Higher Education Policy
- LAST REVIEWED: 28 April 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 15 December 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0119
- LAST REVIEWED: 28 April 2017
- LAST MODIFIED: 15 December 2011
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0119
Introduction
Higher education policy involves the intersection between institutions of higher learning and governments. The field is concerned with understanding how policies concerning higher education come to be enacted, the effects of those policies, and how to change policies to accomplish societal goals. The study of higher education policy includes research investigating the ways in which governments oversee their institutions of higher education (governance), how governments pay for higher education (finance), how students and families pay for higher education (student financial aid and tuition), why certain policies are adopted (politics of higher education policy), and the implications of policies for particular sectors of higher education.
General Overviews/Textbooks
These works provide a general overview of the field of higher education policy. Produced by the American Society for Higher Education (ASHE), Public Policy and Higher Education (Goodchild, et al. 1997) is a commonly assigned textbook in higher education policy courses. It contains reprints of articles and chapters from various authors, which constitute many of the key readings in higher education policy. Finance in Higher Education (Yeager, et al. 2001) is particularly helpful for those interested in student financial aid policy and government funding of higher education. Heller 2001 provides a relatively current and well-researched overview of many of the key policy issues facing American higher education. Altbach, et al. 2005 covers a broader range of issues, but several chapters are of interest to policy researchers. Paulsen and Smart 2001 provides the most comprehensive overview of higher education finance policy from an economic standpoint.
Altbach, Philip G., Robert O. Berdahl, and Patricia J. Gumport. 2005. American higher education in the twenty-first century: Social, political, and economic challenges. 2d ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
A broad overview of American higher education, with several chapters devoted to higher education policy issues. The chapters on external forces are most likely to be helpful to researchers interested in policy issues.
Goodchild, Lester F., Cheryl D. Lovell, Edward R. Hines, and Judith I. Gill, eds. 1997. Public policy and higher education. ASHE Reader Series. Needham Heights, MA: Ginn.
A collection of previously published pieces, with readings both from the general policy literature and from the field of higher education policy.
Heller, Donald E. 2001. The states and public higher education policy: Affordability, access, and accountability. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univ. Press.
An edited volume with discussions of many of the key higher education policy issues at the state level.
Paulsen, M. B., and J. C. Smart. 2001. The finance of higher education: Theory, research, policy, and practice. New York: Agathon.
A series of foundational readings on the economic view of higher education and the implications of this view for the purposes of policymaking.
Yeager, John L., Glenn M. Nelson, Eugene A. Potter, John C. Weidman, and Thomas G. Zullo, eds. 2001. Finance in higher education. 2d ed. ASHE Reader Series. Boston: Pearson.
A collection of previously published pieces, with an emphasis on the sources of funding for higher education, student financial aid, and the role of government in financing higher education.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Academic Achievement
- Academic Audit for Universities
- Academic Freedom and Tenure in the United States
- Action Research in Education
- Adjuncts in Higher Education in the United States
- Administrator Preparation
- Adolescence
- Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Courses
- African American Racial Identity and Learning
- Alternative Certification Programs for Educators
- Alternative Schools
- American Indian Education
- Art Education
- Assessing School Leader Effectiveness
- Assessment, Behavioral
- Assessment, Educational
- Assessment in Early Childhood Education
- Athletics, College
- Beginning-Teacher Induction
- Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
- Blended Learning
- Bullying
- Case Study in Education Research
- Changing Professional and Academic Identities
- Character Education
- Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- Children's Beliefs about Intelligence
- Children's Rights in Early Childhood Education
- Classroom Management
- College Admissions in the United States
- Community Relations
- Comparative Education
- Computer-Based Testing
- Counseling in Schools
- Creativity
- Critical Race Theory
- Crossborder and Transnational Higher Education
- Culturally Responsive Leadership
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogies
- Culturally Responsive Teacher Education in the United Stat...
- Curriculum Design
- Data Collection in Educational Research
- Data-driven Decision Making in the United States
- Deaf Education
- Desegregation and Integration
- Development, Moral
- Digital Age Teacher, The
- Disabilities
- Distance Learning
- Distributed Leadership
- Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Denmark
- Early Childhood Education and Development in Mexico
- Early Childhood Education in Australia
- Early Childhood Education in China
- Early Childhood Education in Europe
- Early Childhood Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Early Childhood Education in Sweden
- Early Childhood Education Pedagogy
- Early Childhood Education Policy
- Early Childhood Education, The Arts in
- Early Childhood Mathematics
- Early Childhood Teacher Education
- Early Childhood Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Years Professionalism and Professionalization Polici...
