Taina Saarinen
Biographic Data
| ID | 659296 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Taina Saarinen |
| GIVEN NAMES | Taina |
| FAMILY NAME | Saarinen |
| SIGNATURE | SAARINEN T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Jyväskylä |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-5117-2756 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 19 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 45 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Discursive framing of policy problems and knowledge in Erasmus+ capacity building in higher education partnerships
Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education supports higher education partnerships between the Global South and the Global North. This article analyses agenda setting of the instrument, using policy and governance documents as data. To justify the need for E + CBHE, the EU constructs problems Global South HEIs struggle with, drawing upon globalised discourses of the neoliberal economy and modernity. Research-based knowledges and Southern knowl…
Thinking otherwise about internationalisation: Mad Libbing a biased field
Theorisation of higher education internationalisation is biased both as a Western activity and as Euro-/Anglocentric and Anglophone research. In this article, we first argue that it is necessary to ‘think otherwise’ about internationalisation. We then present theorisations of how this could be achieved. As our analysis, we conduct a Mad Libs exercise of two internationalisation documents in which we replace the word ‘international’ and its deriva…
Introduction: Alternative internationalisms
This special issue is the result of three years of conversations and scholarly exchange, emerging from the Alternative Internationalisms working group of the ‘European Universities – Critical Futures’ project. This project, led by Professor Susan Wright and funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, allowed for the development of a network of seventeen European research centres, including both senior and early stage researchers, with the st…
(Un)wanted bodies and the internationalisation of higher education
In this paper, we foreground the bodies of students and academics in studies of the internationalisation of higher education (IHE) and consider how internationalisation processes are shaped by embodiment and the geographies of (em)placement. Over the past 20 years, IHE has been extensively discussed within academic and policy circles. Such accounts have often been dominated by macro-level concerns. Within these discourses, the international mobil…
Emplacing English as lingua franca in international higher education: A spatial perspective on linguistic diversity
Within higher education, internationalisation is increasingly important for students and academics alike. In this context, English as the lingua franca has gained prominence. The ostensible ubiquity of English rests on a particular rendering of the language as unitary, fixed, and undifferentiated. In this paper, we challenge this notion of English and use a spatial approach to explore the multiplicity of Englishes on display within the higher edu…
Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost and Matteo Bonotti: Brexit, Language Policy and Linguistic Diversity
Higher Education, Language and New Nationalism in Finland: Recycled Histories
Integrating a Nexus: The history of political discourse and language policy research
Historians of political discourse and language policy researchers should join forces to develop methods of textual analysis that help to integrate political and intellectual history. They could do so by focusing their analysis on interconnections between material realities, human physical action, practices and structures, as well as institutions and ideologies as discursive constructs. Such a version of soft constructivism underscoring the discur…
Multi-sited and historically layered language policy construction: Parliamentary debate on the Finnish constitutional bilingualism in 1919
Multilayered perspectives on language policy in higher education: Finland, Estonia, and Latvia in comparison
This article analyses language policies in higher education (HE) in Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, as well as the European Union (EU). We take a multilayered approach to language policies in order to illuminate the intertwined nature of local, national, and international language policies in HE. We are particularly interested in the construction of national language(s) and the language(s) of internationalisation in our case countries. Finland, Est…
Language policies in Finland and Sweden: Interdisciplinary and Multi-Sited Comparisons
In this volume, authors from four disciplines join forces to develop an analysis of political discourse on a comparative and multidisciplinary basis. Language policy is often based on the political use of history, where the remembrance of past experiences by communities, individuals and historical bodies play a fundamental role. These authors see politics and policies as multi-sited by nature, taking place, being constructed, contested and reprod…
Language Policies in Finland and Sweden: Interdisciplinary and Multi-sited Comparisons
Constructions of bilingualism in Finnish Government programmes and a newspaper discussion site debate
The concept of bilingualism in Finnish political discourse is predominantly used in the meaning of official or state bilingualism, focusing on the two constitutionally defined ‘national languages'; that is, Finnish and Swedish. Legally, both Finnish and Swedish-speakers have a right for public services, such as schooling or health care, in their first language. On the other hand, several language ideological debates have taken place in recent yea…
Dominant and emerging approaches in the study of higher education policy change
