An international comparative perspective on Higher Education institutions’ governance and management: Portugal, Finland, and Brazil

Abstract

The increasing internationalization and globalization of higher education, as well as the influence of neo-liberal ideas, as the New PublicManagement (NPM) practice, strongly disseminated by international organizations, such as the OECD, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and the EU provide a framework for analyzing similarities in different national contexts. In turn, national and cultural specifics and traditions might be considered powerful factors explaining differences in the Portuguese, Brazilian, and Finnish HE systems, more specifically with respect to policy design, policy implementation, and national outcomes. By comparing different cultures, systems, and institutional practices, through the same methods of data collection and analysis for each country, this chapter provides an overview of the main policies and practices in terms of HE governance and management in these countries. Portugal and Finland are examples of European countries that have embarked on changes eased up by an international context that supported reform, e.g., assessments from international organizations such as the OECD and the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education (ENQA), and the EU modernization agendas for European HE. Moreover, both HE systems are similar enough to allow comparisons as both have a binary organization. Nevertheless, and when comparing with Brazil, a still developing nation, the economic status and international positioning of these three countries, differs. Brazil is the largest country in both South America and Latin America, with over 207 million people in 2017(Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics - IBGE 2017).