Change in the University: A Result of Travelling Ideas?

This article explores the introduction of a “common market” of education, a large-scale institutional reform process that has influenced the organisation of teaching at the University of Copenhagen (KU) since 2009. The “common market” policy, I argue, is a result of intense negotiations between key players, their specific positions, and their interests rather than an example of a “travelling idea” (Czarniawska and Joerges 1996). Ideas travel only if and when someone has a vested interest in them.