A transnational network of university governance

In recent decades, we have witnessed a profound transformation of what is now commonly perceived to be a global university field (for example, Drori et al, 2012; Frank and Meyer, 2007). Universities are typically governed and financed within national systems of higher education and they differ widely in terms of type (for example, private or public) and funding structure. The governing, performance monitoring, and organisation of universities varies considerably locally yet follows global themes (Ramirez, 2010; Hedmo et al, 2006; Sahlin, 2013). Furthermore, the wider global university field is shaped by transnational networks and collaborative arenas of governance (see Beech, 2009; 2011; Maasen and Olsen, 2007; Ramirez, 2012; Krücken and Meier, 2006): a growing number of transnational intermediary organisations form important arenas for actors from different countries that compare and assess universities, and form as well as translate ideas for how to manage universities and measure university performance (for example, Sahlin, 2013). This chapter focuses on the role and position of transnational intermediary organisations. Typically, those intermediary organisations are actively involved in transnational university governance without having formal access to or control over policy or governmental funding. Intermediaries can be placed, analytically, between those who aim to govern and those who are governed. In this position, these organisations function as organisational bridges between these two different communities. This chapter conceptualises transnational intermediaries and provides systematic empirical evidence for the importance of intermediaries in the scaling up of collaborative governance.

The growing importance and complexity of transnational governance has received increased scholarly attention during the last decade. Especially since the end of the cold war, the diversity of actors involved in global governance has increased, ranging from multinational corporations, professional associations, to non-governmental organisations (NGOs). These actors differ widely in terms of functions. Broadly speaking, they ‘create issues, set agendas, establish and implement rules or programs, and evaluate and/or adjudicate outcomes’ (Avant et al, 2010, 10). Moreover, transnational governance is highly organised (Drori et al, 2009, 17). Organisations have emerged and risen in both number and activity worldwide to the extent that our contemporary society has been described as ‘the organised society’ (Perrow, 1991; 2002; see also Meyer and Bromley, 2013).