TY - JOUR

T1 - Formative Ideas of the National University

T2 - A Thematic Analysis of Texts from the Long 19th Century

AU - Bengson, Nex

N1 - Funding Information: Open Acacess funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.

PY - 2024/2/2

Y1 - 2024/2/2

N2 - For the most part, the concept of the “national university” possess significant overlaps with the public/state, civic, and flagship university. Toward enriching the conceptual toolkit of higher education, this study explores what has been meant by a 'national university' and how could we identify such an organization empirically. Through a thematic analysis of a digital corpus in English, the study identifies four substantive themes that characterize the national university as it was articulated during the formative period of the nation-state. The core themes of such a concept include functioning as a tool for state development in terms of human capital, cultural identity, and social networks; serving as a nation’s most advanced learning institution; providing meritocratic higher education without discrimination and in consideration of subnational divisions; and possessing a definite link with the central government. Comparing these findings with closely related organizational models in higher education, a key difference of the national university is in its role in articulating a national identity through providing advanced education that is particularly inclusive of subnational divisions. The paper further forwards two contrasting empirical approaches to the national university: a historical–legal de jure approach and a sociocultural de facto approach.

AB - For the most part, the concept of the “national university” possess significant overlaps with the public/state, civic, and flagship university. Toward enriching the conceptual toolkit of higher education, this study explores what has been meant by a 'national university' and how could we identify such an organization empirically. Through a thematic analysis of a digital corpus in English, the study identifies four substantive themes that characterize the national university as it was articulated during the formative period of the nation-state. The core themes of such a concept include functioning as a tool for state development in terms of human capital, cultural identity, and social networks; serving as a nation’s most advanced learning institution; providing meritocratic higher education without discrimination and in consideration of subnational divisions; and possessing a definite link with the central government. Comparing these findings with closely related organizational models in higher education, a key difference of the national university is in its role in articulating a national identity through providing advanced education that is particularly inclusive of subnational divisions. The paper further forwards two contrasting empirical approaches to the national university: a historical–legal de jure approach and a sociocultural de facto approach.

KW - Idea of the university

KW - Nationalism

KW - Organizational script

KW - State formation

KW - Textual analysis

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85183858838&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1057/s41307-023-00342-z

DO - 10.1057/s41307-023-00342-z

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85183858838

JO - Higher education policy

JF - Higher education policy

SN - 0952-8733

ER -