Romulo Miguel Pinheiro

• Laterza, Vito; Sotarauta, Markku; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Drejer, Ina & Pinheiro, Romulo (2026). Universities and Regional Green Transitions: Complexity, Contestation and One Way Forward. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Drejer, Ina; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Laterza, Vito & Sotarauta, Markku (Ed.), Higher Education and Regional Green Transitions: Navigating Tensions, Complexities and Solutions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003660996. p. 193–195. doi: 10.4324/9781003660996-16. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As the HEREGREEN project drew to a close in 2025, it did so at a moment when the policy environment that framed much of the project’s early work has shifted in ways few of us anticipated. The project unfolded through workshops held in Kristiansand (June 2023), Tampere (April 2024) and Linköping (March 2025). At the workshops in Kristiansand and Tampere, the sense of directional momentum in favour of green transitions—even if gradual, contested or uneven—seemed broadly stable. The political centre appeared to be holding: in the Nordics, in Brussels, and across much of Europe.

• Drejer, Ina; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Pinheiro, Romulo; Laterza, Vito & Sotarauta, Markku (2026). Green and Regional Transitions and Nordic Higher Education: Conceptual Foundations. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Drejer, Ina; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Laterza, Vito & Sotarauta, Markku (Ed.), Higher Education and Regional Green Transitions: Navigating Tensions, Complexities and Solutions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003660996. p. 16–30. doi: 10.4324/9781003660996-3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The concept of “green transition” has gained significant traction in recent years, particularly since 2020. However, the underlying focus on the need to address climate change can be dated back to international agreements made in the 1990s such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (United Nations, 1992) and the Kyoto Protocol (United Nations, 1997). In these early agreements, the main focus was on the development and diffusion of cleaner and more energy efficient technologies as well as setting quantitative targets for emissions reductions. The Kyoto Protocol also emphasised the need for reducing market imperfections and counterproductive incentive structures.

• Pinheiro, Romulo; Laterza, Vito; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Drejer, Ina & Sotarauta, Markku (2026). Universities and Regional Green Transitions in the Nordics. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Drejer, Ina; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Laterza, Vito & Sotarauta, Markku (Ed.), Higher Education and Regional Green Transitions: Navigating Tensions, Complexities and Solutions. Routledge. ISSN 9781003660996. p. 3–15. doi: 10.4324/9781003660996-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This introductory chapter by the editors provides the backdrop for the three-year research project that has led to the content being presented throughout the volume. At the onset, the research team have identified three understudied key themes and their related challenges and opportunities. The identified themes, discussed in same detail here, included (i) exploring tensions and synergies between regionalisation and internationalisation; (ii) harnessing complexity and fostering place-based leadership, and (iii) positioning the social sciences in a STEM-dominated landscape. These themes have served as guideposts for the project workshops and its key deliverables, even if the final chapters presented here may be centred on other aspects related to the broader topic of higher education institutions’ roles in regional green transitions. The chapter concludes with an overview of the individual case contributions that are at the heart of this edited volume.

• Asante, Michael Oduro; Pinheiro, Romulo; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina & Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard (2026). Hybrid Roles in the Making: Analysing the Effects of Digitalisation on Academic Roles and Relations in Nordic Higher Education. In Pekkola, Elias; Andrade, Luiz Alonso de; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina & Lundborg, Stefan (Ed.), Hybridity Through Transitions: Crisis and Resilience in Nordic Universities. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004745186. p. 172–190. doi: 10.1163/9789004745186_009. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The escalating use of digital technologies in higher education – prior to, during and following the COVID-19 global health pandemic – has contributed to the emergence of a hybrid environment, which seem to be affecting academic roles. This chapter investigates how Nordic universities’ digitalisation processes affect traditional teaching roles and academic relationships by incorporating or blending with other non-academic roles. The findings confirm the proposition that academic roles are indeed evolving in complex ways, in the context of tripartite relations amongst university (teachers, students and support staff) and external actors. These findings have relevancy to both practitioners and researchers interested in the changing nature of the academic profession as well as universities as hybrids organizations operating in dynamic hybridized environments.

• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina; Asante, Michael Oduro & Pinheiro, Romulo (2026). Coping with Hybridity in Higher Education: The Impact of Digitalization on Teaching Practices. In Pekkola, Elias; Andrade, Luiz Alonso de; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina & Lundborg, Stefan (Ed.), Hybridity Through Transitions: Crisis and Resilience in Nordic Universities. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004745186. p. 147–171. doi: 10.1163/9789004745186_008. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Digitalization is significantly intensifying hybridity in higher education (HE) by introducing new modes of collaboration, communication, and knowledge dissemination within academic environments. Digitalization also influences pedagogical approaches and instructional methodologies. Given this backdrop, this chapter asks: How does digitalization amplify hybridization of academic teaching practices? Focusing on Norwegian HE and using two universities as illustrative cases, we draw on theories of practice and an analytical framework with three perspectives, namely, tools and platforms, literacy and skills, and mindsets towards digital technologies and teaching. Our findings reveal that the adoption of digital platforms, evolving skills and requirements, and the rise of new professional groups, such as ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) experts and institution-wide pedagogical units, are fundamentally reshaping the landscape of academic work, particularly in terms of teaching and professional identities. This shift is driving the emergence of new, digitally mediated practices, contributing to processes of de- and re-institutionalization. These changes are likely to have significant structural effects on HE in the mid- to long-term.

• Vakkuri, Jarmo; Johanson, Jan Erik; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Erkkilä, Tero (2026). Debate: Navigating the hybrid realms—toward a new architecture of public policy. Public Money & Management. ISSN 0954-0962. 46(1), p. 13–14. doi: 10.1080/09540962.2025.2550636. Full text in Research Archive
• Pausits, Attila; Agasisti, Tommaso; Asante, Michael Oduro; Carvalho, Teresa; Kálmán, Orsolya & Kováts, Gergely [Show all 12 contributors for this article] (2025). Reconfiguring Higher Education in Europe: Governance,Values, and Strategic Initiatives - A Selection of RecentChanges and Key Themes in European Higher Education. Journal of Research and Innovation in Higher Education,. 6(1), p. 71–118. doi: https:/rihe-journal.com/index.php/rihe/article/view/61. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This special collection examines recent developments and reform trajectories shaping higher education in Europe within the evolving framework of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). It explores how new governance arrangements, strategic initiatives such as the European University Alliances, and emerging priorities—including sustainability, the green and digital transitions, and the implementation of micro-credentials—are redefining higher education policy and practice across Europe. The collection also addresses key themes such as re-internationalisation, academic freedom, and the reaffirmation of core values and principles that underpin the EHEA. Overall, the collection provides an integrative overview of current trends, challenges, and strategic directions in European higher education, offering insights into the evolving landscape of governance, collaboration, and institutional change within and beyond the EHEA.

• Cai, Yuzhuo; Pinheiro, Romulo; Cristofoletti, Evandro Coggo & Yang, Po (2025). Entrepreneurialism Meets Sustainability: Exploring Tensions in the Transition to Sustainable Entrepreneurial Universities. Minerva. ISSN 0026-4695. doi: 10.1007/s11024-025-09597-9. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite widespread reports indicating that universities adopting an entrepreneurial model face escalating and diversified tensions in contemporary society, especially concerning sustainable development, limited attention has been given to how different higher education contexts influence these tensions. This paper addresses this research gap through a conceptual analysis and empirical examination of how a university’s profile, shaped by internal and external factors, affects the tensions encountered in pursuing sustainability objectives. Drawing from a conceptual framework developed primarily within Western contexts, we empirically investigate two distinct cases from Brazil and China. Our findings validate the framework and reveal that a university’s type—classic or regionally embedded—significantly influences the nature of these tensions. Classic universities predominantly experience tensions related to internal dynamics, such as institutional norms and values, while regionally embedded universities face external pressures from markets and stakeholders. A particularly noteworthy insight is that a strong institutional commitment to sustainability can alleviate specific tensions, such as conflicts between local and global priorities, and between social and economic objectives. Finally, the paper provides actionable insights for policymakers and university administrators, recommending strategies to support universities in their transition towards becoming sustainable entrepreneurial institutions.

