Comparative Perspectives on Mergers in Higher Education

This paper reviews recent international experience with institutional mergers within higher education systems. It is based on reviews of research literature, on my own research efforts and that of research students within our research group, on personal experiences with merger efforts, and on working with administrators and academic staff in various higher education systems outside Australia. It covers both public and private sectors. While mergers of departments and faculties are important restructuring devices within institutions, this paper concentrates on institutional mergers, or the combination of separate institutions. After some introductory remarks about mergers and ways of conceptualising mergers and other forms of institutional collaboration and linkage, the paper looks particularly at drivers of mergers and collaboration, ways of classifying different types of mergers, national experiences of a small number of different countries with mergers, some comparisons of British and Australian merger stages, the spasmodic nature of merger activity and the uneven distribution of mergers between countries, and some new directions with regard to mergers and collaboration.