This article provides an overview of the evolution map of China's academic burden reduction strategy by conducting a new institutional analysis. Our analysis includes various adoptions of features and configurations introduced during the 1978-2021 period, which are inherently embedded in the wide context of political economy. By using archival…

Academic and research integrity policies serve as important mechanisms for universities worldwide to maintain ethical standards and prevent misconduct. Using qualitative content analysis, we examined publicly available policy documents (n = 24) across Nepal's higher education system from 13 universities and the University Grants Commission (UGC).…

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been highlighted as a potentially disruptive force across several industries and in higher education. Research has suggested that education and upskilling of citizens should adopt a broad approach, not only focusing on experts, for better nationwide AI readiness. This study investigates the content of AI policies…

In 2014 the Icelandic government implemented a reform that reduced the time of all academic programs of upper secondary education from an average of four years in duration to three, aiming to increase efficiency in the education system. Drawing on critical policy analysis, this study explores wider consequences of the reform's enactment for higher…

The aim of this study is to examine the precautions and policies of the Ministry of National Education (MoNE) in the preearthquake period for disadvantaged groups that may be affected by earthquakes. One out of five students in Turkey was affected by the February 6, 2023, earthquake in the country. In terms of the education system, the earthquake…

The monitoring and evaluation of R&I policies relies on quantitative and qualitative methods with important methodological shortcomings. Quantitative assessments rely on standardized indicators that do not capture context-specific challenges, while qualitative approaches lack comparability. Both approaches are complementary but not always…

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted unprecedented school closures in England, which quickly generated widespread concern at the impacts of missed schooling: 'lost learning' became the dominant motif of these concerns and 'catch-up' emerged as the received solution. This article focuses on the central pillar of the government's post-pandemic response:…

This article explores underlying mechanisms triggering a change in conceptualization of innovation in the European Union (EU), the impact of this change on institutional demands upon European universities and implications for evaluation procedures. We mobilize the theoretical concept of critical junctures to explore significant periods that have…

Underlying current research on China's world-class university (WCU) policy approaches are analytical foci that privilege the agency of social actors and the problem-solving approach to policy analysis. Foucauldian poststructuralists draw our attention to policy document, which is seen as a discourse that organizes and administers society. Inspired…

The development of private higher education (PHE) in Vietnam has been marked by significant policy shifts (even policy reversals), and this justifies a thorough examination of the policy instruments employed by the government. In this study, we examine the design of these policy instruments and analyze whether they align with the current…

This paper focuses on contemporary tensions and contradictions in current Norwegian educational policy discourse. Based on critical discourse analysis (CDA) of Norwegian governmental white papers our analysis reveals that contemporary Norwegian policy formulation is torn between an egalitarian and a selection discourse about how to tackle…

This article introduces an analytic strategy or thinking tool called the 'What's the Problem Represented to be?' (WPR) approach and suggests its usefulness for reflecting on important debates in music education. First developed as a mode of policy analysis, WPR has since been adopted in many fields and topic areas. The WPR approach consists of…

Policies designed to cultivate talent within universities are central to China's strategy for reforming and improving the quality of its higher education. This study develops a goal-instrument analysis framework for a content analysis of 113 such policies. Within the context of China's Double First-Class construction, the analysis examines the…

Every province and territory in Canada has the authority to oversee higher education policies. In recent provincial and federal policy reforms, neoliberalism and academic capitalism have been gaining influence in Canadian higher education. This particularly applies to the policy reform plan "Alberta 2030: Building Skills for Jobs," which…

Poor quality VET is perceived to contribute to a lack of skilled workers, low productivity, and poor outcomes for individuals and society. Such economic failings are often attributed to the low value of VET, ignoring the equally low standing of many of the occupations VET serves. Raising the value of VET through qualification reform is thus…