Policy implementation in higher education: an ideographic case study

Abstract

The research presented in this study considers policy implementation from an ideographic basis. The study focuses on a planned implementation initiative to introduce a learning outcomes paradigm within a university to implement policy related to Bologna and the implementation of the Irish National Framework of Qualifications. By adopting an ideographic approach to policy this study suggests that policy is not a static conception, policy is made and remade as it is encoded, interpreted and actioned by implementers. A processual/contextualist perspective to implementation is applied within this study drawn from the literature of organisational change. The research focuses on considering how policy is implemented in practice by those at two levels on the implementation staircase within the institution. The study is, therefore, a traditional implementation study focusing on the how of implementation; the study does not evaluate the outcomes of evaluation against the objectives of the reform.

An objective of this study was to complete an intrinsic case study within the researcher’s university in the Republic of Ireland as a piece of independent institutional research. The findings of this study include the development of a case which adds to the empirical research into the institutional implementation of Bologna. A further finding of this study, relates to the application of processual/contextualist perspective to the study of policy implementation. This study suggests that this perspective provides a constructive means by which an ideographic policy analysis can be conducted.