Restricted accessResearch articleFirst published online 2021-3
On the re-institutionalization and diversification of Public Administration education in Central and Eastern Europe: A case study of post-communist Romania
The article provides a complementary view to those accounts of the growth of public administration education in post-communist Central and Eastern Europe that (a) explain its development primarily as a reflection of changes in administrative cultures while (b) emphasizing the ongoing process of curricular diversification. Rather, the article shifts the focus on the internal dynamics of higher education. It shows that the development of Romanian public administration education can be attributed, to a considerable extent, to unique opportunities arising in a period of post-communist re-institutionalization, of which enterprising academics ably took advantage. It further argues that, curricular variety notwithstanding, public administration departments in this country may be growing more alike in other respects. In so doing, the article contributes to an expansion of the traditional narrative of the growth of public administration education in post-communist Europe.
AbrahamsonE (1996) Management fashion. Academy of Management Review21: 254–285.
2.
AndreescuLGheorghiuRProteasaV, et al. (2012) Institutional diversification and homogeneity in Romanian higher education: The larger picture. In: CurajA, et al. (eds) European Higher Education at the Crossroads Between the Bologna Process and National Reforms. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 863–885.
3.
AndreescuAGheorghiuRIrimiaA, et al. (2015) Mergers and classifications in Romania: Opportunities and obstacles. In: CurajAGeorghiouLHarperJC, et al. (eds) Mergers and Alliances in Higher Education: International Practice and Emerging Opportunities. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 36–62.
4.
ArumRRoksaJ (2011) Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press.
5.
BirnbaumR (2000) Management fads in higher education: Where they come from, what they do, why they fail. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
6.
BoyerEL (1990) Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
7.
BransMCoenenL (2016) The Europeanization of public administration teaching. Policy and Society35(4): 333–349.
8.
BrouckerB (2015) Defining the impact of public administration programmes for public sector organizations. Teaching Public Administration33(2): 193–207.
9.
CernatL (2006) Europeanization, varieties of capitalism, and economic performance in Central and Eastern Europe. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
DiMaggioPPowellW (1983) The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American Sociological Review48: 147–160.
12.
DincăDV (2012) Sistemul administrativ românesc: inspiraţie franceză şi adaptare autohtonă. Bucureşti: Ed. Economică.
13.
MiDuggett (2003) The British Civil Service College in comparative perspective. In: RosenbaumAGajdošováL (eds) State modernization and decentralization: Implications for education and training in public administration. Slovakia: NISPAcee, pp. 100–108.
14.
EggheL (2006) Theory and practice of the g-index. Scientometrics69: 131–152.
15.
EllwoodJW (2008) Challenges to public policy and public management education. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management27(1): 172–187.
16.
FarazmandA (2002) Privatization and globalization: A critical analysis with implications for public management education and training. International Review of Administrative Sciences68(3): 355–371.
17.
FenwickJ (2018) Teaching public administration: Key themes 1996–2016. Teaching Public Administration36(1): 6–13.
18.
FowlesJFredericksonHGKoppellJGS (2016) University rankings: Evidence and a conceptual framework. Public Administration Review76(5): 790–803.
19.
Geva-MayINasiGTurriniT, et al. (2008) MPP programs emerging around the world. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management27: 187–204.
20.
GoldfinchSF (2009) Dangerous enthusiasms and information systems development in the public sector. In: GoldfinchSFWallisJL (eds) International Handbook of Public Management Reform. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, pp. 121–136.
21.
HajnalG (2003) Diversity and convergence: A quantitative analysis of European public administration education programs. Journal of Public Affairs Education4: 245–258.
22.
HajnalG (2015) Public administration education in Europe: Continuity or reorientation?Teaching Public Administration33(2): 95–114.
23.
HajnalG (2016) Illiberal or simply unorthodox? Public administration education in Hungary: A comparative perspective. Teaching Public Administration34(2): 206–225.
HauptBKapucuNHuQ (2017) Core competencies in Master of Public Administration Programs: Perspectives from local government managers. Journal of Public Affairs Education23(1): 611–624.
26.
HeAJLaiAWuX (2016) Teaching policy analysis in China and the United States: Implications for curriculum design of public policy programs. Policy and Society35(4): 385–396.
27.
HendriksFTopsP (2003) Local public management reforms in the Netherlands: Fads, fashions, and winds of change. Public Administration81(2): 301–323.
HinţeaCŞandorSD (2002) Impactul cooperărilor internaţionale asupra dezvoltării programelor universitare de administraţie publică în România. Studiu de caz: Universitatea Babeş-Bolyai. Revista Transilvană de Ştiinţe Administrative8: 35–43.
30.
HinţeaCRingsmuthDCMoraC (2006) The reform of the higher education public administration programs in the context of public administration reform in Romania. Transylvanian Review of Administrative Sciences2(16): 40–46.
31.
CălinHinţea (2013) Public administration schools in Romania: Strategic choices for the future. Revista de Cercetare şi Intervenţie Socială42: 294–309.