• Stenvall, Jari; Pinheiro, Romulo; Johanson, Jan-Erik; Pekkola, Elias; Trondal, Jarle & Rannisto, Pasi-Heikki (2025). Governing uncertainty by anticipating risk: assessing crisis management during COVID-19. In Pekkola, Elias; Johanson, Jan-Erik; Mikkonen, Marjukka; Stenvall, Jari & Siirtola, Emmi (Ed.), Future Public Governance and Global Crises: Nordic Perspectives. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035318667. p. 137–156. doi: 10.4337/9781035318674.00019. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter takes stock of anticipatory practices in the context of governmental responses to unanticipated crisis situations, using the COVID-19 pandemic as a case study. It pays particular attention to the role of public decision-making within the context of anticipatory governance. Practices are connected to policy instruments and ultimately to an understanding of the role of the state as well as to fundamental assumptions about how state agencies (at multiple levels) ought to respond to emerging crises. Empirically, we base our analysis on 42 semi-structured interviews with key actors in the Finnish central administration working with government responses to COVID-19. The results show the centrality of bounded rationality in handling risks in data management, problem-solving, and decision-making. The findings offer key insights into the causes, processes, and consequences of crisis management within government in the context of complex and evolving governance systems during periods of turbulence.

• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Climate Change, Higher Education and the Wicked Problem of Time. In Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Higher Education Policy for Tackling Climate Change: Drivers, Dynamics, and Effects. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031784798. p. 1–32. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira; Erkkilä, Tero; Johanson, Jan Erik & Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (2025). Governance modes of hybridity–reflections on an evolving field. In Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (Eds.), Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035311620. p. 313–327. Full text in Research Archive
• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Universities and Climate Change: One Step Back and Two Steps Forward? In Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Higher Education Policy for Tackling Climate Change: Drivers, Dynamics, and Effects. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031784798. p. 265–280. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-78479-8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this edited volume, authors from a wide variety of countries and world regions undertook a systematic investigation of national higher education (HE) policies and institutional responses with respect to HE and Climate Change (CC) mitigation. The volume featured a total of nine country cases: Brazil, China, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Ireland, Poland, Switzerland, and the UK. The country studies focused especially on the nexus between national HE policy and the responses and activities of HE institutions and their internal actors, sometimes in the absence of such policy framework. The rich empirical country cases provide a partial understanding, but they nonetheless reveal important aspects of the realities underpinning the national/local/global social systems in which CC mitigation occurs, both in rhetoric (symbolic and discursive) and practical (legislative, financial, and strategic) terms. In this final chapter we present some of the key insights emanating from the cases and reflect on the implications for policy and research going forward.

• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Individual leadership in higher education: Partial solutions, unintended consequences, and the search for an alternative. In Rao, Madasu; Singh, Abhilash & Rao, Pulaparthi (Ed.), Worldviews and Values in Higher Education: Institutional Governance, Leadership, and Capacity Building. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781835496350. p. 127–149. doi: 10.1108/978-1-83549-634-320251009. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter describes current trends in academic leadership in the Nordic context, also prevalent in other Western societies. There has been a gradual but steady move toward more top-down leadership approaches resulting in the erosion of collegiality and decentralized decision-making. This is a paradox given the increasing complex and volatile environment under which higher education institutions operate, where more rather than less decentralization is thought to be beneficial in fostering responsiveness and agility. By drawing upon developments in Nordic higher education, this chapter sheds light on the consequences associated with the widespread and uncritical adoption of individual leadership approaches and provides conceptual insights and empirical evidence toward embracing more systemic and organic approaches centered on resilient or adaptive leadership postures and structures.

• Johanson, Jan Erik; Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Erkkilä, Tero (2025). Theory Section II: organisations and values. In Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (Eds.), Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035311620. p. 40–57. doi: 10.4337/9781035311637.00013. Full text in Research Archive
• Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo; Johanson, Jan-Erik; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Erkkilä, Tero (2025). Public Policies for Hybrid Governance–introduction. In Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (Eds.), Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035311620. p. 2–18. Full text in Research Archive
• Kekäle, Jouni; Cristofoletti, Evandro C & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Climate Change Policy for Higher Education? Investigating the Cases of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. In Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Higher Education Policy for Tackling Climate Change: Drivers, Dynamics, and Effects. Springer Nature. ISSN 9783031784798. p. 33–62. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-78479-8_2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter illustrates two contrasting national policy approaches to deal with the role of science and higher education in climate change (CC) mitigation in Europe by the end of the year 2023. Using two distinct national case studies CoARA (Coalition for Advancing Research Assessment) and the REF (Research Excellence Framework) as illustrations we have located different drivers, origins, and backgrounds of higher education (HE) policy and steering, and different modes of the ‘social pact’ between HE and society in relation to CC. Whereas in the Dutch case higher education institutions are expected, and largely subscribe, to a more central role in CC mitigation, in the UK this occurs in a more indirect and less substantive manner by resorting to intermediary bodies and a marginal level of institutional commitment. The chapter highlights some implications for both policy and future research.

• Johanson, Jan-Erik; Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Erkkilä, Tero (2025). Theory Section I: systems and principles. In Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (Eds.), Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035311620. p. 19–39. doi: 10.4337/9781035311637.00012. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Gänzle, Stefan (2025). Polycentric governance and hybridisation in higher education: the European Union's expanding role in an emergent policy field. In Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo (Eds.), Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781035311620. p. 230–251. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Gänzle, Stefan & Claussen, Christel (2025). Hybrid Decision Structures in Transnational Alliances of Higher Education. Higher Education Forum. ISSN 2432-9614. 22, p. 17–41. doi: 10.15027/0002040519. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Since 2019, the European Union has encouraged the establishment of ‘new’ university alliances, that is transnational strategic groupings involving more than three hundred higher education institutions in the European Union and associated partner countries. This paper treats the European Universities Initiative (EUI) as an instance of a meta-organization and investigates how decision-making processes have unfolded thus far reflecting four ‘classic’ decision-making models (i.e., the rational actor model, the collegial model, the political model and the garbage can model). More specifically, the study investigates two main stages in the alliances—the initiation stage and the consolidation stage—in more depth. The paper benefits from several (internal) documents and semi-structured interviews conducted with key staff from the selected alliances, the Circle U. and FORTHEM European alliances. The findings ultimately demonstrate the prevalence of key features associated with three of the four decision models, all except for garbage can, eventually resulting in hybrid decision dynamics. The data clearly show that most decisions are made by consensus, and that resource dependency, soft power, trust, and tensions underpin these decision-making processes. The paper provides insights on the mechanism underpinning alliance-level value frameworks, focusing on how different logics and values are blended, negotiated, and/or legitimized.