The purpose of the article is to analyse recent literature on higher education policy change. Based on the review, three different approaches are distinguished: structural, actor and agency. In the structural approach the dynamic of policy change originates in well-established structures. The actor approach focuses on either individual or institutional actors as the drivers of policy change. The agency approach understands higher education policy…
Internationalization of Finnish higher education - is language an issue
Finland is among the countries with the highest amount of English-taught programmes in higher education in Europe (Wächter and Maiworm 2008). This article analyses, how the higher education language situation of a small country with a marginal majority language (Finnish) and an official bilingual status (Finnish and Swedish) has historically developed from the setting of “drawing the line” between Finland and Sweden or Finland and Russia (Harle a…
Brève histoire de la qualité dans la politique européenne de l'enseignement supérieur: Analyse des discours sur la qualité et de leurs conséquences sur les changements de politique
Cet article dresse l’historique du caractère polysémique de la qualité dans les documents sur le processus de Bologne depuis la fin des années 1990. Quels sens lui sont-ils donnés ? Comment est-elle représentée ? Quelles valeurs lui sont-elles liées ? L’article analyse ensuite les initiatives prises en son nom. Quel acteur de l’enseignement supérieur est-il mis en avant au nom de la qualité ? Qui est relégué au second plan ? Quelle initiative est…
Persuasive presuppositions in OECD and EU higher education policy documents
The article analyses presuppositions in higher education policy documents of the OECD and the European Union from the point of view of their persuasiveness. Presuppositions set the assumed common ground, which in turn sets the frame of interpretation of texts. However, by presenting something as common ground, presuppositions also shape our views of the reality. Used in this way, presuppositions can be used to present contested views, which would…
Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research
The article sets out to address the position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research, both from theoretical and methodological points of view. Theoretically, the article presents policy processes as discursive processes, arguing that higher education policies are constructed discursively. Methodologically, the article suggests that when policy documents are used as data, as is often the case in higher education policy r…
Whose quality? Social actors in the interface of transnational and national higher education policy
The article analyzes the construction of national reactions to a transnational higher education policy from the point of view of the representation of social actors in policy documents. The data are provided by the so-called Bologna Process, particularly the development of comparable quality assurance systems, and Finnish responses to those demands. Who is represented as active and who as passive, as European policies are discursively translated …
Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research
The article sets out to address the position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research, both from theoretical and methodological points of view. Theoretically, the article presents policy processes as discursive processes, arguing that higher education policies are constructed discursively. Methodologically, the article suggests that when policy documents are used as data, as is often the case in higher education policy r…
Persuasive presuppositions in OECD and EU higher education policy documents
The article analyses presuppositions in higher education policy documents of the OECD and the European Union from the point of view of their persuasiveness. Presuppositions set the assumed common ground, which in turn sets the frame of interpretation of texts. However, by presenting something as common ground, presuppositions also shape our views of the reality. Used in this way, presuppositions can be used to present contested views, which would…
Constructions of bilingualism in Finnish Government programmes and a newspaper discussion site debate
The concept of bilingualism in Finnish political discourse is predominantly used in the meaning of official or state bilingualism, focusing on the two constitutionally defined ‘national languages'; that is, Finnish and Swedish. Legally, both Finnish and Swedish-speakers have a right for public services, such as schooling or health care, in their first language. On the other hand, several language ideological debates have taken place in recent yea…
Dominant and emerging approaches in the study of higher education policy change
The purpose of the article is to analyse recent literature on higher education policy change. Based on the review, three different approaches are distinguished: structural, actor and agency. In the structural approach the dynamic of policy change originates in well-established structures. The actor approach focuses on either individual or institutional actors as the drivers of policy change. The agency approach understands higher education policy…
Internationalization of Finnish higher education - is language an issue
Finland is among the countries with the highest amount of English-taught programmes in higher education in Europe (Wächter and Maiworm 2008). This article analyses, how the higher education language situation of a small country with a marginal majority language (Finnish) and an official bilingual status (Finnish and Swedish) has historically developed from the setting of “drawing the line” between Finland and Sweden or Finland and Russia (Harle a…
Integrating a Nexus: The history of political discourse and language policy research
