Chapter 1. Setting the Stage: Theory and Research Questions; Ivar Bleiklie, Jürgen Enders and Benedetto Lepori.- Chapter 2. A Sociological Experiment on Methodological Design: Strengths and Limits of a Pragmatist Approach to Research Methods in the TRUE Project; Benedetto Lepori.- Chapter 3. Working in the Shadow of Hierarchy: Organisational Autonomy and Venues of External Influence in European Universities; Harry de Boer and Jürgen Enders.- Chapter 4. Budgeting Practices in European Universities; Marco Seeber and Benedetto Lepori.- Chapter 5. The Transformative Power of Evaluation on University Governance; Emanuela Reale and Giulio Marini.- Chapter 6. University Governance: Organisational Centralisation and Engagement in European Universities; Ivar Bleiklie, Svein Michelsen, Georg Krücken and Nicoline Frølich.- Chapter 7. Understanding Strategy Practices in Universities; Nicoline Frølich, Bjørn Stensaker and Jeroen Huisman.- Chapter 8. Four ‘I’s Configuring European Higher Education Governance; Amélia Veiga and António Magalhães.- Chapter 9. Politico-Administrative Structures and University Policies; Ivar Bleiklie and Svein Michelsen.- Chapter 10. Actor Constellations and Policy Making; Ivar Bleiklie, Svein Michelsen, Mary Henkel and Emanuela Reale.- Chapter 11. Policy Instruments in European Universities: Implementation of Higher Education Policies; Gigliola Mathisen Nyhagen, Ivar Bleiklie and Kristin Hope.- Chapter 12. Organisational Configurations of Modern Universities, Institutional Logics and Public Policies: Towards an Integrative Framework; Ivar Bleiklie, Jürgen Enders and Benedetto Lepori.

“A reference in terms of applying advanced organization theory perspectives to academic institutions and policies. The concept of universities as penetrated hierarchies provides a major tool to understand what has occurred in Western European countries since the late 1900s. The book covers at the same time how universities are run inside, and how higher education public policies may or may not impact them strategically and administratively. Lessons to be learned from this transition should attract the attention of organizational theorists, but also of practitioners and policy-makers operating in European countries as well as in other regions of the world.” (Jean-Claude Thoenig, University of Paris-Dauphine, co-author of In Search of Academic Quality)“The book shows the extent to which and the ways public European universities are shaped by national political administrative regimes as well as sectoral higher education policy regimes. Thus, it provides not only very valuable empirical and conceptual insights for scholars of higher education reform, organization, administration, and management, but can offer lessons to practitioners and policy-makers in Europe as well as other regions of the world.” (Anna Kosmützky, University of Kassel, Germany)

Reports on research findings from a large scale comparative study of organisational characteristics of 26 universities in eight European countries Includes contributions from leading figures in the field of higher education Develops a new conceptual understanding of university organisations and their relationship with national politics and policies Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras