Between Slow and Comprehensive Reformers: Comparing Government’s Funding Policies of Universities in Three European Countries

This article analyzes implications of political–administrative systems for public reforms in funding of higher education. A national comparison of government funding policies of universities in France, Norway, and England since the 1980s serves as the basis for analysis. The author challenges the common classification of political–administrative regimes where frequently early and comprehensive reformers become the benchmark of what characterizes a reform. The author shows how specific path-dependent mechanisms can be added to explain processes of change in countries associated with opportunities to prevent change (France), but also for countries that have been linked to comprehensive reform (England) as well as incremental reform (Norway).