cases differ in important respects, but also that the three groups of actors within each case have different views of both the processes and the outcomes. Finally, it is shown that it makes a significant difference whether a federal or a unitary structure is implemented after the merger, although each solution has both strengths and weaknesses.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education reform
• university mergers
• government research institutes
• post-merger processes
• federal or unified structures
• employee reactions

Disclosure statement

No potential conflicts of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Kaare Aagaard is senior researcher in science policy studies at the Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy at the Department of Political Science, Aarhus University. He has a broad interest in research policy, research funding systems and organization of national public research systems.

Hanne Foss Hansen is professor in public administration and organization at the Department of Political Science at University of Copenhagen. She has a broad interest in public-sector organization and policy. Her work on higher education has focussed particularly on research policy, reforms and evaluation.

Jørgen Gulddahl Rasmussen is professor in management and organizing at the Department of Business and Management at Aalborg University. He works in research and education within the areas of strategic management and organizing in public institutions and private firms. His main interest in higher education is changes in the governance and management processes in universities.