Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking
Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland-EU Context
Published on 22. October 2025
188 pages
978-1-040-43308-9 (ISBN)
Description
Looking at higher education policy actors connecting the Finnish and the European Union (EU) contexts, this volume explores the power and influence of networks on decision-making and the utilisation of knowledge within higher education policy. It is unique in providing a new understanding of how European higher education policies are shaped and implemented in day-to-day policymaking.
Building on existing literature and robust empirical work to focus on EU-Finland knowledge networks, the book develops a novel methodological approach that combines social network analysis, network ethnography, interviews, and observation data to capture how networks can significantly affect the way higher education is governed. Understanding how policy is shaped through knowledge networks is crucial as the EU faces political challenges to its cohesion from internal and external pressures through authoritarian and populist ideologies. This book represents a critical starting point for considering how to theorise, understand, and question the interdependence of knowledge and policy.
The topical book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students involved with education policy and politics, higher education studies, and international and comparative education more broadly.
Building on existing literature and robust empirical work to focus on EU-Finland knowledge networks, the book develops a novel methodological approach that combines social network analysis, network ethnography, interviews, and observation data to capture how networks can significantly affect the way higher education is governed. Understanding how policy is shaped through knowledge networks is crucial as the EU faces political challenges to its cohesion from internal and external pressures through authoritarian and populist ideologies. This book represents a critical starting point for considering how to theorise, understand, and question the interdependence of knowledge and policy.
The topical book will be of interest to scholars, researchers, and postgraduate students involved with education policy and politics, higher education studies, and international and comparative education more broadly.
Reviews / Votes
"This book about higher education policymaking networks operating in and between Finland and the European Union is a wonderful read from beginning to end. It provides a refreshing approach to the complex relations between knowledge, power and networks, making a compelling case to study policy making from a relational perspective. Furthermore, the book advances research in education policy through a series of insightful methodological moves that should be key for anyone studying policy networks in the future."-- Jason Beech, Associate Professor of Global Policies in Education, University of Melbourne, Australia
"This is an exciting book about higher education policy and knowledge networks in the European Union (EU) and in one member state, Finland. Based on extensive and solid empirical research, the volume brings new insights about how policy making works in "in-between networks" in a policy field where EU competencies are vague and which, as a result, has been too little studied to date. The chapters generate novel findings both at the EU level and in a national context, Finland, as well as the interplay and interactions between them. The research is based on solid theoretical and conceptual work on knowledge, power and networks, approached through a perspective that combines discursive, institutional and everyday analyses. The volume is highly recommendable to all scholars and students of European integration in general and higher education policy in particular."
-- Johanna Kantola, Professor of European Societies and their Politics, Centre for European Studies (CES), University of Helsinki, Finland
"This book is an original, empirical, and innovative study of the networks of power and knowledge that structure higher education in Finland and Europe. Based on a mixed and demanding methodology, it reveals the unsuspected institutional and epistemic relationships of this brokering activity beyond classic policy-making analyses."
-- Romuald Normand, Professor of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Strasbourg, France
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
Illustrations
7 Tables, black and white; 3 Line drawings, black and white; 1 Halftones, black and white; 4 Illustrations, black and white
File size
1,03 MB
ISBN-13
978-1-040-43308-9 (9781040433089)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Katri Eeva | Jaakko Kauko
Analysing Knowledge Networks in Higher Education Policymaking
Uncovering the Power of Networks in the Finland-EU Context
Book
10/2025
1st Edition
Routledge
€206.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Persons
Katri Eeva (DPhil) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Finland.
Jaakko Kauko (PhD) is Professor of Education Policy, Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Finland.
Jaakko Kauko (PhD) is Professor of Education Policy, Faculty of Education and Culture, Tampere University, Finland.
Content
1. Knowledge, power, and networks in higher education policymaking 2. Studying knowledge networks in higher education policymaking 3. Inside the Knowledge Networks 4. National and European systems intertwined: Higher education policymaking in the EU context 5. Finland-EU higher education policy network: Structure, formation, and characteristics 6. Organisational Knowledge Network 7. Policymakers' Norms on Knowledge: Credibility, Reliability, and Holism 8. Navigating higher education policymaking in the European Parliament 9. Conclusion