32.
KickertWJM (2005) Distinctiveness in the study of public management in Europe: A historical-institutional analysis of France, Germany and Italy. Public Management Review7(4): 537–563.
33.
KickertWJM (ed) (2008) The study of public management in Europe and the US: A comparative analysis of national distinctiveness. New York: Routledge.
34.
LimMA (2018) The building of weak expertise: The work of global university rankers. Higher Education75: 415–430.
35.
MahoneyJThelenK (2010) A theory of gradual institutional change. In: MahoneyJThelenK (eds) Explaining institutional change: Ambiguity, agency, and power. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–37.
36.
ManoharanAPMirbelWCarrizalesT (2017) Global comparative public administration. Teaching Public Administration36(1): 34–49.
37.
McAdamDFligsteinN (2012) A Theory of Fields. New York: Oxford University Press.
38.
MarginsonS (2007) Global university rankings: implications in general and for Australia. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management29(2): 131–142.
39.
MateiL (2009) Romanian public management reform. Vol. I: Administration and Public Services. Bucharest: Editura Economica.
MiroiuADiaconuDDumitruA (2018) Cercetarea în ştiinţele sociale din România: Între vocaţia excelenţei şi provocările instituţionale. In FrangopolPTBanabicDDavidD (eds) Educaţia şi cercetarea Românească. Starea prezentă şi perspectiva. Cluj-Napoca: Casa cărţii de ştiinţă, pp. 173–190.
42.
OsborneSPMcLaughlinK (2008) The study of public management in Great Britain. Public service delivery and its management. In KickertW (ed) The Study of Public Management in Europe and the US: A comparative analysis of national distinctiveness. New York: Routledge, pp. 70–98.
43.
PalLAClarkID (2016) Teaching public policy: Global convergence or difference?Policy and Society35(4): 283–297.
44.
PăunescuMVlăsceanuLMiroiuA (2011) Calitatea învăţământului superior din România: o analiză instituţională a tendinţelor actuale. Iaşi: Polirom.
45.
PăunescuMHânceanGM (2013) Ranking the Romanian departments of sociology: Comparative results of different evaluation methodologies. Quality Assurance Review for Higher Education5(1–2): 5–17.
46.
PollittCBouckaertG (2011) Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis—New Public Management, Governance, and the Neo-Weberian State, 3rd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
47.
ProteasaVAndreescuACurajA (2017) Differentiation and academic control over policy in Central and Eastern Europe: The case of Romania. European Educational Research Journal16(5): 605–625.
48.
PowellDCSaint-GermainM (2016) Student learning outcome assessment in NASPAA Programs: A review of validity and reliability. Journal of Public Affairs Education22(4): 507–514.
49.
PusserBMarginsonS (2013) University rankings in critical perspective. The Journal of Higher Education84(4): 544–568.
50.
RaadscheldersJCNWagenaarPRutgersMR, et al. (2000) Against a study of the history of public administration: A manifesto. Administrative Theory & Praxis22(4): 772–791.
51.
Randma-LiivTConnaughtonB (2005) Public Administration as a field of study: divergence or convergence in the light of ‘Europeanization’?TRAMES9(4): 348–360.
52.
TolRSJ (2008) A rational, successive g-index applied to economics departments in Ireland. Journal of Informetrics2(2): 149–155.
53.
Sanabria-PulidoPRubaiiNPurónG (2016) Public affairs graduate education in Latin America: Emulation or identity?Policy and Society35(4): 315–331.
54.
SewellWH (2004) The concept(s) of culture. In: SpiegelGM (ed) Practicing History: New Directions in Historical Writing after the Linguistic Turn. London: Routledge, pp. 35–61.
55.
SoraAS (2011) Evoluţia calificărilor din învăţământul universitar românesc, 1968–2011. Bucharest: National Agency for Qualifications (ANC).
56.
StaroňováKGajduschekG (2016) Public administration education in CEE countries: Institutionalization of a discipline. Policy and Society35(4): 351–370.
57.
StoutM (2018) The impossibility of a universal public service perspective. Teaching Public Administration36(3): 222–236.
58.
UEFISCDI (Executive Agency for Funding Higher Education Research and Innovation) (2013) Raport asupra fluxurilor informaţionale ce privesc sistemul de învăţământ superior (SIS) din România. Higher Education Policy Series7. Bucharest: UEFISCDI.
59.
van der MeerF-BMarksP (2016) Research and teaching PA: Towards research as teaching. Teaching Public Administration34(1): 109–116.
60.
van VughtF (2009) Mapping the higher education landscape: Towards a European classification of higher education. Dordrecht: Springer.
61.
VîiuGAVlăsceanuMMiroiuA (2012) Ranking political science departments: The case of Romania. Quality Assurance Review for Higher Education4(2): 79–97.
62.
ZuleanMŞercanE (2018) Democratic control of Romanian intelligence after three decades: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?Defense & Security Analysis34(4): 365–384.
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
