Institutional contexts in higher education

Teaching and learning takes place in a multi-level context: students work and study together in groups under supervision of university teachers and professors. These student groups and their lecturers function within the context of a faculty and university. Characteristics of faculties and higher education institutes will have an impact on student and teacher performance. ‘Institutional context’ has come to play an important role in the explanation of differences in ‘effectiveness’ between higher education institutes. At its centre are a nexus of inter-cutting relationships pertaining to the financial bases on which they are founded (private/public), leadership and governance structures, the quality of networks and their position in these networks (ranking), the extent of ‘freedom of choice’ available for students (access and programmatic choices within university) as well as variations in decision-making and the ‘locus of control’ in different countries. Any or all of these factors are viewed as relevant to the functioning of particular educational systems and higher education institutes.

Key publications

• Boahin, P. & Hofman W.H.A. (2013): Competency-based training in International perspective: comparing the implementation processes towards the achievement of employability. In: Journal of Curriculum Studies (doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2013.812680).
• Boahin, P. & Hofman W.H.A. (2012): Implementation of innovations in higher education: the case of competency-based training in Ghana. In: Innovations in Education and Teaching International. Vol. 49, No. 3, August 2012, 313–323.
• Hofman, W.H.A., Hofman, R.H. (2011): Smart Management in Effective Schools. Effective management configurations in general and vocational education in the Netherlands. In: Educational Administration Quarterly, Vol. 47, nr. 4, 620-645.
• Jansen, E. & Goedhart, M.(2010) (Inter)disciplinary Dublin descriptors? Implementation of the Bologna process in a Dutch University. in : Davies, M.,Devlin, M., & Tight, M.(eds) Interdisciplinary Higher Education: Theory and Practice. Volume 5 of International Perspectives on Higher Education Research. Emerald Group Publishing Limited
• Hofman, R.H., Hofman, W.H.A. & Gray, J.M. (2008): Comparing key dimensions of schooling: towards a typology of European School Systems. In: Comparative Education. Vol. 44, No. 1, February 2008, 93-110.
• Hofman, R.H., Hofman, W.H.A., Gray, J.M. & Daly, P. editors. (2004): Institutional Context of Education Systems in Europe. A Cross -Country Comparison on Quality and Equity. Kluwer Academic Press