Transnational Actors in the Multi-Level Governance of Knowledge Policies

Abstract

How do academic interest groups engage in European policy processes? This panel examines two sets of actors at the core of knowledge production and dissemination: academics and universities. Academics are professionals with multiple affiliations and loyalties, as they are embedded in higher education institutions and discipline-based communities; they strive to protect their academic freedom and control of their teaching and research activities (Freidson 2003). Universities have become increasingly relevant actors in the higher education and research fields, since reforms granting institutional autonomy have allowed them to position themselves strategically and affect the systemic level (Fumasoli and Huisman 2013). We conceive of the ERA and the EHEA as two adjacent multi-layered systems that provide opportunities for academics and universities to engage in different arenas across levels, in order to defend and lobby for their interests. We ask: 1. What role do academics and universities play in European policy processes? How do they link to other actors and arenas? What are the factors empowering and constraining such links? 2. What are the implications for the multi-level governance of knowledge policies of such engagement(s)? How do academic interest groups influence systemic integration of higher education and research? To make sense of these dynamics we invite both conceptual and empirical papers that use, among others, multi-level governance (Marks 1996, Hooghe and Marks 2001, Piattoni 2010), field theory (Fligstein and McAdam 2012), and advocacy coalition (Sabatier 1998). Some relevant topics to elaborate upon are transnational interest groups, professional and disciplinary associations, strategic alliances (Fligstein 2008).

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