• Gänzle, Stefan & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). From the “European university” to the Europeanisation of universities in Europe: E pluribus multum? In Frame, Alexander & Curylo, Barbara (Ed.), The European Universities Initiative and the ‘Euro-internationalisation’ of European Higher Education. Routledge. ISSN 9781003490654. p. 85–101. doi: 10.4324/9781003490654-7. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter seeks to disclose and critically discuss the multifaceted origins of the French President Emmanuel Macron’s European Universities Initiative (EUI) launched in 2017. It argues that the initiative can be grasped in a threefold way, namely, as (i) a recombination of the “Bologna process,” focused on quality and convergence of structures in higher education, and the “Lisbon Strategy,” centred on research excellence and global competitiveness; (ii) a decade-old ambition to create - if not “a European university” - a set of leading comprehensive European Universities capable of competing on a global level with their counterparts from the US ivy league and the likes; and (iii) an extension of the need for further modernisation of the European university landscape, taking into account the need both to engage broadly with a multiplicity of stakeholder groups and to address pending complex societal problems and challenges, such as climate change. In terms of the system of governance put forth by the EUI, the chapter concludes that it can be best conceived of as an “evolutionary and experimental network of university networks” with significant potential for transforming the landscape of European Universities.

• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Strategic Institutional Leadership for Tackling Climate Change. In Nooij, Jessica; Broucker, Bruno; Gannon, Anne; O'Hara, Mark; Preymann, Silke & Santucci, Anna (Ed.), Transcending Boundaries. For a Sustainable Future of Higher Education. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004740990. p. 14–33. doi: https:/brill.com/display/title/72952?srsltid=AfmBOooJb7U-4y5NmSA43rhJybZoJu8qB9lUsBhQU-TPgB0uzvLttAzb. Full text in Research Archive
• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira (2024). Complexity, Resilience, and Human Resource Management: Illustration from Nordic Higher Education. Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. 14(4), p. 49–69. doi: 10.18291/njwls.146803. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  We explore increasing complexity, resilience (how a system adapts and responds to increasing complexity and radical change), and potential human resource management (HRM) responses to change in higher education at a Nordic institution. HRM is seen as a shared function. As an empirical illustration, we interviewed nine leading academics in dominant and leading administrative positions in one Nordic university. Responses to a major change (CoARA) were discussed. We analyze the possible HRM responses in the context of major but fuzzy changes: How do leading academics forming the HRM policy perceive expectations of role change and how do the respon- dents demonstrate resilience when interpreting the early signs of a major change? The overall initial reactions to the change (CoARA) were hesitant. We propose the concept of emergent resilience and a model to describe its dynamics. Potential implications for HRM in the face of complexity and change are discussed.

• Cristofoletti, Evandro C & Pinheiro, Romulo (2024). Following the Science? Scientific Knowledge Use in Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Policymaking, Entrepreneurial Ecosystems: Drivers, Challenges and Success of Territories. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9783111100630. p. 7–24. doi: 10.1515/9783111101385-002. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The academic community is often considered a relevant actor in variouspolicymaking arenas. The literature on the use and impact of research in policymak-ing has pointed to several ways that knowledge can flow between the academic worldto policy (and vice-versa), even though gaps in understanding this relationship existfor this in certain areas, as is the case with Entrepreneurship Ecosystem policies. Inthis sense, this study aims to identify and analyze how research and scientific knowl-edge have been used by policy actors in policy documents and policymaking processesrelated to entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) in the European Union. The study focuseson the role of the Joint Research Centre (JRC), a cluster of 10 scientific areas that formthe EU Science Hub. We used an altimetry tool (Overton) to identify the use of re-search in policy documents. The results indicate the prevalence of apoliticalapproachunderpinned by strategic use of knowledge and expertise as well as strong expert con-centration and convergence effects. We discuss these results in terms of their implica-tions for EEs policy and research and identify avenues for future research.

• Alajoutsijärvi, Jouni Kimmo; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina & Pinheiro, Romulo (2024). Ideologies shaping university competition. Studies in Higher Education. ISSN 0307-5079. 49(10). doi: 10.1080/03075079.2024.2397048. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This conceptual study explores the dominant ideologies influencing the economic governance of higher education (HE) and shaping competition within the sector and among universities. It delineates and contrasts four key ideological positions – neoliberalism, managerialism, shareholderism, and stakeholderism – and outlines four corresponding types of university competition: signaling, intraorganizational, interorganizational, and priority competition. The paper contributes to the discourse on university competition as a macro trend in HE by examining its ideological underpinnings. Notably, it observes that real-life outcomes often diverge from the idealized visions these ideologies promote. The study concludes by illustrating how these four types of competition coexist in HE and discussing how shifts in coordination or decision-making mechanisms can influence which ideology gains prominence in shaping competition.

• Asante, Michael Oduro; Liyanapathiranage, Sudeepika Wajirakumari Samarat & Pinheiro, Romulo (2023). Public Service Resilience in a Post-COVID-19 World: Digital Transformation in Nordic Higher Education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Balbachevsky, Elizabeth; Pillay, Pundy & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (Ed.), The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education: Old Patterns, New Dynamics, and Changing Rules?. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031263927. p. 245–267. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-26393-4_10. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter draws on seminal contributions from the crisis management and resilience literature to develop and test a new framework for organisational resilience in higher education in the context of digital transformation. The study unpacks developments before and during the COVID-19 crisis and sheds light on crucial endogenous and exogenous factors likely to determine resilience outcomes. It does so by developing and testing a novel analytical framework centred on resilient antecedents, processes and outcomes. The empirical findings suggest that, in the Nordic countries, higher education institutions denote a high ability to adapt to new situations whilst retaining both function and identity, that is, they are resilient. We identify and unpack a number of key resilient drivers and reflect on the implications for research and practice going forward.

• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Pinheiro, Romulo; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (2023). Possible Scenarios for the Future of Digital Transformations in Higher Education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (Ed.), Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031277580. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (2023). Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education: A Step Towards Unpacking a Multifaceted and Emergent Phenomenon. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (Ed.), Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031277580. p. 3–25. Full text in Research Archive
• Cristofoletti, Evandro C & Pinheiro, Romulo (2023). Greening the University?: Assessing the Impact of Sustainability and SDGs in Universities’ Values and Strategies. In Filho, Walter Leal; Frankenberger, Fernanda & Tortato, Ubirata (Ed.), Sustainability in Practice: Addressing Challenges and Creating Opportunities in Latin America. Springer. ISSN 9783031344350. p. 111–126. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-34436-7_8. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Balbachevsky, Elisabeth; Pillay, Pundy & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (2023). Assessing the Impact of COVID-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Balbachevsky, Elizabeth; Pillay, Pundy & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (Ed.), The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education: Old Patterns, New Dynamics, and Changing Rules?. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031263927. p. 3–36. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-26393-4_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  COVID-19 has provided a historical opportunity to test the resilient nature of higher education (HE) systems and institutions (HEIs) around the world. This at a time when the sector experiences profound structural changes, resulting from major societal transformations such as urbanization, digitalization, de-globalization, political polarization and democratic decline; growing social and economic inequality; demographic decline and, chief amongst all the ‘grand challenges’, climate change and the quest for a more sustainable, equitable and inclusive world economy and society. This chapter provides a conceptual and empirical backdrop for mapping out the types of responses around the globe to the challenges and strategic opportunities brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, so as to help unpack the effects such responses are likely to have on the institutional fabric of HE. In so doing, it is critical to understand how local actors/stakeholders at different levels of analysis (from policy makers to university managers to academics) make sense of (or enact upon) the changing external environment.

