Financial sustainability is one of the key challenges confronting Europe's universities today. Despite the fact that universities are at the centre of knowledge creation and development, which itself is seen as one of the main engines of economic growth, public funding of higher education in most countries is not increasing or at least not increasing enough in real terms. "Democratisation of higher education" has led to the fact that the higher education budgets per student are relatively low in most European countries compared to Europe's competitors. Despite declarations of intent to increase spending on higher education and research, it is not very likely that public expenditure will grow significantly on average in Europe and therefore be able to keep up with rapidly inflating costs in the years to come. One of the reasons for this is that higher education and research have to compete with other priorities in public budgets (e.g., security, health, etc.).Furthermore, the recent economic downturn has contributed to the decision in many European countries to decrease the levels of investment in higher education and research. Such trends are particularly worrisome for universities across Europe, whose continuing dependence on public funding puts their future sustainability under pressure. New funding schemes and incentives have been discussed and introduced in many European higher education systems, including competitive funding schemes for research under the name of "excellence" policies.Despite the different national institutional configurations in Europe, higher education systems face similar demands of promoting sustainable funding models, maintaining high academic standards, and equality. Thus, financial sustainability is not an end in itself; it aims to ensure that the public university's goals are reached by guaranteeing that the institution produces sufficient income to enable it to invest in high quality education and produce equitable outcomes. For these reasons, this book analyses funding reforms from a multidimensional approach.

CONTENTSPart I. Funding: Pressures, Reforms, and Analytical FoundationsChapter 1Public Accountability Reforms and Higher EducationPaola MatteiChapter 2Dynamics of Convergence and Divergence.Exploring Accounts of Higher Education Policy ChangePeter Maassen and Åse GornitzkaChapter 3Global pressures and national cultures: a Nordic University template?Tom Christensen, Åse Gornitzka, Peter MaassenChapter 4Financially Sustainable Universities: Challenges and Strategies in Times of AusterityThomas Estermann and Enora PruvotChapter 5Reforming Under Pressure. Higher Education Reforms in France (2006-2010)Corine EyraudPart II. Internationalisation and EuropeanizationChapter 6The Value of Temporary Study Abroad: The ERASMUS ExperienceUlrich TeichlerChapter 7Europeanization and Higher Education: Comfortable Bedfellows?Jeroen HuismanChapter 8University Rankings: The Manifestation and Driver of Competition for ExcellenceWithin the New Higher Education LandscapeJan SadlakPart III. Massification of Higher Education: Strategies of Equality or Privatisation?Chapter 9Privatisation of Higher Education in Central and Eastern EuropeJadwiga KoralewiczChapter 10Class and Ethnic Inequality in Educational Outcomes in an International PerspectiveJan O. JonssonBibliographyIndex