Norwegian higher vocational education: Between academic drift and labour market relevance

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.2515150

Keywords:

higher vocational education, academic drift, labour market relevance, institutional theory, isomorphy

Abstract

Norway has been characterised as a hesitant and slow reformer in higher vocational education (HVE) reform policies. However, a shift can be identified, where HVE has moved from a residual position towards the centre of policy attention. Policies have gradually picked up speed, and there is a turn towards upskilling and labour market relevance policies expanding access to new and more advanced forms of practically oriented types of vocational education and training (VET). The unprecedented growth of Norwegian HVE have created new political controversies and tensions. The systematics of developments and drivers in higher vocational education have not been much explored. We have analysed the structuring of HVE as an organisational field in a Norwegian setting, focusing on three different mechanisms: coercive isomorphy, mimetic isomorphy, and normative isomorphy. We have identified two different types of isomorphic pressure: academic drift and labour market relevance, and their inter-action in the structuring of advanced practical forms of education and training. We argue that the structuring of Norwegian HVE should be interpreted as a sharpening of the labour market relevance profile in Norwegian education rather than academic drift.

References

Ahola, S., Hedmo, T., Thomsen, J. P., & Vabø, A. (2014). Organisational features of higher education: Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden (Working Paper 2014:14). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Allmendinger, J. (1989). Educational systems and labor market outcomes. European Sociological Review, 5(3), 231–250.

Ansell, B. (2010). From the ballot to the blackboard. Cambridge University Press.

Alne, R., Vika, K. S., & Høst, H. (2023). Høy relevans i fagskoleutdanningene: Kandidatundersøkelse for fagskoleutdannede i 2019 og 2020 [High relevance in Norwegian higher vocational education: Candidate survey Norwegian vocational colleges 2019 and 2020] (Report 2023:3). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Antikainen, A. (2006). In search of the Nordic model in education. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research, 50(3), 229–243.

https://doi.org/10.1080/00313830600743258

Baker, D. P. (2014). The schooled society: The educational transformation of global culture. Stanford University Press.

Baldi, G. (2022). Ideas, institutions, and the politics of schools in postwar Britain and Germany. Palgrave Macmillan.

Bathmaker, A. M., Graf, L., Orr, K., Powell, J., Webb, S., & Wheelahan, L. (2018). Higher level vocational education: The route to high skills and productivity as well as greater equity? An international comparative analysis. In C. Nägele, & B. E. Stalder (Eds.), Trends in vocational education and training research: Proceedings of the European Conference on Educational Research 2018 (pp. 53–60). Vocational Education and Training Network.

Bennett, A., & Checkel, J. T. (2015). Process tracing: From metaphor to analytic tool. Strategies for social inquiry. Cambridge University Press.

Bleiklie, I. (2009). Norway: From tortoise to eager beaver? In C. Paradeise, E. Reale, I. Bleiklie, & E. Ferlie (Eds.), University governance (pp. 127–153). Springer Netherlands.

Bolli, T., Caves, C. M, Renold, U., & Buergi, J. (2018). Beyond employer engagement: Measuring education employment linkage in vocational education and training programmes. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 70(4), 524–563. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2018.1451911

Busemeyer, M. R., & Trampusch, C. (Eds.). (2012). The political economy of collective skill formation. Oxford University Press USA.

Deloitte. (2023). Evaluering av fagskolemeldingen: Måloppnåelse og virkninger av tiltak i fagskolemeldingen – sluttrapport [Evaluation of the higher vocational college scheme: Goal attainment and effects of measures – final report]. Deloitte AS.

DiMaggio, P., & Powell, W. (1983). The iron cage revisited: Institutional isomorphism and collective rationality in organizational fields. American sociological review, 48(2), 147–160. https://doi.org/10.2307/2095101

Diku. (2021). Tilstandsrapport for høgare yrkesfagleg utdanning [Condition report for higher vocational education] (Rapport 2021:9). Direktoratet for internasjonali-sering og kvalitetsutvikling i høgare utdanning [Directorate for internationali-sation and quality development in higher education].

