This presentation aims to understand how knowledge is acquired and used in higher education networks, for example in the ministerial working groups and parliamentary committees. The concept of knowledge has not been clearly defined in literature on (education) policy studies. Following Foucault (1977, 1986), we understand the concepts of knowledge and power as interwoven and relativistic that are always bounded by the context. We recognize policymakers not only as users, but also as producers of knowledge who draw on different formal and informal practices and networks in policymaking (Foucault 1986). More specifically, we focus on capturing “the movement of knowledge through the world of policy” (Freeman & Sturdy 2014, 14). That is, the use of knowledge in the work of policy and how knowledge practices are legitimised through networks. This presentation is based on a research project (KNETS) that combines social network analysis (SNA), interviews (N=40), and observations. We investigate the network of key higher education policy actors connecting the Finnish and EU contexts. We started by identifying actors in both contexts that share similar characteristics regarding their role and position in the policymaking process. In Finland, the network covers for example the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture and its Education division, the EU30, which is one of the main links between the EU and Finland on education affairs in the national context. In the EU, the network consists of the Committee on Culture and Education in the European Parliament and the Working Group on Higher Education in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Education and Training. The network data cover other important knowledge hubs and stakeholders operating in the field of higher education, for example organisations representing universities and universities of applied sciences in Finland and the EU. This presentation focuses on interviews and observations conducted in this network. To be able to understand the operation of these knowledge networks, we must examine the use of knowledge in practice through protocols, rituals, and language (Rhodes 2011). Our preliminary findings suggest that networks work as a source of knowledge and operate as a means of legitimatising the acquired knowledge into negotiable forms. Here the trustworthiness of knowledge producers plays a key role. Negotiations on what knowledge is selected for policy often occur prior to formal decision-making: the feasibility of knowledge is politically charged. This highlights the performativity in knowledge utilization.

Foucault, M. (1977). Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison. Allen Lane Foucault, M. (1986). Truth and Power. In Gordon C, ed, Michel Foucault. Power/knowledge. Harvester. Rhodes, R.A.W. (2011). 2011. Everyday Life in British Government. Oxford University Press. Freeman, R. & Sturdy, S. (2014). Introduction: knowledge in policy – embodied, inscribed enacted. Rhodes R.A.W. (2008). Everyday Life in British Government. Oxford University Press.