As noted in the Research Handbook on the Transformation of Higher Education (Leisyte, Dee, & van der Meulen, 2023), higher education transformation has been widely discussed and debated, but the resulting picture remains clouded by multiple, sometimes contradictory perspectives.

While transformation often has a positive connotation in everyday discourse, higher education transformations are also associated with ongoing struggles. Actors who seek to transform higher education encounter a variety of obstacles at system and institution levels (Kezar, 2018). Several barriers are related to the structural arrangements of higher education institutions. High levels of decentralization and structural differentiation can result in decoupling, where academic units in an institution operate with little coordination or communication among them (Bess & Dee, 2008). Furthermore, adherence to institutionalized norms and ritualized practices can result in universities that are highly path dependent (Krücken, 2003), a condition in which previous decisions and strategies lock an organization into a trajectory from which deviation is viewed as undesirable or impractical (Sydow, Schreyogg, & Koch, 2009). The organization becomes rigid and inflexible as a result. Moreover, some transformations of higher education have created new problems or failed to address long-standing challenges (Giroux, 2014).

Collectively, the presentations in this part of the symposium offer in-depth analyses of the socio-political, technological, and market forces that are transforming higher education, also resistance to transformation and their effects. The authors provide a multi-level perspective on higher education transformation by conceptualizing change at the field, system, and organizational levels drawing on a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Dee, J., van der Meulen, B., & Leisyte, L. (2023). Conceptualizing higher education transformation. In L. Leisyte, J. Dee, & B. van der Meulen (Eds.). Research handbook on the transformation of higher education. Edward Elgar. Giroux, H. (2014). Neoliberalism's war on higher education. Haymarket Books. Kezar, A. (2018). How colleges change: Understanding, leading, and enacting change (2nd ed.). Routledge. Krücken, G. (2003). Learning the new, new thing: On the role of path dependency in university structures. Higher Education, 46(3), 315-339. Sydow, J., Schreyögg, G., & Koch, J. (2009). Organizational path dependence: Opening the black box. Academy of Management Review, 34(4), 689-709.