Re-Thinking the Structure of Higher Education

• In Event: 161 - Section on Organizations, Occupation and Work Roundtable Session (one-hour).
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 09. The Organization of Education

Abstract

The structure of higher education has been traditionally conceived along the lines of prestige. A continuum or ordinal ladder has been used by both the public and scholars alike in order to understand how institutions within the system are hierarchically organized. That being said, prestige constitutes only one of a number of dimensions along which the structure of higher education systems can be understood. Drawing insight from organizational theory (Meyer & Scott, 1983; Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978; Uzzi, 1997), this paper will discuss innovative ways in which we can begin to understand the structures of higher education systems. Drawing specific examples from the jurisdiction of Ontario (Canada), this paper will demonstrate how we can gain much by moving towards a multidimensional, theoretically informed understanding of the structure of higher education systems.

Author

• Roger Pizarro Milian, McMaster University