Multiple-Value Governance in (German) Higher Education: a New Paradigm?

Abstract

[EN] Shifts in governance frameworks of higher education systems as well as scholarly debate indicate that New Public Management (NPM) – this long-standing hegemonial reform framework for the public sector in general and for higher education (HE) in particular – has passed its peak. This paper will explain and justify this claim for the case of German HE. It argues in favour of the assumption that a new governance paradigm – called multiple-value governance - is on the horizon. This new governance regime partly overthrows, partly modifies and partly succeeds NPM. In order to corroborate this claim, a reflection about the organizational consequences of introducing sustainability as one of many values into the German higher education sector is outlined at the end of the paper. The latter’s intention is to lay a conceptual foundation for a research agenda that addresses the hypothesized changes in HE governance empirically and offers perspectives for further research.