In the last decades, European higher education (HE) systems have undergone wide-ranging transformation processes. Since the 1960s, there has been a significant growth in student numbers (Meyer, 2007). However, the growth rate depends less on the countries’ economic development. Rather, the expansion results from a global perspective on education perceiving it as the key factor for socio-economic progress (Meyer & Schofer, 2005). In this perspective, European universities have been reorganised in order to qualify an increasing number of students for the demands of a global economy.
In this regard, several studies have addressed the question of institutional change in universities from the perspective of a sociological theory of organisations (Hüther & Krücken, 2016; Krücken & Meier, 2006; Meier, 2009, 2012). Their findings reveal that universities tend to adapt their organisational structures and procedures towards market principles. Four prominent features identified by Hasse and Krücken (2012) specify these changes within universities’ organisational structures. These are:
i. the increase of accountability accompanied by practices like evaluations and accreditations,
ii. the reinforcement of hierarchical decision-making structures (e.g. by strengthening the position of rectors and deans),
iii. the definition of organisational goals (as visible in universities’ mission statements), and
iv. the rise of professionalized management especially in the areas of quality control, public relations, and students’ services.
These are rather new features in universities’ organisation that indicate an increasing focus on competition of HE institutions and systems.
One central aspect of change in universities’ organisation that particularly affects academic teaching and learning is the Bologna Reform (1999), which consists of a two-tiered study structure (Bachelor and Master programmes), a Europe-wide performance assessment system (ECTS), and quality measures for teaching and learning. It has been introduced to strengthen Europe’s competitiveness and economic growth and thus is profoundly embedded in universities’ overall organisational transformation processes. The implementation of the Bologna criteria within European universities illustrates the overall homogenisation of European HE systems. However, there is a considerable discrepancy between the implementation of the Bologna model within universities’ formal organisational structures and its actual translation into practice that varies widely among Europe’s nation states (Schriewer, 2009).
While previous research has investigated universities’ transformation processes from an organisational sociology approach, little attention has been paid on students’ perspectives within changing HE institutions. Therefore, the research question of this paper is focused on orientations and patterns of meaning that students create by engaging with HE environments and their demands. The study is based on the concept of common space of experience by Mannheim (1982) developed to describe the formation of a collective stock of knowledge that a group of actors acquires in their history of socialisation. This knowledge, also referred to as pre-reflexive or tacit knowledge, is implied in the actors’ practice of action, and thus gives orientation to their actions. In order to trace this, the present study highlights students’ patterns of orientation underlying their routines and actions within a given study environment.
For the empirical investigation, group discussions with Bachelor students of Educational Sciences have been carried out at two Austrian university sites. By analysis of the empirical data using the documentary method (Bohnsack, 2010), the study explores which experiences students of Educational Sciences actually take into account as relevant, and, drawing on that, what patterns of orientation students develop that guide their practices within a certain study environment. Finally, the interdependence of individual students’ experiences and universities’ organisational structures is taken into consideration. Here, the crucial questions to be discussed are: What conceptions of studying do certain organisational features foster and engender and how does that influence students’ educational progress within HE environments?