• Pillay, Pundy; Balbachevsky, Elisabeth; Pinheiro, Romulo & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (2023). COVID-19 and the institutional fabric of higher education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Balbachevsky, Elizabeth; Pillay, Pundy & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (Ed.), The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education: Old Patterns, New Dynamics, and Changing Rules?. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031263927. p. 413–422. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-26393-4_17. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This edited book comprises a number of chapters analysing the impact of COVID-19 in countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia-Pacific. The theme of the book relates to an analysis of the interplay between ‘macro’, ‘meso’ and ‘micro’ elements or factors underpinning higher education (HE) systems and their respective institutions (HEIs); and how they, either on their own or in cooperation with each other, addressed the challenges posed by COVID-19 beginning in March 2020. The rich empirical chapters demonstrate vividly how HEIs and, in many cases, policymakers responded to the various threats as well as opportunities posed by the pandemic. Four key features or mechanisms stand out unambiguously in the manner in which countries and their respective HE systems responded to the crisis, namely, rationality, cooperation, resilience and innovation These insights suggest that, as alluded to in earlier studies, autonomy or self-organisation combined with pluralistic forms (internal diversity) of addressing novelty helps overcome the inherent challenges posed by ‘bounded rationality’ whilst facing novel and adverse situations.

• Young, Mitchell; Pinheiro, Romulo & Avramovic, Aleksandar (2023). Unpacking resilience in higher education: investigating twenty-first-century shifts in universities’ academic cores. Higher Education. ISSN 0018-1560. 87. doi: 10.1007/s10734-023-01003-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  The political, social, and institutional environments in which contemporary universities operate have changed rather dramatically over the past two decades in ways that threaten the resilience of the academic core, both in its ability to map knowledge comprehensively and also to maintain a balance between the branches of the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. This paper traces historical changes (2003–2019) in the academic core of two “flagship” research-intensive universities located in Northern Europe. The results show that some branches of the academic core are undergoing dynamic processes of program churn that make them resilient. Furthermore, the data show that this resilience is enabled in large part by bridging different branches of knowledge by establishing what we term interbranch programs. In addition to the abovementioned findings, the paper links ongoing discussions regarding change in HE systems and institutions to the literature on organizational resilience, and it advances insights for a possible future theory of how adaptation plays out in the academic core over time.

• Pinheiro, Romulo; Gänzle, Stefan; Klenk, Tanja & Trondal, Jarle (2023). Unpacking strategic alliances in European higher education. Tertiary Education and Management. ISSN 1358-3883. 29(3), p. 213–228. doi: 10.1007/s11233-024-09133-6. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As the world becomes more complex and interconnected, organizations embedded in dynamic, competitive, and highly institutionalized fields devise mechanisms to reduce uncertainty and enhance competitiveness by joining forces with other players, thereby increasing both their salience, legitimacy and resilience. One such mechanism pertains to strategic alliances (SAs), broadly defined as inter-organisational, long-term cooperative arrangements aimed at achieving a desired future state that is beneficial for all partners involved (Elmuti et al., 2005) and/or encompassing tactical activities for safeguarding gains that have already been realized (Newman & Chaharbaghi, 1996). The topic has, for some time, been widely covered in the strategic management literature, largely in the context of efforts to sustain competitive market advantages (Porter, 1989). SAs provide a multiplicity of benefits to organisations. These include but are not limited to; gaining access to new markets, exchange of knowledge and technologies, sharing the risk of financial investments, pool and combine resources, provide new venues for learning, support institutional legitimacy, and defending the interests of incumbent players (Angwin & Sammut-Bonnici, 2014; Mamédio et al., 2019). Despite these advantages, the literature suggests that SAs are less appealing to organisations possessing proprietary technologies, enjoying strategic cost advantages as well as those with a dominant field position in terms of market share (Angwin & Sammut-Bonnici, 2014). Hence, SAs “can serve as a type of strategic choice or alternative that can enable companies [and other types of organisations] to cope with unstable, global and competitive environments permeated by new threats and opportunities” (Mamédio et al., 2019, p. 83). This extended editorial first offers a review of the rise of SAs within management and organizational studies, followed by a review of literature of these alliances in the public sector and in higher education (HE). The final part of the paper outlines this special issue in brief by reviewing the contours of each contribution.

• Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Laterza, Vito & Asante, Michael Oduro (2023). Digital transformations in higher education before and following COVID-19: a Scandinavian tale, Research Handbook on the Transformation of Higher Education. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781800378209. p. 366–381. doi: 10.4337/9781800378216.00034. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Throughout Europe, governments have undertaken a series of policy initiatives to foster digitalization across the public sector. A key sector of society and the economy, higher education has also been the target of these trends, particularly since the outbreak of COVID-19. This chapter takes stock of ongoing developments in the Scandinavian context, using cases from Norway and Sweden. Conceptually, we focus on how agents within universities schematize, contextualize, and hypothesize social experiences in the context of past trajectories, ongoing dynamics, and future hopes and fears. The findings show that COVID-19 has had a significant, albeit diverse, effect on the digital transformation of Scandinavian universities. These findings provide important insights into the transformative effects that external shocks or crises have on change and adaptation across higher education as an organizational field.

• Laterza, Vito; Asante, Michael Oduro; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard & Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira (2023). Implementing Digital Transformations in Higher Education Following COVID-19: A Norwegian Case Study. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (Ed.), Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783031277580. p. 243–266. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-27758-0_11. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Drawing on the theory and conceptualizations of organizational readiness for change and taking a more critical approach to organizational readiness that takes seriously actors’ different and sometimes conflicting understandings of change and digital transformation processes, this chapter explores the implementation of digital tools and systems in Norwegian higher education (HE) prior to and following the outbreak of the COVID-19 global health pandemic. The analysis focuses on the challenges and bottlenecks associated with digital implementation in a complex environment by focusing on contextual and situational factors. The chapter investigates ongoing developments in Norwegian HE in the context of dynamics across the Nordic region, illuminating the micro-level practices, experiences, and responses to digital transformation of university actors at multiple levels in a Norwegian university selected as the main case study.

• Pinheiro, Romulo & Pulkkinen, Kirsi (2023). Collaborating for Competition? Unpacking Ambiguities and Paradoxes Across the Academic Profession. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (SPJA). ISSN 2001-7405. 27(1), p. 53–73. doi: 10.58235/sjpa.v27i1.11206. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper unpacks the complexities, ambiguities and paradoxes associated with the concepts of competition and collaboration, using the academic profession in the Nordic countries as an empirical case. We relied on paradox theory to reconceptualise the relationship between competition and cooperation. Our analysis focused on the ways in which university-based academics in the Nordic countries navigate the tensions and paradoxes associated with the interplay between competition and cooperation while shedding light on the nestedness among various levels of analysis. The findings not only show that the competition–cooperation interplay is strongly present throughout multiple contradictory tensions, but also that the tensions and paradoxes identified act as push factors in the further development of the academic profession and the HE systems in which these are embedded.

• Frigotto, Maria Laura; Young, Mitchell & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Resilience in Organizations and Societies: The State of the Art and Three Organizing Principles for Moving Forward. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Young, Mitchell (Ed.), Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030820718. p. 3–40. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-82072-5_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Resilience has attracted a multitude of scholars from diverse backgrounds and disciplines as it is a desired feature for responding to the adversities that modern societal systems face, not least the Covid-19 pandemic. Existing research displays little convergence on the definition of the concept making a robust theoretical framework and empirical understanding of resilience highly desirable. The aim of this chapter is to provide a more holistic understanding of the complex phenomenon of resilience from a multi-sectorial, cross-national and multidisciplinary perspective by proposing an original approach into the state of the art that might enhance future research. This chapter identifies three organizing principles for a framework of resilience. First, resilience embeds both stability and change which are both required elements. Second, adversities and their novelty profile can be mapped onto a typology of absorptive, adaptive and transformative resilience. Third, resilience has a temporal dimension that can be articulated in regard to forecasting, mechanisms and outcomes. The chapters of this edited book are positioned and connected by applying these three principles, in order to both enable theory testing and theory development throughout the volume and provide key empirical insights useful for societies, organizations and individuals.

