Coordination Funds

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Guido Bünstorf
• Subject Area: Sociological Theory ; Operations Management and Computer Science for Business Administration ; Economic Policy, Applied Economics
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 447967785

Prior to the completion of the first phase, the research group (FOR 5234) generated important interim results on the three research questions that are central to each participating project and to the group as a whole. The questions are: how do actors position themselves in multiple competition? What internal and external dynamics does multiple competition unfold? What are the consequences of multiple competition with regard to changes at the level of actors and the overall system? Central findings and cross-project activities from the first project phase will be presented. In the second phase, the focus will be expanded to include questions of the internationalization of the German system and international comparisons. On the one hand, this involves fundamental questions about the scope of theoretical statements and empirical results on multiple competition; on the other hand, the work done so far in the sub-projects has led to more far-reaching questions that go beyond the previous research design and require an international focus. In this context, we divide the projects into the sub-fields "Internationalization" and "International Comparison." For the four projects in the sub-field "Internationalization," the research is guided by the assumption that there are developments that transcend the national framework at all relevant levels but that the national framework continues to be formative with regard to individual careers, organizational positioning and institutional configurations. Data collection in these sub-projects continues to take place primarily in Germany. In the six international comparative projects, questions of multiple competition in the face of different institutional configurations are to be addressed by contrasting similarities and differences with other national systems, and the specifics of the German case are to be captured even better than before. In these projects, the empirical data is collected in particular with reference to other national systems, which also includes data collection abroad. Both sub-fields will be analyzed in an encompassing way by covering actors in multiple competition on and between the levels of individual, scientific community, organization and state. As a result of the findings from the first phase, the state is added here as a fourth level. The focus on questions of positioning, dynamics and consequences of multiple competition is maintained, albeit now with a view to internationalization and international comparisons. The fruitful interdisciplinary collaboration between sociology and economics will be maintained as well. It is to be expected that the broadened international view will be of high relevance not only with regard to higher education and science studies but also with regard to higher education and science policy, which is increasingly to be located in an international or global frame of reference.

• DFG Programme: Research Units
• Subproject of: FOR 5234: Multiple Competition in Higher Education. Internationalization and International Comparisons