Lars Geschwind
Biographic Data
| ID | 1500336 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Lars Geschwind |
| GIVEN NAMES | Lars |
| FAMILY NAME | Geschwind |
| SIGNATURE | GESCHWIND L |
| AFFILIATIONS | KTH Royal Institute of Technology |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-2983-5573 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 10 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2014 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Unveiling pathways: Embracing a decolonised approach in the definition of the internationalisation of higher education in Mozambique
Like other parts of Africa, Mozambique’s higher education system is deeply entwined with the nation’s colonial past. Calls for decolonising university rules and processes are heightened due to this impact. Demands for decolonising university procedures are rising worldwide, including in Africa. Although recognised as a university practice, internationalisation is still mostly Eurocentric in African higher education, leaving an opportunity for a d…
Beyond the ivory tower: A survey of European university board members’ perspectives on institutional policy priorities
In most European countries, university governance models have undergone modernization, the hallmarks of which manifest in new (modernized) governing bodies (i.e., university boards and councils). These governing bodies hold power, both formal and informal, to influence institutional policy and are frequently seen as institutions encapsulating the changing role of universities. To address a paucity of research on the influence of these governing b…
Bridging Local and Global Practices: Examining Internationalisation Strategies in Higher Education
Internationalisation of curriculum, research and service remains a fundamental factor in higher education, where best practices are adopted and contextualised across different educational systems to enhance efficiency and productivity. A plethora of studies have examined how internationalisation has built on local, national and regional policies and practices to harness, complement and harmonise local activities in institutions. However, many res…
University Boards and Institutional Governance After New Public Management Reforms: A Comparison Across Four European Countries
Setting the ‘normal study time’: Temporal acceleration and standardisation in 1960s Swedish higher education
The acceleration of academic time has been a persistent theme in debates on higher education, fuelled by politicians as well as students. In this article, we analyse and discuss acceleration and standardisation in connection to political reforms in 1960s Sweden, which, we argue, formed a turning point in the temporal organisation of higher education. Relying on state commission reports and governmental bills as main sources, our study zooms in on…
Board governance priorities in higher education institutions: Comparative analysis of board members’ visions in Finland and Sweden
This study examines the perceived governance roles of university boards in Nordic higher education, focusing on Sweden and Finland as case examples. In light of global governance reforms, this research aims to explore how board members in Finnish and Swedish university governance systems perceive their roles. The theoretical framework builds on layered governance styles and the literature on board roles. The findings contribute to the discussion …
Knowledge for the unknown? A history of the future in Swedish higher education and research policy, 1970–2020
This article analyses how the future has been discussed in Swedish higher education and research policy, providing an overview of public inquiries during the period 1970–2020. Expanding on the conceptual framework of German historian Reinhart Koselleck, the article approaches discourses on the future through the analytical lens of sociology of expectations. The findings demonstrate that all inquiries that attempt to advance arguments for policy c…
Negotiating meritocracy and gender equality across organisational spaces: The case of a tenure track system
In this article, we study how meritocratic systems and gender equality concerns are negotiated across different organisational spaces in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Based on a case study of the organising of a tenure track system in a Swedish university, we suggest that the intersection of meritocratic processes and gender equality work can be analysed as a set of negotiated orders in these spaces. This fragmentation may imply problems …
Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions in Mozambique: Exploring the Rationales, Strategies and Challenges
Internationalisation is transforming higher education institutions worldwide. However, the understanding of internationalisation, the rationales presented, the strategies applied and the challenges encountered differ between contexts. One challenge, especially for universities in the Global South, is how to consider internationalisation with a decolonised approach. This study explores internationalisation in two major universities in Mozambique t…
Recruitment of academic staff: An institutional logics perspective
Recently, a number of inbreeding cases have surfaced that have fuelled public criticism of recruitment practices and the lack of mobility in the Swedish higher education sector. This study focuses on recruitment practices at Swedish universities, particularly the divergence between what seems to be a practice of hiring internal candidates and a policy aiming at increasing mobility. The empirical material comprises 14 interviews with heads of depa…
Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education
This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional w…
To be or not to be a technical university: Organisational categories as reference points in higher education
