Governance and Performance in the German Public Research Sector Disciplinary Differences

The Governance of universities and the effects of new public management are important topics that have given rise to a rich body of work. This book has two unique features. It mobilises the German situation to show how productive the notion of “governance pattern” can be to account for the architecture of the various external and internal, old and new governance mechanisms at play. This enables to focus on the central argument of the book, that is “the evidence of huge differences among disciplinary fields with respect to their conditions and requirements for knowledge production”. The book takes different disciplines to study how these are affected differently by ‘on size fits all’ institutional changes. They initiate a rich path both for science policy studies and for university-focused organisational research.
Philippe Laredo
Université Paris-Est and University of Manchester
This well-timed, informative and interesting book enriches the current discussions on the governance of research in and out of Germany. It belongs into the hands of those who are in positions of responsibility in universities, research institutions and research policy. The book does not mark the end of the discussions but shows the state of the art of the governance research in Germany in an encouraging way. Moreover, it marks an important reference point for how to continue this discussion also internationally.
Reinhard Grunwald
Former Secretary General of the German Research Foundation
Executive Managing Director of the Center for Science & Research Management