Di Maio, G., & Trampusch, C. (2017). Employer cooperation in continuing vocational training: An analysis of sectoral differences in Switzerland. In G. Bonoli, & P. Emmenegger (Eds.). Collective skill formation in the knowledge economy. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192866257.001.0001

Emmenegger, P., Graf, L., & Trampusch, C. (2019). The governance of decentralised cooperation in collective training systems: A review and conceptualization. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 71(1), 21–45. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2018.1498906

Esping-Andersen, G. (1990). The three worlds of welfare capitalism. Polity Press.

Gonon, P., & Maurer, M. (2012). Educational policy actors as stakeholders in the development of the collective skill formation system: The case of Switzerland. In M. R. Busemeyer, & C. Trampusch (Eds.), The political economy of skill formation (pp. 126–149). Oxford University Press.

Graf, L. (2013). The hybridization of vocational training and higher education in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Verlag Barbara Budrich. https://doi.org/10.3224/86388043

Graf, L. (2016). The rise of work-based academic education in Austria, Germany and Switzerland. Journal of Vocational Education & Training, 68(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/13636820.2015.110774

Graf, L., & Lohse, A. P. (2022). Advanced skill formation between vocationalization and academization: The governance of professional schools and dual study programs in Germany. In R. Bürgi, & P. Gonon (Eds.), Governance revisited: Challenges and opportunities for vocational education and training (pp. 189–215). Peter Lang.

Graf, L., & Powell, J. J. (2022). The origins and contemporary development of work-based higher education in Germany: Lessons for Anglophone countries? In E. Knight, A.-M. Bathmaker, G. Moodie, K. Orr, S. Webb, & L. Wheelahan (Eds.), Equity and access to high skills through higher vocational education (pp. 125–144). Springer International Publishing.

Halvorsen, T. (1994). Profesjonalisering og profesjonspolitikk: Den sosiale konstruksjonen av tekniske yrker [Professionalisation and professional politics: The social construction of technical occupations] [Doctoral dissertation, University of Bergen].

Harwood, J. (2005). Technology’s dilemma: Agricultural colleges between science and practice in Germany, 1860–1934. Peter Lang.

Heidenheimer, A. (1997). Disparate ladders: Why school and university policies differ in Germany, Japan, and Switzerland. Transaction Publishers.

Holmberg, D., & Hallonsten, O. (2015). Policy reform and academic drift: Research mission and institutional legitimacy in the development of the Swedish higher education system 1977–2012. European Journal of Higher Education, 5(2), 181–196. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2014.997263

Høst, H., Gitlesen, J. P., & Michelsen. S. (2008). How the number of apprentices is influenced by policy and economic cycles. In H. Høst (Ed.), Continuity and change in Norwegian VET (Report 2008:29). Nordic Institute for Studies in Innovation, Research and Education.

Høst, H., & Tømte, C. E. (2016). Styring og styrking av en fragmentert sektor: En evaluering av Nasjonalt fagskoleråd (Steering and Strengthening of a Fragmented Sector. An Evaluation of the Norwegian Council of Vocational Colleges). (Report 2016:11). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Høst, H. (2017). «Eget behov for faglig fordypning»: Om fagskoleutdanning i helse og sosial [Individual need for professional deepening: On HVE for care workers) (Report 2017:10). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Høst, H., Lyby, L., & Schwach, V. (2019). Fagskoleutdanningens kunnskapsbase [The knowledge base in vocational college] (Report 2019:22). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Høst, H., & Michelsen, S. (2021). The Norwegian vocational college: Heterogenous aggregate of intermediate educations, or a parallel pillar to higher academic education? Berufs- und Wirtschaftspädagogik, (39). https://www.bwpat.de/ausgabe39/host_michelsen_bwpat39.pdf

Høst, H., Furholt, J., & Lyckander, R. (2024). Hvordan samarbeider fagskolene med arbeidslivet om utdanningene? [How do the vocational colleges collaborate with the enterprises?] (Report 2024:7). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Huisman, J. (2023). Higher education and organisational theory: Systems, fields, markets, and populations in an increasingly global context. In P. Mattei, X. Dumay, E. Mangez, & J. Behrend (Eds.), The Oxford handbook of education and globalization. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197570685.013.31

Kompetansebehovsutvalget. (2022). Fremtidige kompetansebehov: Høyere yrkesfaglig utdanning for et arbeidsliv i endring [Future skill needs: Higher vocational education for a changing labour market] (Report 2022:1). The Norwegian Committee on Skill Needs.

