Overburdening higher education? The Europeanisation of the professional complex
Author(s):
Eva Hartmann (presenting / submitting)
Conference:
ECER 2017
Network:
22. Research in Higher Education
Format:
Paper

Session Information

22 SES 02 C,

Paper Session

Time:
2017-08-22
15:15-16:45
Room:
K5.09
Chair:
Jaakko Kauko

Contribution

Introduction

This contribution seeks to outline how the research of higher education can benefit from an interdisciplinary perspective. It interrelates European Studies and sociology of professions with studies of the Europeanisation of higher education (HE)  (Vögtle, 2014, Brøgger, 2016). A number of studies of the Europeanisation of HE point out the impact of the European internal market on higher education. I will turn the perspective upside down and points out the role of European higher education standards in advancing the European single market, notably in the sphere of professional services.

 

Theoretical framework

In a first step I will develop a theoretical framework in the vein of accounts of the sociology of professions that highlights the social role of professions. Professionals are more than experts and knowledge workers. Notably a Durkheimian perspective points out the role of professions in ensuring social cohesion, or organic solidarity to use Durkheim’s term (Durkheim, 2003[1957], see also Lukes and Prabhat, 2012). Along these theoretical  lines we get a better idea of the societal implications of the endeavour of the EU to Europeanise professions. In a second step the paper will outline the role the sociology of professions attributes to universities in constituting liberal professions. Notably Talcott Parsons points out their key role in his study of the professional complex (Parsons, 1969: 331).

 

Case study

Against this theoretical backdrop I will study the endeavour of the EU to establish a European market for the regulated professions and the role of European standards of higher education in facilitating this endeavour. A particular focus will be on the European University Association (EUA) in this context. 

Method

The study draws on the methodology of case studies developed by Robert K. Yin (Yin, 2003) and Joe Feagin and colleagues (Feagin et al., 1991). I will combine this approach with policy tracing with a view to identifying the gradual development of European standards for regulated professions and the extent to which they build on academic standards developed in the context of the Bologna Process (Checkel, 2008, Beach and Pedersen, 2013). The tracing of the process will draw on European law, rulings of the European Court of Justice, reports of the European Commission, the professions and the EUA respectively as well as other sources of information about the process.

Expected Outcomes

The study highlights how the Europeanisation of the professional complex goes hand in hand with a re-articulation of the boundaries of the regulated professions. Some professional activities have become redefined as economic activities. As a consequence they fall under EU competition law and have very limited possibilities left to restrict their market. Furthermore, the study points out the vital role of European higher education (HE) standards, developed in the Bologna Process, in integrating the professions that have remained within the boundaries of regulated professions. The European HE standards have gained influence notably in the light of the major reluctance of regulated professions to become part of a European professional complex. Against the backdrop of these findings the paper will conclude by discussing important limits of this way to Europeanise the professional complex. I will explore the extent to which it risks undermining the “third logic” (Freidson, 2001) of professional regulations, either in favour of the logic of the market or in favour of the bureaucratic classification standards developed in the context of the European Higher Education Area. In other words, the tendency of the EU to burden higher education policy with the main tasks of constituting a European professional complex might be an important reason for the current crisis of the EU.

References

References BEACH, DEREK, AND RASMUS BRUN PEDERSEN. (2013) Process-Tracing Methods: Foundations and Guidelines. Michigan: University of Michigan Press. BRØGGER, KATJA. (2016) The rule of mimetic desire in higher education: governing through naming, shaming and faming. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37:72-91. CHECKEL, JEFFREY T. (2008) Tracing Causal Mechanisms. International Studies Review 8:362- 70. DURKHEIM, EMILE. (2003[1957]) Professional ethics and civil morals. London: Routledge. FEAGIN, JOE R., ANTHONY M ORUM, AND GIDEON SJOBERG. (1991) A case for case study. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. FREIDSON, ELIOT. (2001) Professionalism: The Third Logic. Cambridge: Polity Press. LUKES, STEVEN, AND DEVYANI PRABHAT. (2012) Durkheim on law and morality: The disintegration thesis. Journal of Classical Sociology 12:363–83. PARSONS, TALCOTT. (1969) Research in Human Subjects and the "Professional Complex". Daedalus 98:325-60. VÖGTLE, EVA MARTIA. (2014) Higher Education Policy Convergence and the Bologna Process. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan. YIN, ROBERT K. . (2003) Case Study Research: Design and Methods. Thousand Oaks: Sage.

Author Information

Eva Hartmann (presenting / submitting)
Copenhagen Business School
Department of Business and Politics
Frederiksberg

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