Classifications of higher education institutions into categories that are more or less clearly differentiated through prestige and status are legion in the world of higher education. The notion of parallel categories with comparable statuses, such as those of different types of universities, is however much less well understood. This paper investigates how universities navigate between such alternative categories. We examine boundary work and ins…
Academics’ Societal Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences: A Generational Perspective from Argentina, Germany, Portugal, and Sweden
Legitimizing Change in Higher Education: Exploring the Rationales Behind Major Organizational Restructuring
Translating tenure track into Swedish: Tensions When Implementing an Academic Career System
Academic career systems have been in focus lately as a means to attract talented researchers and teachers. In this paper, we compare tenure tracks at three Swedish universities. The analysis relies on qualitative data, including interviews and policy documents, and revolves around three questions: How is the tenure track designed? What were the drivers behind the new tenure track? How is the tenure track designed to handle emerging tensions? We i…
Senior Industry Practitioners as Part-Time Visiting Professors: The Various Benefits of Collaboration
Raising the summit or flattening the agora? The elitist turn in science policy in Northern Europe
This contribution focuses on how one hegemonic idea – excellence – which has significant impact on science and higher education policy was translated in two Nordic countries: Norway and Sweden. Building on key concepts emanating from political science and organizational sociology, the article assesses how excellence was locally translated by policy makers, leading to the rise of a series of policy measures aimed at fostering excellence in science…
Nested tensions and interwoven dilemmas in higher education: The view from the Nordic countries
This paper reflects on the challenges facing European higher education by investigating current dynamics across three national systems: Norway, Sweden and Finland. We identify four sets of tensions permeating current dynamics across the region, and link those to a series of dilemmas facing European universities more broadly. The paper demonstrates that there is a complex interplay between the so-called ‘nested tensions’ and different types of int…
Translating tenure track into Swedish: Tensions When Implementing an Academic Career System
Academic career systems have been in focus lately as a means to attract talented researchers and teachers. In this paper, we compare tenure tracks at three Swedish universities. The analysis relies on qualitative data, including interviews and policy documents, and revolves around three questions: How is the tenure track designed? What were the drivers behind the new tenure track? How is the tenure track designed to handle emerging tensions? We i…
Senior Industry Practitioners as Part-Time Visiting Professors: The Various Benefits of Collaboration
Nested tensions and interwoven dilemmas in higher education: The view from the Nordic countries
This paper reflects on the challenges facing European higher education by investigating current dynamics across three national systems: Norway, Sweden and Finland. We identify four sets of tensions permeating current dynamics across the region, and link those to a series of dilemmas facing European universities more broadly. The paper demonstrates that there is a complex interplay between the so-called ‘nested tensions’ and different types of int…
Academics’ Societal Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences: A Generational Perspective from Argentina, Germany, Portugal, and Sweden
Nested tensions and interwoven dilemmas in higher education: The view from the Nordic countries
This paper reflects on the challenges facing European higher education by investigating current dynamics across three national systems: Norway, Sweden and Finland. We identify four sets of tensions permeating current dynamics across the region, and link those to a series of dilemmas facing European universities more broadly. The paper demonstrates that there is a complex interplay between the so-called ‘nested tensions’ and different types of int…
Senior Industry Practitioners as Part-Time Visiting Professors: The Various Benefits of Collaboration
Raising the summit or flattening the agora? The elitist turn in science policy in Northern Europe
This contribution focuses on how one hegemonic idea – excellence – which has significant impact on science and higher education policy was translated in two Nordic countries: Norway and Sweden. Building on key concepts emanating from political science and organizational sociology, the article assesses how excellence was locally translated by policy makers, leading to the rise of a series of policy measures aimed at fostering excellence in science…
Legitimizing Change in Higher Education: Exploring the Rationales Behind Major Organizational Restructuring
Translating tenure track into Swedish: Tensions When Implementing an Academic Career System
Academic career systems have been in focus lately as a means to attract talented researchers and teachers. In this paper, we compare tenure tracks at three Swedish universities. The analysis relies on qualitative data, including interviews and policy documents, and revolves around three questions: How is the tenure track designed? What were the drivers behind the new tenure track? How is the tenure track designed to handle emerging tensions? We i…
Academics’ Societal Engagement in the Humanities and Social Sciences: A Generational Perspective from Argentina, Germany, Portugal, and Sweden
Recruitment of academic staff: An institutional logics perspective
Recently, a number of inbreeding cases have surfaced that have fuelled public criticism of recruitment practices and the lack of mobility in the Swedish higher education sector. This study focuses on recruitment practices at Swedish universities, particularly the divergence between what seems to be a practice of hiring internal candidates and a policy aiming at increasing mobility. The empirical material comprises 14 interviews with heads of depa…
