Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, volume 27 number 2, pages 299-308. The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain Edited by John Pratt Symposium Books, Oxford May 2004, paperback, 148 pages £24, US$38 Those of us raised in the Anglo-US tradition, dominant amongst wealthy countries, often find it difficult to understand the very different arrangements in other, even wealthy European countries. One difference which is important for higher education in common with the rest of society is the very different roles of the state. The state and cooperative arrangements between national and regional governments, labour and employers are much stronger in much of continental Europe than in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the UK and the US. This strong cooperation and coordination between governments and their ‘social partners’, often known as the corporatist state, produces a generally high alignment of higher education, training, employment and the economy. Hall & Soskice (2001) describe these arrangements as coordinated market economies and contrast them with the liberal market economies of the Anglo countries which rely more on the market to sort and match graduates and employment. The differences between the Anglo and continental European traditions are big enough to make comparisons difficult if interesting, and make the transfer of policies and arrangements between the traditions even more difficult and unlikely. Nonetheless, in 1993 Austria adopted a major change to its vocational education borrowed from or at least inspired by the UK, and The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain describes how this was done. Austria was unusual amongst European countries in having a tiny non university sector of tertiary education. In 1990-01 only 18,700 students were enrolled in non university post secondary education, which was only 9% of the 200,000 students enrolled in universities (Pratt, 2004a: 14). In contrast non university tertiary education enrolled more students than universities in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the UK, and non university tertiary institutions in Canada and the US enrolled about half the number of students in 4-year institutions or universities. In 1990 the then new Austrian government coalition of Social Democrats and Conservatives decided to establish a new non university sector of ‘Fachakademien’ (academies of higher vocational studies) to relieve the enrolment pressure on the universities and the financial pressure on the federal government, which provides all universities’ funding (no tuition fee is charged). The obvious model for Austria’s new sector of higher vocational education was neighbouring Germany’s Fachhochschulen (polytechnics) but the government preferred a less regulated approach and looked to the UK’s polytechnic sector for inspiration. The key concept was the UK’s Council for National and Academic Awards, which accredited and validated degrees awarded by polytechnics. While this is a familiar enough institution in Aotearoa New Zealand, Australia and the UK, it was entirely foreign to Austria. In Austria universities are state bodies, in some respects having a relationship with the government similar to state or public secondary schools. The federal Austrian government specifies university programs, student entry requirements, curriculum structures, study requirements, and the types and details of examinations (International Bureau of Education, 2003). Since the federal Ministry for Science and Research is responsible for Austrian universities’ program approval, accreditation, quality control and funding, there is no split between purchaser and provider. The Austrian government decided to establish just such a split in establishing its Fachhochschul (higher vocational education) sector. It established the Fachhochschulrat, a council to accredit Fachhochschul programs which was importantly and controversially independent of all federal ministries. Any existing institution such as a school or a university or a body established specifically for the purpose could propose a Fachhochschul program. If accredited by the Fachhochschulrat and then approved for funding by the federal Ministry for Science and Research the federal Government provided 90% of the standard funding rate for the program on condition that the balance was provided by one of the program’s sponsors, normally a Bundesländer (regional or provincial) government. Austria’s new Fachhochschul sector has been a considerable success. It has grown strongly to over 17,000 students and commencing students are now about one third of university commencements (Pratt, 2004a:15). Even so, demand for Fachhochschul places still considerably exceeds supply (Pfeffer, 2004: 86). As Pratt (2004a: 15) says, this is all the more surprising since Austria introduced its new Fachhochschul sector ostensibly modelled on the UK’s polytechnics after the UK government legislated to abolish the binary divide on which the sector was based and allow polytechnics to apply for designation as a universities. Furthermore, the Austrian institution which was most closely modelled on a UK analogue, the Fachhochschulrat, was in fact based on a misunderstanding of the nature and role of the UK’s Council for National and Academic Awards (Pratt, 2004b: 111). This makes the success of the policy transfer more mystifying. Pratt (2004b: 113) explains the conundrum of Austria’s successful transfer of policy from a misunderstanding of a discontinued arrangement in a very dissimilar country by referring to Rose’s (1991: 22) ways of drawing a lesson. Rose’s ways of drawing a lesson Copying More or less complete adoption of a program already established in another jurisdiction. Emulation Adaptation of a program already established in another jurisdiction. Hybridisation Combination of elements from programs from 2 different places. Synthesis Combination of elements programs from 3 or more different places. Inspiration Another’s program stimulates the development of a novel program without an analogue. Source: Rose (1991: 22), cited in Pratt (2004b: 113) Pratt (2004b: 112) concludes that in establishing its new Fachhochschul sector Austria drew a lesson from UK by inspiration rather than from a more direct form of transfer. The main analytical interest of The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain is its contribution to the understanding of policy transfer. Pratt contributes an analytical review of some of the main features of the policy transfer literature and Pratt, Pechar & Worgan’s chapter analyses the case study insightfully. The literature and analysis informed the description of the case study so major themes are developed throughout the book. However, I suspect the book’s main contribution is as an insightful and analytical case study rather than major new theoretical insights into policy transfer. The book comprises 8 chapters written by 4 different authors. Unlike most collections of chapters by different authors, this book develops a consistent argument, it is exceptionally well integrated and flows coherently from chapter to chapter. The different authors are a strength of the book, contributing different expertise, perspectives, and a different tone within a generally well edited text. But the book does share 2 annoyances of collections. Notes and references are given at the end of each chapter rather than collected together at the end of the book. If a book is to have footnotes I prefer them at the foot of the relevant page so they may be easily consulted. The second annoyance is the lack of an index. However, there is a useful chronology and Thomas Pfeffer contributed an excellent glossary which is particularly helpful for those unfamiliar with Austrian education and German. Gavin Moodie Griffith University, Australia References Hall, Peter A & Soskice, David (2001) An introduction to varieties of capitalism in Hall & Soskice (eds) Varieties of capitalism: the institutional foundations of comparative advantage, Oxford: Oxford University Press, pp 1-68. International Bureau of Education (2003) Austria, Country dossiers, UNESCO, http://www.ibe.unesco.org/International/Databanks/Dossiers/mainfram.htm Pechar, Hans (2004) Should Austria establish a non-university sector? 1969-1990, in Pratt, John (2004) The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain, Oxford: Symposium Books, pp 73-94. Pfeffer, Thomas (2004) The development of the Fachhochschul-sector 1994-2002, in Pratt, John (2004) The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain, Oxford: Symposium Books, pp 13-16. Pratt, John (2004a) A new sector in Austrian higher education, in Pratt, John (2004) The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain, Oxford: Symposium Books, pp 13-16. Pratt, John (2004b) The accreditation model and policy transfer, in Pratt, John (2004) The ‘accreditation model’: policy transfer in higher education in Austria and Britain, Oxford: Symposium Books, pp 107-127. Rose, R (1991) What is lesson drawing?, Journal of Public Policy, 11, pp 3-30.