In Sweden recent education policy has been aimed at the reform of higher education. This study is concerned with the political decisionmaking process in which a variety of public demands were articulated and reconciled in legislation for reform. It has three purposes: (1) analysis of this decisionmaking process; (2) reconstruction of the higher…

A study of the evolution of the reform of Swedish higher education is summarized. The study focuses on the goals, dimensions, and organization of the change, discussed in the context of state intervention, public policy, planning, and authority in European higher education. Three theories of the development of higher education (interventionist,…