Kivinen, O., & Nurmi, J. (2014). Labour market relevance of European university education: From enrolment to professional employment in 12 countries. European Journal of Education, 49(4), 558–574. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12095

Kyvik, S. (2007). Academic drift: A reinterpretation. In Centre for Higher Education Policy Studies (Ed.), Towards a cartography of higher education policy change: A Festschrift in honour of Guy Neave (pp. 333–338). CHEPS.

Kyvik, S. (2008). The dynamics of change in higher education: Expansion and contraction in an organisational field. Springer Science & Business Media.

Lauglo, J. (1995). Populism and education in Norway. Comparative Education Review, 39(3), 255–279.

Mahoney, J., & Thelen, K. (2010a). Explaining institutional change. Cambridge University Press.

Meyer, J. W., & Rowan, B. (1977). Institutionalized organizations: Formal structure as myth and ceremony. American Journal of Sociology, 83(2), 340–363. https://doi.org/10.1086/226550

Michelsen, S., & Høst, H. (2018). Norwegian VET and the ascent and decline of social democracy 1945–2015. In S. Michelsen, & M. L. Stenstrøm (Eds.), Vocational education in the Nordic countries (pp. 146–170). Routledge.

Morphew, C. C., & Huisman, J. (2002). Using institutional theory to reframe research on academic drift. Higher education in Europe, 27(4), 491–506. https://doi.org./10.1080/0379772022000071977

Neave, G. (1979). Academic drift: Some views from Europe. Studies in Higher Education, 4(2), 143–159. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/03075077912331376927

OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development). (2014). Skills beyond school: Synthesis report (OECD Reviews of Vocational Education and Training). OECD Publishing.

Pontusson, J. (2005). Inequality and prosperity: Social Europe versus liberal America. Cornell University Press.

Pratt, J., & Burgess, T. (1974). Polytechnics: A report. Pitman.

Riesman, D. (1958). Review: The “Jacob report”. American Sociological Review, 23(6), 732–738. https://doi.org/10.2307/2089059

Scott, W. R., &. Kirst, M. W. (2017). Higher education and Silicon Valley: Connected but conflicted. John Hopkins University Press.

Scott, W. R. (2008). Institutions and organizations: Ideas and interests. Sage.

Statistisk Sentralbyrå, studenter i høyere yrkesfaglig utdanning 2016–2024 tabell 11621 [Statistics Norway: Students in higher vocational education 2016–2024, table 11621].

Teichler, U. (2012). Diversity of higher education in Europe and the findings of a comparative study of the academic profession. In European higher education at the crossroads: Between the Bologna process and national reforms (pp. 935–959). Springer Netherlands.

Tellmann, S. M., Aamodt, P. O., Elken, M., Larsen, E. H., & Skule, S. (2017). Råd for samarbeid med arbeidslivet: En underveisevaluering [Panels for cooperation with working life: A process evaluation] (Report 2017:9). Nordic Institute for Studies of innovation, research and education.

Tight, M. (2015). Theory development and application in higher education research: The case of academic drift. Journal of Educational Administration and History, 47(2), 84–99. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220620.2015.97414

Thornton, P. H., Ocasio, W., & Lounsbury, M. (2012). The institutional logics perspective: A new approach to culture, structure, and process. Oxford University Press.

Technopolis. (2020). Utredning om mulig parallell struktur i nasjonalt kvalifikasjons-rammeverk for livslang læring [An investigation about a possible parallel structure in the National qualification framework for lifelong learning]. Technopolis group.

Utdanningsdirektoratet, Statistikk fag- og yrkesopplæring [The Norwegian Directorate for Education and Training: Statistics vocational education and training].

Downloads

Published

2025-03-19

How to Cite

Michelsen, S., & Høst, H. (2025). Norwegian higher vocational education: Between academic drift and labour market relevance. Nordic Journal of Vocational Education and Training, 15(1), 50–75. https://doi.org/10.3384/njvet.2242-458X.2515150