ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to answer the question of what motivates governments to introduce and implement reforms in higher education (HE). It addresses the question whether this relationship between employers, universities and governments can also explain the diverging policy changes in Poland and Hungary. The chapter contributes to the literature on skill formation in Central and Eastern Europe and to the literature on political economy focusing on this part of the world. It explains the emergence and the evolution of the two contrasting models of HE governance and argues that political parties in government have been driven by political motivations when regulating HE. The argument that universities have become even more teaching-oriented is a strong criticism of HE developments, especially for the quality of education provided in these institutions. Poland is a more liberal dependent market economy, and the skills provided by universities tend to be more general, which resembles the HE system in the UK.
