10.12759/HSR.44.2019.2.247-269
Huber, Michael
Michael
Huber
Hillebrandt, Maarten
Maarten
Hillebrandt
“Pay for Promise” in Higher Education: The Influence of NPM on Resource Allocation in German Universities
‘Bezahlung für Versprechen‘ im Hochschulwesen: Der Einfluss des NPM auf die Ressourcenverteilung in deutschen Universitäten
GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences
2019
Quantification
key indicators
NPM
German higher education
performance-based budgeting
2019-09-13
2019
en
https://www.gesis.org/en/hsr/full-text-archive/2019/442-governing-by-numbers
0172-6404
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com/eds/detail/detail?vid=21&sid=7010ea0d-cdd7-427f-bf94-fffeb8e807ba%40sessionmgr101&bdata=Jmxhbmc9ZGUmc2l0ZT1lZHMtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=edsgso.61875&db=edsgso
1.0
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
Historical Social Research, 44(2), 247-269
Quantification as a way to govern by numbers has colonised all sectors of modern societies. In the German higher education sector, a Performance-Based Resource Allocation scheme (commonly referred to as Leistungsorientierte Mittelverteilung – LOM for short) has steadily been developed since the 1990s. In an organisational context characterised by increasing international competition and internal differentiation, universities and their regulators have embraced the notion of smart resource allocation through performance indicators. At the same time, the sector has historically been characterised by a traditional cameralistic resource allocation mechanism, where the interactions between the main finan-ciers (state governments), and beneficiaries (universities) were underpinned by a desire to ensure continuity and predictability. Based on empirical evidence, we outline how the university has transformed from a bureaucratic public service deliverer to an adaptable organisation that is supposed to learn from quantified information. This perspective allows for the discussion of quantification as a contemporary steering mechanism.
Historical Social Research Vol. 44, No. 2 (2019)