Konferenzbeitrag bei der 10. EU-SPRI Konferenz (10.6.2021)
Effects of funding on the stratification of universities. Comparing Europe with the United States
Abstract: This paper argues that stratified structures in university systems should be addressed more explicitly in debates on research funding in the context of higher education (HE). Is a steeply stratified academic system with a stable set of distinguished elite institutions the best answer to the growing demand for knowledge in democratic and globalized societies? The paper connects findings from three streams of literature: (a) network analysis in quantitative science studies, (b) resource concentration in the US-American HE system, and (c) research to construct and analyse a common database for European higher education institutions (HEIs). The literature on US-American research universities reveals a crystalline hierarchy with intense competition for scientific talent at the top but little opportunity for upward institutional and personal mobility. We conclude that while there seem to be large cumulative advantages in terms of research output and prestige to be gained by differentiating a segment of outstanding elite organizations, rich-core ordering as characteristic of the US-American system also presents challenges for the role of science in liberal democracies: intellectual closure through control of faculty positions by a small number of central HEIs, and social closure through a failure to significantly expand the supply of the best research-based education to meet increasing demand.