• Abualrub, Iyad Nabeeh Abdelfattah & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Aligning University Roles and Strategic Orientations: When Local Mandates and Global Aspirations Meet. In Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (Ed.), Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISSN 9780367713072. p. 126–139. doi: 10.4324/9781003150299. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Recent policy developments in Norwegian higher education, aiming to nurture world-class environments, have focused on the need to strengthen teaching quality and research excellence. However, higher education institutions (HEIs) are increasingly under pressure to make local contributions (“impacts”), for example, in the form of job creation, technology transfers, local economic developments, and so on, which result in tensions and dilemmas at multiple levels, not least as regards strategic management. This chapter investigates how universities align education and research on the one hand and how they navigate the tensions between local demands and global aspirations on the other. Firstly, we identify such tensions and dilemmas, and secondly, we investigate how they are being handled with regard to strategic planning (including resource allocation) at both the central (university) and sub-unit (faculty) levels. The study adopts a qualitative case study research design and compares developments at two distinct HEIs located in Norway. The findings suggest that relevance and excellence are intertwined dimensions associated with the multiple pressures facing HEIs. These findings provide critical insights into how the strategies and daily practices of actors at different levels within universities address the demands posed by a dynamic and complex environment.

• Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina; Alajoutsijärvi, Jouni Kimmo; Hunnes, John Arngrim & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education: evidence from Finnish business schools. Tertiary Education and Management. ISSN 1358-3883. doi: 10.1007/s11233-022-09104-9. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper investigates the emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education (HE), specifically in business schools. First, building on key contributions from economics, management studies, sociology, and HE research, we develop propositions on competition in HE and formulate our theoretical framework. Second, we apply this framework to explore competition in Finnish business schools. We argue that business schools constitute an interesting field for studying competition in HE because they are the frontrunners and champions of competition-based views in HE. Our main contribution is a novel explanation of the preconditions, emergence, and early processes of institutionalization that drive HE institutions to compete and collectively produce the observed competitive transformation.

• Avramovic, Aleksandar; Pinheiro, Romulo & Asante, Michael Oduro (2022). To Be or Not to Be Responsible? Academic Research and Social Responsibility. Higher Education Forum. ISSN 2432-9614. 19, p. 131–153. doi: 10.15027/52119. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Publicly funded universities have been under increasing pressure to provide evidence regarding the economic value of their core activities, not least when it comes to the social benefits accrued from the research mission. This study offers a glimpse of Nordic perspectives on the social impact of research from the positions of policymakers, university leadership, and academics. From a macro perspective, the paper investigates to what extent Norwegian policy actors rely on the excellence/relevance discourse in their plans for the future development of higher education. At the meso level, the study explores how academic leaders make sense of internal and external pressures (drivers and strategic agendas) to produce and transfer knowledge that addresses social problems. Perry and May’s (2006) typology of the relevance–excellence interplay is used as a framework for interpreting the findings. The findings reveal a complex mix of logics underpinning hegemonic discourses, strategic actions, and postures. Excellence and relevance were found to be deeply embedded in the activities of sub-units, academic groups, and individual academics.

• Karlsen, James Tommy & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Emergent Strategies and Tensions between Decoupled University Structures and Management Initiatives. In Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (Ed.), Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISSN 9780367713072. p. 140–155. doi: 10.4324/9781003150299. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter investigates the ways in which a Norwegian university located in a region facing a series of socio-economic challenges devised and implemented a new strategy. More specifically, we examine the dilemmas and tensions faced by university actors in articulating a shared strategic platform bridging internal (university) aspirations with external (regional actors and ministry) demands and expectations. The chapter adopts a historical institutionalist perspective using institutional logics as the conceptual lens against which the case data are interpreted. The findings provide fresh evidence of the complexity associated with strategic processes within highly institutionalized organizations like universities. Strategic orientations were found to adopt emergent rather than deliberative patterns. Challenges associated with the institutionalization of the co-creation of knowledge vision at the University of Agder resulted from the clashes between the different logics and behavioural postures associated with the main actors involved in the strategy process.

• Keast, Robyn; Flynn, Christine; Noble, David; Trondal, Jarle & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Towards a research and policy agenda for governing complexity. In Trondal, Jarle; Keast, Robyn; Noble, David & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Governing Complexity in Times of Turbulence. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781800889644. p. 261–277. doi: 10.4337/9781800889651.00027. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This volume set out to examine public governance under growing complexity and turbulence, and the increased need for change and adaptability to emerging circumstances such as outlined above. This concluding chapter summarizes and considers the four themes of design, agency, power, and resilience that organizes the volume. This chapter also combine research findings with insights from a practitioner webinar that was organized by the editors. Looking forward, the chapter closes with discussing next practice approaches, that are future oriented, emergent and based on experimentation, discovery, multi-level networks and co-creation are called for. It is argued that such models better cope with continuous disruptions and opportunities.

• Trondal, Jarle; Pinheiro, Romulo; Keast, Robyn & Noble, David (2022). Governing complexity in times of turbulence. In Trondal, Jarle; Keast, Robyn; Noble, David & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Governing Complexity in Times of Turbulence. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781800889644. p. 2–12. doi: 10.4337/9781800889651.00010. Full text in Research Archive
• Trondal, Jarle; Pinheiro, Romulo; Keast, Robyn & Noble, David (2022). Complexity, resilience and public governance in times of turbulence. In Trondal, Jarle; Keast, Robyn; Noble, David & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Governing Complexity in Times of Turbulence. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781800889644. p. 13–31. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter outlines the analytical elements that organizes the volume. This chapter aims to understand how public organizations facing turbulence and complexity solve public problems in the short term whilst fostering the institutionalization of problem-solving in the long run through a variety of institutional arrangements. One potential organizational choice includes the reliance on pre-existing organizational designs. However, if such structures are either absent or deemed poor, an alternative is to design new platforms for collaborative governance that are distinguished from existing governmental structures by emphasizing the inclusion of various actors across the public and private sectors as well as civil society. This chapter introduces a set of theoretical ideas that guides the volume. In short, the chapter outlines the concept of complexity and the governing of complexity in contemporary societies. The subsequent section presents turbulence and outline varieties of turbulence and consequences for public governance. The final section discusses how public organizations may embrace turbulence by fostering resilience.

• Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Avramovic, Aleksandar; Geschwind, Lars; Pekkola, Elias & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). At the Top of the Pyramid, Everyone is Above Average: Self-efficacy and perceived performance of academics in the Nordic countries. Higher Education Forum. ISSN 2432-9614. 19, p. 175–195. doi: 10.15027/52121. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Managerialism in higher education has gained prominence in recent decades. One of the crucial elements of this approach is the steering of the higher education sector, including the introduction of multiple forms of evaluation of academic work. Little is known about how academics evaluate themselves in comparison to their colleagues. Therefore, the focus of this paper is on how academics evaluate their own performance in teaching and research. The article uses survey data (2014–2015) from Norway, Finland and Sweden. Professors’ and associate professors’ answers were considered. Our research relies on social-cognitive theory to develop a set of hypothesis. The empirical findings show that academics are likely to perceive their own and their unit’s research performance as higher when compared to that of their peers and similar units. Associate professors consider themselves to be more performative in teaching, whilst professors highlight their research performance. Finally, the gender differences were found to be minimal.

