How European Are Public Administration Training Programs in Europe? Diverging and Converging Trends in Recent Reform Trajectories

This proposed paper is designed to shed light on the twin questions of divergent or convergent trends in academic degree programs in public administration and public management across Europe. Do we still see persistent... [ view full abstract ]

This proposed paper is designed to shed light on the twin questions of divergent or convergent trends in academic degree programs in public administration and public management across Europe. Do we still see persistent divergence between European countries shaped by distinct administrative cultures and traditions? Or do we increasingly observe convergence in patterns of academic training and education shaped by European integration? In doing so, we focus on academic degree programs at the bachelor and master levels, analyzing the shift on content of the curriculum in recent reforms. Also, we look into the institutional status and regulatory framework of the relevant institutions of higher education.

It can be (and has been) convincingly argued that country-specific administrative cultures and traditions are powerful shaping factors in determining current and future developments in public administration training and education. However, we are also on relatively safe ground to assume that European-wide push and pull factors (such as far-reaching reforms of higher education (e.g. the Bologna process), political and economic integration, secular reform trends in the public sector at large, similar pressure for quality assurance and accreditation and – last but not least – the role of international and pan-European networks and associations of professionals and academics in this field) will have left their imprint on current reform developments in the European landscape of academic degree programs in public administration and management.

Informed by historical and sociological variants of institutional theory, we refer to current empirical data from European countries, covering major administrative cultures and traditions. The proposed paper will particularly be based on evidence deriving from a recent mapping of academic degree programs in our field across a large sample of European universities.