Comparative Higher Education Politics Policymaking in North America and Western Europe

Jens Jungblut works as an Associate Professor at the Department of Political Science at the University of Oslo. Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford University and at the International Centre for Higher Education Research (INCHER) at the University of Kassel. He received his PhD from the University of Oslo. His main research interests include party politics, policy-making, and public governance in the knowledge policy domain (higher education and research), organizational change in higher education, and the role of (academic) expertise in policymaking.

Martin Maltais is professor of financing and education policies at Université du Québec à Rimouski (UQAR). As proximity manager, he is a key player in the development of higher education and digital policies in Québec (Canada). Author of several papers, reports and communications concerning education and higher education policies and funding as well as distance education, he was chief of staff and political advisor to four Ministers of Higher Education and Education in Québec over the last ten years.

Erik C. Ness is professor of higher education and graduate coordinator in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia. He teaches and conducts research on higher education politics and policy. His recent work examines research utilization—the extent to which policy makers rely on research evidence to craft policy—in the adoption and implementation of various state higher education policy initiatives. Ness earned a BA in political science at North Carolina State University, an MA in comparative and international education at Loyola University Chicago, and a PhD in education policy from Vanderbilt University.

Deanna Rexe is adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education and an affiliated scholar with the Centre for the Study of Educational Leadership and Policy at Simon Fraser University, and vice president academic at Assiniboine Community College. Her research examines the relationship between decision contexts and higher education policy choices. As a practitioner and academic leader, she is interested in service, policy, and governance interventions to support increased access and success in higher education.