The Design Of The University

What is the reason for the American university's global preeminence? How did the American university succeed where the development of the German university, from which it took so much, stalled? In this closely-argued book, Meyer suggests that the key to the American university's success is its institutional design of self-government. Where other university systems are dependent on the patronage of state, church, or market, the American university is the first to achieve true autonomy, which it attained through an intricate system of engagements with societal actors and institutions that simultaneously act as amplifiers of its impact and as checks on the university's ever-present corrosive tendencies. Built on a searching analysis of the design thinking of Wilhelm von Humboldt and Adam Smith and closely tracing the learning process by which Americans adapted the German model, The Design of the University dismisses efforts to copy superficial features of the American university in order to achieve world-class rank. Calling attention to the design details of the university and the particulars of its institutional environment, this volume identifies the practices and choices that produced the gold standard for today's world class higher education. Review: Thanks to an in-depth historical-comparative analysis of the German and American systems, Meyer succeeds in showing that the design features that account for the strengths of the American university are far more complex than is assumed in these efforts. A must-read for everyone interested to understand the past and possible perils of the globalization of the university. --Edward P. St. John, Algo D. Henderson Collegiate Professor of Higher Education, University of Michigan, USA This is a great book that makes a significant contribution to comparative studies in higher education, in particular to the growing literature on institutional and policy transfer, in which it will find a secure place as a result of its sophisticated analysis of complex cross-national influence involving the American and German concepts of a university. --David Phillips, Professor Emeritus of Comparative Education, University of Oxford, UK This book provides a fascinating account of how the American university both surpasses and perfects Humboldt's model as the basis for the modern research university. This highly readable investigation offers an important counter-narrative to the model of the 'national' university (constructed around state control and funding) and the recent 'world-class' discourse emphasizing de-contextualized 'one best way' models of global excellence. True excellence, Meyer argues, is based on incremental institutional learning through a sustainable conversation in which scholars, not managers are in the drivers' seat. --Michael A. Peters, Professor of Education, University of Waikato, New Zealand, and Emeritus Professor in Educational Policy, Organization, and Leadership, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA Meyer demonstrates how the American university both extends and overcomes some of the key deficits of Smith's and Humboldt's models. The book instructively combines organizational sociology with an historical and comparative approach. A fine book! --Horst Kern, Professor of Sociology and President Emeritus of Georgia-Augusta University, Goettingen, Germany