• Pekkola, Elias; Pinheiro, Romulo; Geschwind, Lars; Siekkinen, Taru; Pulkkinen, Kirsi & Carvalho, Teresa (2022). Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education. International Journal of Public Administration. ISSN 0190-0692. 45(2), p. 171–184. doi: 10.1080/01900692.2021.2012190. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional work and public organizations define hybridity as a multidimensional concept that occurs at different levels of social practices. While the multifaceted nature of hybridity is clear, demarcating between levels of hybridity and theoretical approaches remains complex. Based on our empirical findings, no clear top-down or bottom-up causality chains are identified. We question whether hybridity is nested as the levels of hybridity are intervened and connected, but not all levels have implications for all other levels.

• Klenk, Tanja; Antonowicz, Dominik; Geschwind, Lars; Pinheiro, Romulo & Pokorska, Anna (2022). Taking women on boards: a comparative analysis of public policies in higher education. Policy Reviews in Higher Education. ISSN 2332-2969. 6(2), p. 128–152. doi: 10.1080/23322969.2022.2066014. Full text in Research Archive
• Young, Mitchell & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). The Post-entrepreneurial University: The Case for Resilience in Higher Education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Young, Mitchell (Ed.), Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030820718. p. 173–193. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-82072-5_7. Full text in Research Archive
• Bordin, Elisa & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). The race to institutional change: the slow road to policy change in sexuality education. In Trondal, Jarle; Keast, Robyn; Noble, David & Pinheiro, Romulo (Ed.), Governing Complexity in Times of Turbulence. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISSN 9781800889644. p. 146–168. Full text in Research Archive
• Young, Mitchell; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Towards Resilient Organisations and Societies? Reflections on the Multifaceted Nature of Resilience. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Young, Mitchell (Ed.), Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030820718. p. 307–331. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-82072-5_12. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As the chapters in this volume have shown, resilience is a multifaceted and malleable concept that can be fruitfully applied to a wide range of phenomena at all levels of society. At the same time, there is a distinct danger of concept stretching. In this concluding chapter, we look at both the extensiveness of the concept, reviewing the range of complementary concepts that have been engaged by the authors, and how it can be delimited to maintain conceptual distinctiveness and explanatory value. What is more, we provide some recommendations on how scholars working across disciplinary boundaries may go about unpacking resilience in and for organizations and societies.

• Geschwind, Lars; Pinheiro, Romulo & Stensaker, Bjørn (2022). Organizational Persistence in Highly Institutionalized Environments: Unpacking the Relation Between Identity and Resilience. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Young, Mitchell (Ed.), Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030820718. p. 195–221. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-82072-5_8. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Despite growing academic interest in understanding the conditions under which resilient organizations adapt to challenging circumstances, little attention to date has been paid to the role played by ‘soft’ factors such as identity as an enabler or property of resilient behaviour. In this chapter, we propose that different forms of legitimacy contribute to the framing of acceptable identities affecting the endurance of central elements over time, thus shaping resilience. By splitting up forms of legitimacy and by analysing elements of organizational identity separately, we provide a novel framework that enables a deeper understanding of identity formation processes in complex environments on the one hand and their links with resilience on the other. Through a historically based analysis of a Nordic university over a 40-year period, we demonstrate the complex, dynamic relationship between external legitimacy, identity adaptation and resilience in the context of organizational transformation. By establishing a link between identity, legitimacy and resilience, the study provides critical insights into the conditions affecting organizational persistence within highly institutionalized organizational fields, such as higher education.

• Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Thomas, Elisa; Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (2022). Universities and regions : New insights and emerging developments. In Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (Ed.), Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISSN 9780367713072. p. 203–219. doi: 10.4324/9781003150299-14. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this concluding chapter, the editors take stock of the empirical findings across the cases and levels of analysis and link the empirical evidence to the analytical framework presented in Chapter 2. In so doing, we revisit the interplay between macro, meso, and micro dimensions of the environments as well as the temporality in which higher education institutions (HEIs) operate, which, taken together, help shape the mundane (everyday) or routine behaviours of actors within HEIs. The editors conclude by suggesting that the empirical evidence and conceptual insights advanced in this volume represent a needed first step, yet more needs to be done (future studies) to further unpack how the dynamic process associated with the everyday university-region interplay plays out in practice, and how it can be successfully managed and sustained over time.

• Pinheiro, Romulo; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa & Benneworth, Paul (2022). Unpacking Mundaneness : A novel conceptual framework for universities and regional engagement. In Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (Ed.), Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISSN 9780367713072. p. 11–25. doi: 10.4324/9781003150299-2. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  In this chapter, we debate the current view on university-regional engagements and suggest a renewed theoretical framework based on four main elements – macro, meso, micro dimensions, as well as a meta-dimension of temporality that cuts across all levels. The macro environment is typically defined as pertaining to public policies, culture, laws, and economy, while the meso environment includes links between the macro (societal) forces and the micro (agents) level through intermediate institutions and structures and is characterized by the processes and mechanisms of interaction of different actors. The micro level is about agency – organizations or individuals/groups within organizations – and agents’ intentions and behaviours. Finally, the interactions between actors and their macro and meso environments occur throughout a timeline and are subject to temporality and “loop” effects.

• Thomas, Elisa; Benneworth, Paul; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Universities' mundaneness and regional engagement : Setting the stage. In Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (Ed.), Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISSN 9780367713072. p. 1–10. doi: 10.4324/9781003150299-1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter introduces the main logic of this volume, which starts from the grassroots level of universities’ “everyday” engagements, looking at the manifold ways in which university knowledge agents build connections with multiple regional partners across the public and private sectors, and civic society more generally. Roles, functions and normative orientations of universities in the context of their surrounding regions have, in many cases, been taken for granted and, thus, have not been systematically addressed and/or still lack theorizing, due to the focus being on extraordinary, large-scale and eye-catching activities, and financially impressive transactions such as patents and spin-offs, embedded in “happy family stories” of ambitious regional development projects and coalitions.

• Cristofoletti, Evandro C & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Taking stock: The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on University–Community engagement. Industry & higher education. ISSN 0950-4222. doi: 10.1177/09504222221119927. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This article examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on university–community engagement (UCE) as an academic mission. The aim of the work is to outline the ways in which UCE has been functioning since the turbulent onset of the pandemic in the spring of 2020. The study undertakes a systematic review of the UCE literature to identify major trends, raising important questions regarding ongoing scholarly discussions and managerial/policy debates on the subject. The results show seven distinct types of engagement responses by higher education institutions (HEIs) across the globe. In addition, the review identified that HEIs faced difficulties in either adapting existing engagement practices or while establishing new ones, especially regarding the efficient use of digital technologies. In terms of implications, the findings suggest that the pandemic has resulted in new debates about the societal role of HEIs, with medium- and long-term implications for policy and management.

