Convergence or Divergence in International Higher Education Policy: Lessons from Europe

New Public Management in Europe Many European countries have experienced a wave of approaches to restructuring the public sector (including health care and social services, as well as higher education) based on new public management (NPM), which some researchers have broken down into four basic models representing different stages and points of departure: (1) Efficiency drive. This model’s primary goal is to make the public sector more businesslike, mainly by focusing on efficiency. (2) Downsizing and decentralization. This model emphasizes flexibility and unbundling of vertically integrated organizations. (3) In search of excellence. Obviously influenced by the best-selling 1982 book, this model represents the human relations school of management, with a strong emphasis on change by affecting organizational culture. (4) Public service orientation. This is the least-developed NPM model, representing a fusion of public and private management ideas. NPM methods have been applied to higher education in different ways in different countries across Europe. While many reforms reflect a mix of NPM models, dominant trends over the last decade indicate that the fourth model—public service orientation— in combination with the second model—downsizing Barbara Sporn | Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration