ABSTRACT
Although “system policy” is among the most popular areas for research in higher education (Tight, 2003), the use of frameworks to study higher education policy and governance rooted in public administration and public policy, sociology or political science is rare, although there are notable exceptions. This is partly due to the nature of higher education as a field of study. Tight (2004) aptly qualifies this field as an a-theoretical community of practice: the broader engagement with theory is absent and theoretical perspectives are merely implicit.
