Disaggregating the Diffusion of Innovations in Higher Education

This paper engages with the section theme by considering how knowledge ‘travels’ or is ‘diffused’ around the globe. The ideas in Everett M. Rogers’ (1962) seminal book Diffusion of Innovations were influential in explaining how, why, and at what rate new ideas diffuse. Rogers argues that diffusion is the process whereby an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a social system. Following and related to this is the diffusion of policyinnovations, where innovations are any policy idea that has not been previously adopted by a government unit (Walker, 1969). The concept of policy diffusion considers the mechanisms which account for how policies in one unit (e.g. country, state) are influenced by the prior policy choices of other units. Models of policy innovation share many commonalities with models that seek to explain organisational innovation more widely. In recent years, the concept has received increased attention in the political science literature (see Berry and Berry, 2018; Gilardi and Wasserfallen, 2019; Blatter et al., 2021; Mallinson, 2021; Kuhlmann, 2021). These studies offer conceptual refinement and greater clarity of the various pathways of policy diffusion. We can also see how policy diffusion is increasingly international, taking place between different countries, sometimes mediated by international organisations or private actors. These developments provide a timely opportunity to assess the potential value of this literature to higher education. This paper contributes to the focus of the panel by identifying the national manifestations of policy imperatives that have diffused internationally. Specifically, we can see universities are being subject to new forms of government intervention as nation states respond to the policies pursued in other territories. For example, we can see how a range of countries have restructured their higher education sector to make it more visible and competitive on the world stage. Recently, in the name of national security, many nations have followed the US in introducing much tighter export controls on research to prevent rivals or adversaries from acquiring it, and have stepped up surveillance to counter on-campus espionage. Moreover, as the ‘culture wars’ have spread around the world and spilled over onto campus, many governments have legislated to protect free speech which is perceived to be under threat. Policy examples such as these not only highlight the wider political dynamics underlying higher education policies, but also show how policy interventions can be a response to the policy choices of peer nations. We can also see how there can be a global diffusion of policy problems as well as policy solutions; i.e., countries see the same problems as their peers and then seek to address them using similar policy interventions. Hence, innovations are diffused in both higher education policy and practice— which accounts for the growing convergence between nations. The paper concludes by considering to what extent diffusion of innovation theories can help organise our thoughts, and structure future research, on knowledge politics and policies.