ABSTRACT
From the first, in selecting the business schools that we later visited, we put a strong emphasis on questions pertaining to whether the integration of the humanities and social sciences into management education was part of the school’s strategy and, if so, on what level, by whom and in what manner strategic discussions about it were conducted, who was responsible for strategic decisions and how such decisions, if taken, were being implemented. There were especially two issues which were diagnosed as seriously difficult by our interviewees across all the schools in terms of organisation and governance: first, the management of reform processes under the conditions imposed by the academic privilege of freedom of teaching and research, and second, the influence of external contextual factors, including political regulations and expectations, financial limitations not under the control of the university itself and, not least, the pressures exerted by international standardisation through rankings and accreditations.