• Pinheiro, Romulo & Abualrub, Iyad Nabeeh Abdelfattah (2021). When Excellence Meets Relevance: Challenges and Tensions Facing Higher Education Institutions. In Broucker, Bruno; Pritchard, Rosalind M.O.; Melin, Göran & Milsom, Clare (Ed.), Sustaining the Future of Higher Education. De Gruyter Brill. ISSN 9789004467798. p. 45–61. doi: 10.1163/9789004467804_004. Full text in Research Archive
• Trondal, Jarle & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). PUBLIC ORGANISATIONS AND THE STUDY OF CONTEMPORARY POLITICS. In Pinheiro, Romulo & Trondal, Jarle (Ed.), Organizing and Governing Governmental Institutions. Fagbokforlaget. ISSN 9788245035322. Full text in Research Archive
• Alajoutsijärvi, Jouni Kimmo; Alon, Ilan & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). The Marketisation of Higher Education: Antecedents, Processes, and Outcomes. In Branch, John D. & Christiansen, Bryan (Ed.), The Marketisation of Higher Education: Concepts, Cases, and Criticisms. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030674403. p. 17–45. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-67441-0_2. Full text in Research Archive
• Antonowicz, Dominik; Geschwind, Lars & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). The Footballisation of European Higher Education: Different fields, similar ball games? In Branch, John D. & Christiansen, Bryan (Ed.), The Marketisation of Higher Education: Concepts, Cases, and Criticisms. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030674403. p. 397–422. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-67441-0_17. Full text in Research Archive
• Ejaz, Mohammad & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). Innovation in Higher Education: From Contributor to Driver of Internet-Based Service Innovation. In Mention, Anne-Laure & Aas, Tor Helge (Ed.), Managing Open Service Innovation. World Scientific. ISSN 9789811234484. p. 93–115. doi: 10.1142/9789811234491_0005. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As largely publicly run and funded institutions, universities are being pressured by their host governments to do more with fewer resources, and thus are being urged to innovate. Given their public character, universities are expected to adopt processes and practices that are transparent and socially accountable, which makes the integration of (open) knowledge from external sources a strategic imperative. That being said, little is yet known about how higher education institutions globally are resorting to open innovation to address increasingly complex technical and institutional environments. This paper contributes the growing literature on open innovation within services and addresses the existing knowledge gap by analysing the development of a virtual mobility master’s program at a leading research-intensive university based in the Nordic countries.

• Avramovic, Aleksandar; Geschwind, Lars; Pekkola, Elias & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). Gender and the Marketisation of Higher Education: A Nordic Tale. In Branch, John D. & Christiansen, Bryan (Ed.), The Marketisation of Higher Education: Concepts, Cases, and Criticisms. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030674403. p. 267–292. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-67441-0_12. Full text in Research Archive
• Pekkola, Elias; Pinheiro, Romulo; Geschwind, Lars; siekkinen, taru; Carvalho, Teresa & Pulkkinen, Kirsi (2021). Nested hybridity and value definition in public higher education. In Vakkuri, Jarmo & Johanson, Jan-Erik (Ed.), Hybrid Governance, Organisations and Society: Value Creation Perspectives. Routledge. ISSN 9780367222116. p. 59–80. Full text in Research Archive
• Giske, Mathilde & Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). Resiliency. In Brinkmann, Robert (Eds.), The Palgrave Handbook of Global Sustainability. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030389482. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-38948-2. Full text in Research Archive
• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Laterza, Vito; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Avramovic, Aleksandar (2020). Is there a Scandinavian model for MOOCs? Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy. 15(4), p. 234–245. doi: 10.18261/issn.1891-943x-2020-04-02. Full text in Research Archive
• Laterza, Vito; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Guest Editorial: Digital transformations with “Nordic characteristics”? Latest trends in the digitalisation of teaching and learning in Nordic higher education. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy. 15(4), p. 225–233. doi: 10.18261/ISSN.1891-943X-2020-04-01. Full text in Research Archive
• Laterza, Vito; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard & Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira (2020). Digital transformations with “Nordic characteristics”? Latest trends in the digitalisation of teaching and learning in Nordic higher education. Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy. 15(4), p. 225–233. doi: 10.18261/issn.1891-943x-2020-04-01. Full text in Research Archive
• Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). The Access Dilemma Revisited: Exploring the (Missing) Links between Governmental Policy, University Strategies and Civil Society. In Sengupta, Enakshi; Blessinger, Patrick & Mahoney, Craig (Ed.), University-Community Partnerships for Promoting Social Responsibility in Higher Education Vol: 23. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. ISSN 9781839094392. p. 185–199. Full text in Research Archive
• Pietilä, Maria & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Reaching for different ends through tenure track — institutional logics in university career systems. Higher Education. ISSN 0018-1560. 81(6), p. 1197–1213. doi: 10.1007/s10734-020-00606-2. Full text in Research Archive
• Misra, Debananda & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Engaging with local communities : Five key lessons that businesses can learn from universities. Industry & higher education. ISSN 0950-4222. 35(3). doi: 10.1177/0950422220966964. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  As businesses are coming to terms with the challenges derived from the Covid-19 crisis, they are realizing the need to do more for and with their local communities than being co-located or having business relationships. Business leaders are learning that engaging with local communities can be helpful in steering their business through crises and helping to prepare for the future. The central idea of this article is that businesses can learn from universities about engaging with local communities. It outlines five key lessons, illustrating them with examples and relating them to key concepts and perspectives from the literature. The emphasis in these lessons is on their potential to make businesses self-reliant, socially responsible and resilient. As businesses look for lessons, frameworks and best practices for engaging with their communities during and after a significant crisis, these five lessons from universities can point them toward new directions that would be hard to find within the business community. The lessons can be used by business leaders to design initiatives and implement policies and practices for engaging with their local communities in ways that are mutually beneficial and promote long-term sustainability.

• Pinheiro, Romulo; Aarrevaara, Timo; Berg, Laila Nordstrand; Fumasoli, Tatiana; Geschwind, Lars & Hansen, Hanne Foss [Show all 14 contributors for this article] (2019). Nordic Higher Education in Flux: System Evolution and Reform Trajectories. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Geschwind, Lars; Hansen, Hanne Foss & Pulkkinen, Kirsi (Ed.), Reforms, Organizational Change and Performance in Higher Education. A comparative Account from the Nordic Countries. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030117375. p. 69–108. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-11738-2_3. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This chapter provides a brief description of how the four national systems included in this study—Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden—are currently organised and structured. In doing so, it illuminates several specific features such as the types and sizes of the institutions, enrolment patterns, performance measures, and funding. In addition, the chapter gives a snapshot of how higher education systems have evolved historically by shedding light on policy dynamics from the late 1990s to 2013, the baseline period for the FINNUT comparative study, the research project that provides the basis for this edited volume. This is followed by a section describing the aim, methods, theoretical framework, and conceptual and analytical backdrops underpinning the study. The chapter concludes with an overview of the volume’s structure and key insights from the individual contributions.

• Normann, Roger & Pinheiro, Romulo (2019). Den tredje rollen: Fra distriktshøgskole til universitet. In Knudsen, Jon Paschen & Lauvdal, Torunn (Ed.), Geografi, kunnskap, vitenskap: Den regionale UH-sektorens framvekst og betydning. Cappelen Damm Akademisk. ISSN 9788202632571. p. 155–175. doi: 10.23865/noasp.73.ch6. Full text in Research Archive
• Pulkkinen, Kirsi; Aarrevaara, Timo; Berg, Laila Nordstrand; Geschwind, Lars; Hansen, Hanne Foss & Hernes, Helge [Show all 13 contributors for this article] (2019). Does It Really Matter? Assessing the Performance Effects of Changes in Leadership and Management Structures in Nordic Higher Education. In Pinheiro, Romulo; Geschwind, Lars; Hansen, Hanne Foss & Pulkkinen, Kirsi (Ed.), Reforms, Organizational Change and Performance in Higher Education. A comparative Account from the Nordic Countries. Palgrave Macmillan. ISSN 9783030117375. p. 3–36. doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-11738-2_1. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Universities are public organisations, which operate in a highly institutionalised environment. They are heavily dependent on public resources. As such, universities are susceptible to shifts in governance arrangements but are also far from being passive recipients of reform agendas. They face demands from multiple internal constituencies (academics, administrators, students, managers) and from a variety of external stakeholders. This chapter explores the interplay between governance arrangements resulting from policy shifts and university dynamics. It sets the stage for the book, asking the following research questions: (1) what characterises changes in governance regimes in Nordic universities in the last decade and a half, and (2) what effects have these changes had in the evolution of higher education systems? The chapter takes a comparative approach and identifies similarities and differences across the Nordic countries. This chapter serves as a frame of reference for the book and includes a common methods and data section.

