Trusting in Higher Education: A Multifaceted Discussion of Trust in and for Higher Education in Norway and the United Kingdom

This multidisciplinary book brings together scholars from Norway and the UK to discuss the notion of trust within the structures and forms of higher education located in two distinctive localities. The meaning of trust is multi-variant and nuanced, but is omnipresent in the literature on higher education ranging from student engagement to policy exhortations. A key feature of this book is the effort to integrate the term ‘trust’ conceptually, functionally and phenomenological more generally as well as within the context of higher education. Practice from within Norway and the UK is used to illustrate and expose relevant similarities and varieties in trust and the (possible) lack of it within the sector. The book thus faces the complexity of trust and its distinctive manifestation through a number of analytical lenses and realities.

Peter Maassen is professor in higher education studies at the University of Oslo (UiO), Norway, extraordinary professor at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and fellow at the Steinhardt Institute for Higher Education Policy, New York University, USA. His main research interests are in the area of the governance of higher education and science. Before moving to Norway in 2000, he was acting director of the Center for Higher Education Policy Studies (CHEPS), University of Twente, the Netherlands. He has participated in many national and international expert committees and evaluation panels in higher education, is currently a member of the Executive Board of Barratt Due Music Academy in Oslo, and has produced over 200 international academic publications.