- Economics of Education
- Education For Children with Autism
- Education Leadership, Empirical Perspectives in
- Education Reform and School Change
- Educational Statistics for Longitudinal Research
- Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
- Epistemic Beliefs
- Ethics and Education
- Ethics of Teaching
- Ethnic Studies
- Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention
- Family and Community Partnerships in Education
- Family Day Care
- Federal Government Programs and Issues
- Finance, Education
- Financial Aid
- Formative Assessment
- Gender and Achievement
- Gifted Education
- Global Mindedness and Global Citizenship Education
- Global University Rankings
- Governance, Education
- Grounded Theory
- Higher Education and Globalization
- Higher Education and the Developing World
- Higher Education Governance
- Higher Education in China
- Higher Education in the United States, Historical Evolutio...
- Higher Education, International Issues in
- Higher Education Policy
- Higher Education Research
- Higher Education Student Assessment
- High-stakes Testing
- History of Education in the United States
- Homeschooling
- Inclusive Education
- Indigenous Education in a Global Context
- Inservice Teacher Education
- Integrating Art across the Curriculum
- Intelligence
- Intensive Interventions for Children and Adolescents with ...
- Intersectionality and Education
- Knowledge Development in Early Childhood
- Leadership Development, Coaching and Feedback for
- Leadership Training
- Learning Difficulties
- Learning, Lifelong
- Learning, Multimedia
- Legal Matters and Education Law
- LGBT Youth in Schools
- Linguistic Diversity
- Linguistically Inclusive Pedagogy
- Literacy
- Literacy Development and Language Acquisition
- Literacy, Multiple Documents
- Literature Reviews
- Mathematics Instruction and Interventions for Students wit...
- Mathematics Teacher Education
- Measurement in Education in the United States
- Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis in Education
- Methodologies for Conducting Education Research
- Mindfulness, Learning, and Education
- Mixed Methods Research
- Motivation
- Multivariate Research Methodology
- Museums, Education, and Curriculum
- Music Education
- Narrative Research in Education
- Note-Taking
- Numeracy Education
- Online Education
- Pedagogy of Teacher Education, A
- Performance Objectives and Measurement
- Performance-based Research Assessment in Higher Education
- Performance-based Research Funding
- Phenomenology in Educational Research
- Philosophy of Education
- Physical Education
- Play
- Policy
- Politics of Education
- Portable Technology for Special Education
- Pre-Service Teacher Education
- Problem Solving
- Professional Development
- Professional Learning Communities
- Program Evaluation
- Programs and Services for Students with Emotional or Behav...
- Psychology Learning and Teaching
- Psychometric Issues in the Assessment of English Language ...
- Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques
- Qualitative Research Design
- Quantitative Research Designs in Educational Research
- Race and Affirmative Action in Higher Education
- Reading Education
- Refugee and New Immigrant Learners
- Religion in Elementary and Secondary Education in the Unit...
- Researcher Development and Skills Training within the Cont...
- Response to Intervention
- Restorative Practices
- School Accreditation
- School Choice
- School Culture
- School Improvement through Inclusive Education
- School Reform
- Schools, Private and Independent
- School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
- Science Education
- Secondary to Postsecondary Transition Issues
- Self-Regulated Learning
- Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
- Service-Learning
- Severe Disabilities
- Single Salary Schedule
- Single-sex Education
- Single-Subject Research Design
- Social Context of Education
- Social Justice
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Pedagogy
- Social Science and Education Research
- Social Studies Education
- Sociology of Education
- Statistical Assumptions
- Student Assignment Policy
- Student Engagement in Tertiary Education
- Student Participation
- Student Voice in Teacher Development
- Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Effectiveness
- Teacher Preparation
- Teacher Training and Development
- Teacher Unions and Associations
- Teaching Critical Thinking
- Technology Education in Early Childhood
- Technology, Educational
- The Bologna Process
- The Regulation of Standards in Higher Education
- Theories of Educational Leadership
- Tracking and Detracking
- Transitions in Early Childhood Education
- University Faculty Roles and Responsibilities in the Unite...
- Using Ethnography in Educational Research
- Value of Higher Education for Students and Other Stakehold...
- Vocational and Technical Education
- Women's and Gender Studies