Role of national and transnational interest organizations in global knowledge governance

Interest organisations have been an increasingly present and influential actor in global knowledge governance. This includes organisations representing interest of individual students, academic and administrative staff, as well as organizations acting on behalf of collective / organisational actors, such as university associations, employer associations, networks of public sector agencies working on various aspects of knowledge policies, as well as private actors which provide various services (e.g. concerning marketing, ranking etc). While the primary locus of activities remains on the national level, national interest organizations often associate into transnational structures, influencing macro-regional policy coordination, as is the case with the European University Association, or at the global level, as is the case with the International Association of Universities. Interest organisations – at national levels or beyond – play at least two distinct roles in global knowledge governance. One, they advocate and lobby decision-makers, with the aim of influencing policy decisions in line with preferences of their members or constituents. Two, through their various activities, they provide opportunities for communication and socialisation of their members, and thus can contribute to creating and spreading of various global scripts linked to knowledge policy sectors. The presentation will focus on how several national interest organisations in Europe and their European level associations engage with global scripts concerning rankings, based on content analysis of their policy positions from early 2000s onwards.