Historians of political discourse and language policy researchers should join forces to develop methods of textual analysis that help to integrate political and intellectual history. They could do so by focusing their analysis on interconnections between material realities, human physical action, practices and structures, as well as institutions and ideologies as discursive constructs. Such a version of soft constructivism underscoring the discur…
Multilayered perspectives on language policy in higher education: Finland, Estonia, and Latvia in comparison
This article analyses language policies in higher education (HE) in Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, as well as the European Union (EU). We take a multilayered approach to language policies in order to illuminate the intertwined nature of local, national, and international language policies in HE. We are particularly interested in the construction of national language(s) and the language(s) of internationalisation in our case countries. Finland, Est…
Whose quality? Social actors in the interface of transnational and national higher education policy
The article analyzes the construction of national reactions to a transnational higher education policy from the point of view of the representation of social actors in policy documents. The data are provided by the so-called Bologna Process, particularly the development of comparable quality assurance systems, and Finnish responses to those demands. Who is represented as active and who as passive, as European policies are discursively translated …
(Un)wanted bodies and the internationalisation of higher education
In this paper, we foreground the bodies of students and academics in studies of the internationalisation of higher education (IHE) and consider how internationalisation processes are shaped by embodiment and the geographies of (em)placement. Over the past 20 years, IHE has been extensively discussed within academic and policy circles. Such accounts have often been dominated by macro-level concerns. Within these discourses, the international mobil…
Emplacing English as lingua franca in international higher education: A spatial perspective on linguistic diversity
Within higher education, internationalisation is increasingly important for students and academics alike. In this context, English as the lingua franca has gained prominence. The ostensible ubiquity of English rests on a particular rendering of the language as unitary, fixed, and undifferentiated. In this paper, we challenge this notion of English and use a spatial approach to explore the multiplicity of Englishes on display within the higher edu…
Brève histoire de la qualité dans la politique européenne de l'enseignement supérieur: Analyse des discours sur la qualité et de leurs conséquences sur les changements de politique
Cet article dresse l’historique du caractère polysémique de la qualité dans les documents sur le processus de Bologne depuis la fin des années 1990. Quels sens lui sont-ils donnés ? Comment est-elle représentée ? Quelles valeurs lui sont-elles liées ? L’article analyse ensuite les initiatives prises en son nom. Quel acteur de l’enseignement supérieur est-il mis en avant au nom de la qualité ? Qui est relégué au second plan ? Quelle initiative est…
Persuasive presuppositions in OECD and EU higher education policy documents
The article analyses presuppositions in higher education policy documents of the OECD and the European Union from the point of view of their persuasiveness. Presuppositions set the assumed common ground, which in turn sets the frame of interpretation of texts. However, by presenting something as common ground, presuppositions also shape our views of the reality. Used in this way, presuppositions can be used to present contested views, which would…
Position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research
The article sets out to address the position of text and discourse analysis in higher education policy research, both from theoretical and methodological points of view. Theoretically, the article presents policy processes as discursive processes, arguing that higher education policies are constructed discursively. Methodologically, the article suggests that when policy documents are used as data, as is often the case in higher education policy r…
Whose quality? Social actors in the interface of transnational and national higher education policy
The article analyzes the construction of national reactions to a transnational higher education policy from the point of view of the representation of social actors in policy documents. The data are provided by the so-called Bologna Process, particularly the development of comparable quality assurance systems, and Finnish responses to those demands. Who is represented as active and who as passive, as European policies are discursively translated …
Brève histoire de la qualité dans la politique européenne de l'enseignement supérieur: Analyse des discours sur la qualité et de leurs conséquences sur les changements de politique
Cet article dresse l’historique du caractère polysémique de la qualité dans les documents sur le processus de Bologne depuis la fin des années 1990. Quels sens lui sont-ils donnés ? Comment est-elle représentée ? Quelles valeurs lui sont-elles liées ? L’article analyse ensuite les initiatives prises en son nom. Quel acteur de l’enseignement supérieur est-il mis en avant au nom de la qualité ? Qui est relégué au second plan ? Quelle initiative est…
Dominant and emerging approaches in the study of higher education policy change
The purpose of the article is to analyse recent literature on higher education policy change. Based on the review, three different approaches are distinguished: structural, actor and agency. In the structural approach the dynamic of policy change originates in well-established structures. The actor approach focuses on either individual or institutional actors as the drivers of policy change. The agency approach understands higher education policy…
Internationalization of Finnish higher education - is language an issue
