After Bologna: Gender Studies in Entrepreneurial Universities

The current restructuring of higher education institutes as entrepreneurial universities not only effects their internal organisational structures and their relations to external actors; significantly, it involves also changes in the production of scientific knowledge and thus, in scientific knowledge itself. The proposed project "Gender Studies in entrepreneurial universities" focuses on this level of knowledge. It deals with the new gender studies curricula that have been installed in Austria, Germany, and Switzerland since 1997, i.e. at almost the same time the "Bologna" reform was launched. The project assumes that the implementation of gender studies leads to the emergence of path-dependent, local "institutional hybrids" (Richard Münch) linking "Bologna" requirements with the objectives of gender studies. By carrying out qualitative, actor-centered, comparative case studies on the implementation process of gender studies, the project will assess (1) the knowledge, the issues and topical questions, the theories, methods and fields of application that have entered the curricula and are thus presented as relevant scientific knowledge on gender, (2) the negotiation processes that started even before the implementation process and accompanied it, (3) the actors usually involved in the process, and (4) the impact of the imperatives of the "enterpreneurial university" and the "Bologna" reforms on the present gender studies curricula.

During the last few decades, the countries of Germany, Austria, and Switzerland restructured their academic systems: on the one hand universities acquired an autonomous status; on the other hand the Bologna reform was implemented. While the old system before Bologna was characterized by Humboldts educational ideal, which emphasizes a general and holistic form of education, the new system after Bologna focuses on skills-based learning and teaching and is oriented towards the idea of an entrepreneurial university. Hence, the new Bachelor and Master curricula are supposed to list the competences taught during the course of study. Mostly, these competences are application-oriented or oriented towards increased employability in the labour market. The research project After Bologna investigated one example of these academic reforms, namely the new gender studies curricula that have been installed in Austria and Switzerland since 2005, i.e. almost concurrently with the launch of the Bologna reform. The project aimed at answering several research questions: Firstly, which topics and fields of application were introduced into the new gender studies curricula; and how do these study programs present themselves in official documents? The Bologna reform requires curricula to indicate the competences taught in the study programs courses. We found out that the gender studies curricula are clearly oriented towards these requirements. Especially, there is an emphasis on application-oriented aspects of gender studies and gender competence classes are in many cases part of the compulsory courses. On the other hand, gender studies are portrayed as critical studies critical of society in general and academic practice in particular. Gender studies curricula and other media of self presentation do not portray practical applicability and a critical attitude as being incompatible with each other. Rather, they are portrayed as interrelated key characteristics of gender studies. Secondly, the project aimed at identifying the specific processes of negotiation, the organizational structures, and the resources that are characteristic for gender studies at each of the universities. In this context we were also concerned with the impact of the imperatives of the Bologna reforms on the implementation of the new gender studies curricula. We found out that the Bologna reform opened a window of opportunity for new and interdisciplinary curricula such as gender studies programs during the first decade of the twenty-first century. University administrations expected gender studies to contribute to the universities profiles, hoping for an advantage in the competitive struggle for resources with other universities. Simultaneously, the Bologna reform is viewed as a threat to existing gender studies programs which were introduced before Bologna, e.g. in the form of certificates. As a result, the Bologna reform can be seen as both a window of opportunity and a necessity to implement gender studies curricula in the form of BA and MA programs due to its potential threat to older forms of gender studies programs.