Hybridity in Nordic Higher Education
This article builds on the concept of nested hybridity. It emphasizes professional practices and organizational design in studying hybridity of steering and management of professional public service organization. The article compares public sector dynamics in higher education in Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The data consists of surveys and interviews on performance management in Nordic universities. Previous studies on hybridity of professional w…
To be or not to be a technical university: Organisational categories as reference points in higher education
Classifications of higher education institutions into categories that are more or less clearly differentiated through prestige and status are legion in the world of higher education. The notion of parallel categories with comparable statuses, such as those of different types of universities, is however much less well understood. This paper investigates how universities navigate between such alternative categories. We examine boundary work and ins…
Internationalisation of Higher Education Institutions in Mozambique: Exploring the Rationales, Strategies and Challenges
Internationalisation is transforming higher education institutions worldwide. However, the understanding of internationalisation, the rationales presented, the strategies applied and the challenges encountered differ between contexts. One challenge, especially for universities in the Global South, is how to consider internationalisation with a decolonised approach. This study explores internationalisation in two major universities in Mozambique t…
Negotiating meritocracy and gender equality across organisational spaces: The case of a tenure track system
In this article, we study how meritocratic systems and gender equality concerns are negotiated across different organisational spaces in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). Based on a case study of the organising of a tenure track system in a Swedish university, we suggest that the intersection of meritocratic processes and gender equality work can be analysed as a set of negotiated orders in these spaces. This fragmentation may imply problems …
Setting the ‘normal study time’: Temporal acceleration and standardisation in 1960s Swedish higher education
The acceleration of academic time has been a persistent theme in debates on higher education, fuelled by politicians as well as students. In this article, we analyse and discuss acceleration and standardisation in connection to political reforms in 1960s Sweden, which, we argue, formed a turning point in the temporal organisation of higher education. Relying on state commission reports and governmental bills as main sources, our study zooms in on…
Board governance priorities in higher education institutions: Comparative analysis of board members’ visions in Finland and Sweden
This study examines the perceived governance roles of university boards in Nordic higher education, focusing on Sweden and Finland as case examples. In light of global governance reforms, this research aims to explore how board members in Finnish and Swedish university governance systems perceive their roles. The theoretical framework builds on layered governance styles and the literature on board roles. The findings contribute to the discussion …
Knowledge for the unknown? A history of the future in Swedish higher education and research policy, 1970–2020
This article analyses how the future has been discussed in Swedish higher education and research policy, providing an overview of public inquiries during the period 1970–2020. Expanding on the conceptual framework of German historian Reinhart Koselleck, the article approaches discourses on the future through the analytical lens of sociology of expectations. The findings demonstrate that all inquiries that attempt to advance arguments for policy c…
Unveiling pathways: Embracing a decolonised approach in the definition of the internationalisation of higher education in Mozambique
Like other parts of Africa, Mozambique’s higher education system is deeply entwined with the nation’s colonial past. Calls for decolonising university rules and processes are heightened due to this impact. Demands for decolonising university procedures are rising worldwide, including in Africa. Although recognised as a university practice, internationalisation is still mostly Eurocentric in African higher education, leaving an opportunity for a d…
Beyond the ivory tower: A survey of European university board members’ perspectives on institutional policy priorities
In most European countries, university governance models have undergone modernization, the hallmarks of which manifest in new (modernized) governing bodies (i.e., university boards and councils). These governing bodies hold power, both formal and informal, to influence institutional policy and are frequently seen as institutions encapsulating the changing role of universities. To address a paucity of research on the influence of these governing b…
Bridging Local and Global Practices: Examining Internationalisation Strategies in Higher Education
Internationalisation of curriculum, research and service remains a fundamental factor in higher education, where best practices are adopted and contextualised across different educational systems to enhance efficiency and productivity. A plethora of studies have examined how internationalisation has built on local, national and regional policies and practices to harness, complement and harmonise local activities in institutions. However, many res…
University Boards and Institutional Governance After New Public Management Reforms: A Comparison Across Four European Countries
Higher Education Governance and Development (16 works) · Higher education (14 works) · Political science (12 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Management and Organizational Studies (6 works) · Public relations (6 works) · Business (5 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (5 works) · Higher education policy (5 works) · Economics (4 works)