Finland is among the countries with the highest amount of English-taught programmes in higher education in Europe (Wächter and Maiworm 2008). This article analyses, how the higher education language situation of a small country with a marginal majority language (Finnish) and an official bilingual status (Finnish and Swedish) has historically developed from the setting of “drawing the line” between Finland and Sweden or Finland and Russia (Harle a…
Language Policies in Finland and Sweden: Interdisciplinary and Multi-sited Comparisons
Constructions of bilingualism in Finnish Government programmes and a newspaper discussion site debate
The concept of bilingualism in Finnish political discourse is predominantly used in the meaning of official or state bilingualism, focusing on the two constitutionally defined ‘national languages'; that is, Finnish and Swedish. Legally, both Finnish and Swedish-speakers have a right for public services, such as schooling or health care, in their first language. On the other hand, several language ideological debates have taken place in recent yea…
Language policies in Finland and Sweden: Interdisciplinary and Multi-Sited Comparisons
In this volume, authors from four disciplines join forces to develop an analysis of political discourse on a comparative and multidisciplinary basis. Language policy is often based on the political use of history, where the remembrance of past experiences by communities, individuals and historical bodies play a fundamental role. These authors see politics and policies as multi-sited by nature, taking place, being constructed, contested and reprod…
Multilayered perspectives on language policy in higher education: Finland, Estonia, and Latvia in comparison
This article analyses language policies in higher education (HE) in Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, as well as the European Union (EU). We take a multilayered approach to language policies in order to illuminate the intertwined nature of local, national, and international language policies in HE. We are particularly interested in the construction of national language(s) and the language(s) of internationalisation in our case countries. Finland, Est…
Multi-sited and historically layered language policy construction: Parliamentary debate on the Finnish constitutional bilingualism in 1919
Integrating a Nexus: The history of political discourse and language policy research
Historians of political discourse and language policy researchers should join forces to develop methods of textual analysis that help to integrate political and intellectual history. They could do so by focusing their analysis on interconnections between material realities, human physical action, practices and structures, as well as institutions and ideologies as discursive constructs. Such a version of soft constructivism underscoring the discur…
Diarmait Mac Giolla Chríost and Matteo Bonotti: Brexit, Language Policy and Linguistic Diversity
Higher Education, Language and New Nationalism in Finland: Recycled Histories
Emplacing English as lingua franca in international higher education: A spatial perspective on linguistic diversity
Within higher education, internationalisation is increasingly important for students and academics alike. In this context, English as the lingua franca has gained prominence. The ostensible ubiquity of English rests on a particular rendering of the language as unitary, fixed, and undifferentiated. In this paper, we challenge this notion of English and use a spatial approach to explore the multiplicity of Englishes on display within the higher edu…
(Un)wanted bodies and the internationalisation of higher education
In this paper, we foreground the bodies of students and academics in studies of the internationalisation of higher education (IHE) and consider how internationalisation processes are shaped by embodiment and the geographies of (em)placement. Over the past 20 years, IHE has been extensively discussed within academic and policy circles. Such accounts have often been dominated by macro-level concerns. Within these discourses, the international mobil…
Thinking otherwise about internationalisation: Mad Libbing a biased field
Theorisation of higher education internationalisation is biased both as a Western activity and as Euro-/Anglocentric and Anglophone research. In this article, we first argue that it is necessary to ‘think otherwise’ about internationalisation. We then present theorisations of how this could be achieved. As our analysis, we conduct a Mad Libs exercise of two internationalisation documents in which we replace the word ‘international’ and its deriva…
Introduction: Alternative internationalisms
This special issue is the result of three years of conversations and scholarly exchange, emerging from the Alternative Internationalisms working group of the ‘European Universities – Critical Futures’ project. This project, led by Professor Susan Wright and funded by the Independent Research Fund Denmark, allowed for the development of a network of seventeen European research centres, including both senior and early stage researchers, with the st…
Discursive framing of policy problems and knowledge in Erasmus+ capacity building in higher education partnerships
Erasmus+ Capacity Building in Higher Education supports higher education partnerships between the Global South and the Global North. This article analyses agenda setting of the instrument, using policy and governance documents as data. To justify the need for E + CBHE, the EU constructs problems Global South HEIs struggle with, drawing upon globalised discourses of the neoliberal economy and modernity. Research-based knowledges and Southern knowl…
Political science (14 works) · Sociology (14 works) · Law (10 works) · Linguistics (10 works) · Higher Education Governance and Development (8 works) · Global Educational Policies and Reforms (7 works) · Politics (7 works) · Law (6 works) · Philosophy (6 works) · Economics (5 works)