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• Pinheiro, Romulo; Drejer, Ina; Bienkowska, Dzamila; Laterza, Vito & Sotarauta, Markku (2026). Higher Education and Regional Green Transitions: Navigating Tensions, Complexities and Solutions. Routledge. ISBN 9781003660996. 218 p. doi: 10.4324/9781003660996. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Higher education institutions (HEIs) play a pivotal yet underexplored role in Regional Green Transitions (RGTs) and sustainable development. This volume addresses this knowledge gap by examining how universities in the Nordic region engage with RGTs, offering theoretical and methodological insights from diverse disciplines such as economic geography, political economy, organisational theory and education. The Nordic region, often regarded as a benchmark for best practices in education, research, innovation and regional development, serves as the backdrop for this exploration. Through a rich collection of case studies, the book reveals that RGTs are neither linear nor uniform. Universities navigate these transitions at varying speeds and with different strategies. Some act as agenda-setters, leveraging local coalitions and innovation ecosystems, while others adopt a more cautious approach, observing leading regions and universities before committing to action. Structural pressures, such as national funding systems, global supply chains and sectoral dependencies, further shape their responses. Offering important conceptual and practical insights for a wide variety of audiences, from social scientists and advance students to university managers, and policymakers, this volume underscores the critical role of HEIs in advancing RGTs (and change processes more generally) amidst evolving political, economic and social landscapes.

• Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira; Misra, Debananda & Cai, Yuzhuo (2026). Higher Education and Green Transitions Capabilities for a Sustainable World. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781035348039. doi: 10.4337/9781035348046. Full text in Research Archive
• Vakkuri, Jarmo Jouko Kalervo; Johanson, Jan Erik; Pinheiro, Romulo Teixeira & Erkkilä, Tero (2025). Public Policies for Hybrid Governance. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781035311620. 356 p. doi: 10.4337/9781035311637. Full text in Research Archive
• Kekäle, Jouni & Pinheiro, Romulo (2025). Higher Education Policy for Tackling Climate Change: Drivers, Dynamics, and Effects. Springer Nature. ISBN 9783031784798. 284 p. doi: 10.1007/978-3-031-78479-8. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Barman, Linda; Degn, Lise & Geschwind, Lars (2023). Digital Transformations in Nordic Higher Education. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783031277580. 278 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Balbachevsky, Elizabeth; Pillay, Pundy & Yonezawa, Akiyoshi (2023). The Impact of Covid-19 on the Institutional Fabric of Higher Education: Old Patterns, New Dynamics, and Changing Rules? Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783031263927. 440 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Frigotto, Maria Laura & Young, Mitchell (2022). Towards resilient organizations and societies: A cross-sectoral and multi-disciplinary perspective. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9783030820718. 336 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Trondal, Jarle; Keast, Robyn; Noble, David & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Governing Complexity in Times of Turbulence. Edward Elgar Publishing. ISBN 9781800889644. 296 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Iakovleva, Tatiana Aleksandrovna; Thomas, Elisa; Berg, Laila Margaret Nordstrand; Pinheiro, Romulo & Benneworth, Paul (2022). Universities and regional engagement : From the exceptional to the everyday. Routledge. ISBN 9780367713072. 225 p. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo & Trondal, Jarle (2021). Organizing and Governing Governmental Institutions. Fagbokforlaget. ISBN 9788245035322. 454 p. Full text in Research Archive

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• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina; Asante, Michael Oduro & Pinheiro, Romulo (2026). Coping with Hybridity in Higher Education: The Impact of Digitalization on Teaching Practices- presentation from a book chapter. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  Presentasjon av bokkapitlet.

• Asante, Michael Oduro; Pinheiro, Romulo; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina & Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard (2024). In roles we trust! Assessing the hybrid effects of digitalisation on academic roles. Full text in Research Archive
• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina; Asante, Michael Oduro & Pinheiro, Romulo (2024). Coming to terms with hybridity in higher education: The impact of digitalisation on teaching practices. Full text in Research Archive
• Poutanen, Mikko; Tervasmaki, Tuomas; Pinheiro, Romulo & Geschwind, Lars (2023). What Has Changed and What Remains? Institutional Shifts in Nordic Higher Education in the 2000s. Scandinavian Journal of Public Administration (SPJA). ISSN 2001-7405. 27(1), p. 1–7. Full text in Research Archive
• Asante, Michael Oduro; Laterza, Vito; Pinheiro, Romulo & Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard (2022). Implementing digital transformation in higher education following COVID-19. Full text in Research Archive
• Kettunen, Kerttu Pauliina; Alajoutsijärvi, Jouni Kimmo; Hunnes, John Arngrim & Pinheiro, Romulo (2022). Presentation at EGOS Colloquium: Emergence and early institutionalization of competition in higher education: Evidence from Finnish business schools. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo (2021). The Europe of Knowledge: Past, present and future. Full text in Research Archive
• Gänzle, Stefan; Pinheiro, Romulo & Trondal, Jarle (2021). UiA i ny universitetsallianse, «FORTHEM. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Laterza, Vito & Asante, Michael Oduro (2021). Digital Transformation in Higher education in Times of Turbulence: a Scandinavian Tale. Full text in Research Archive
• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Laterza, Vito; Pinheiro, Romulo & Avramovic, Aleksandar (2021). Is There a Scandinavian Model for MOOCs? Understanding the MOOC Phenomenon in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. Full text in Research Archive
• Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard; Laterza, Vito; Pinheiro, Romulo & Avramovic, Aleksandar (2021). Is there a Scandinavian model for MOOCs? Mapping the landscape of online learning. Full text in Research Archive
• Laterza, Vito; Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Introducing the Nordic Journal of Digital Literacy special issue project & overview of themes. Full text in Research Archive
• Laterza, Vito; Pinheiro, Romulo & Tømte, Cathrine Edelhard (2020). Covid-19, rapid digitalization of HE teaching & learning and HE funding policies: towards a responsive knowledge framework for policy analysis and intervention. Full text in Research Archive
• Klenk, Tanja; Antonowicz, Dominik; Geschwind, Lars & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Academic leadership and female (under-)representation A comparative investigation of European mass higher education systems. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Keynote address: Universities & Regional Development: Why? How? And so What? Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Students as agents of territorial development: a personal reflection. In Larrea, Miren (Eds.), Roots and Wings of Action Research for Territorial Development Connecting local transformation and international collaborative learning. Universidad de Deusto - Dpto. de Publicaciones. ISSN 9788413250984. p. 153–155. Full text in Research Archive
• Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). Higher Education Institutions, Mergers of. In Amey, Marylin J. & David, Miriam E. (Ed.), SAGE Encyclopedia of Higher Education. Sage Publications. ISSN 9781473942912. p. 753–755. Full text in Research Archive
• Pekkola, Elias; Pinheiro, Romulo; Geschwind, Lars & Pulkkinen, Kirsi (2020). Nested hybridity and value definition in public higher education: a conceptual view. Full text in Research Archive
• Bordin, Elisa & Pinheiro, Romulo (2020). The Race to Institutional Change: The Slow Road to Policy Change in Sexuality Education. Full text in Research Archive

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