The typical dilemma between university expansion and rationalization: Belgium and Finland since 1960s

Kirjoittajat

• Pieter Dhondt Itä-Suomen yliopisto
• Arto Nevala

Abstrakti

Immediately after the abolition in 1814 of the academies of Brussels and Liège, a struggle broke out in the Southern Netherlands between several cities to secure the establishment of a university within their walls. Particularly the advocates of Leuven and Brussels pushed forward the ideal of one university, although it appeared to be impossible to reach a consensus about where to establish this single university. From the start, the ideal met with all kinds of conflicting local interests. However, the idea of one university actually never left the scene again. Certainly in reaction to the university expansion in the 1960s and the subsequent need of rationalization of the university landscape from the 1970s, the idea of one university (in this period for Flanders) gained in attraction again. By comparing the debate in Belgium with that in Finland, the article will make clear that the outcome of the discussions was not determined by arguments with regard to pedagogy and science, but rather by local, regional, ideological, economic and not the least political priorities, which besides, changed only very little during the whole period.