The use of algorithms and automation of public services is not new, but in recent years there has been a step change in processing power and a decrease in the price of these technologies, which means we are seeing more widespread use. These advances are reframing our perception of what matters in ways that impact the ethical dimensions of…

This article presents the discussion and the conclusion of an "EERJ" Special Issue on accountability policy forms in four European educational systems aimed at identifying how global schemes and instruments of accountability are integrated into national governance patterns. The comparative discussion indicates that accountability…

The aim of this paper is to explore how practical knowledge can enhance higher education and Bildung for the human service professions. The paper sheds light on how governance reforms such as New Public Management have influenced higher education, where we argue that scientific rationality has weakened the professional's autonomy and…

This chapter outlines the instruments approach to studying European governance used in this book. It draws from public administration, political science and public policy literature that (1) evaluates the effects of policy instruments, (2) appreciates the choice of policy instruments and (3) unpacks the process through which policy instrumentation…

The Inter-University Consortium for Doctoral Courses in Public Budgeting, Finance, and Financial Management is the first collaborative project for online doctoral courses in public affairs. This article provides an account of the consortium's initiation, establishment, and operation for the pilot round. The consortium fills a niche in doctoral…

The following contribution hypothesizes that it is crucial for future professionals in public administrations and organizations to be familiar with the concepts, tools, and techniques of policy, public, and social entrepreneurship to address societal, environmental, health, and wicked problems in an innovative and sustainable way. Attention is…

The article presents the results of research on information literacy (IL) of employees of selected state administration offices, those in which the concept of improving the quality of work, named "good governance", has been implemented. The first aim of the study was to determine the components of IL necessary for state administration…

The advent of the new economy brought university reforms to the limelight, and higher education research concentrated on the study of interactions of multi-level, multi-actor policy reforms, to the detriment of studying policy implementation. The ebbing of implementation analysis in the mid-1980s has probably put researchers off following up…

Pro-market and business approaches to management in the public sector (new public management--NPM) have created an audit culture in schools driven by top-down, high stakes accountability, and the fetishization of data. Within this context, authentic, qualitative, and democratic forms of inquiry, both in universities and schools, become easily…

Promoting understanding of quality in the context of good governance can be a challenging classroom exercise not only because of the potential for hijacking politicization of the discussion, but also because of the variety of ways in which public sector goals can be defined, even in the context of a single policy. Standards of quality in the…

This article scrutinises the Escorting and Safeguarding Team to Governance and Development (TP4), a newly established prosecutor task force in Indonesia appointed to supervise government projects. Its effects in curbing the corruption that has plagued said projects and boosting the budget absorption of the Indonesian government are also explored.…

The international accrediting organization for public service pedagogy, the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration, has established and adopted "universal competencies" that Master of Public Administration degree programs are expected to develop to establish a "global standard in public service…

Both in Public Administration and in practice, there is a loss of the concept of public. A view became dominant in which markets were superior to governments and public to private. Not only did the esteem of the public sphere diminish, but also its significance in our reasoning and teaching. It became less clear what the public sphere stood for.…

This paper introduces the concept of 'soft privatisation'. Departing from a review of the literature examining the growing participation of private sector actors in the provision of public education across Europe, the paper investigates how privatisation has emerged in the context of the European Union as a phenomenon embedded in, rather than a…

One significant, tangible and interesting challenge for the privatised university is its impedance of particular forms of effective engagement and action in teaching and research, notably with respect to inequities in the broader social context, and the position of the university within that context. In the face of significant resource constraints…