Policy advice and expertise in higher education policymaking in Algeria and Scotland: a comparative case study (1999-2020)

This comparative case study analysed how Algeria and Scotland harnessed the expertiseoffered by their respective policy communities (e.g. think tanks, industry umbrellaorganisations, academic researchers, student representatives, societal interest groups, politicalparties, lobby groups, government, and the higher education sector itself) to inform the policymaking process in three higher education policy areas for each country developed between1999 and 2020. In Algeria, the designated higher education policies were the Bachelor, Mastersand Doctorate (BMD) Programme (2003-2020), Quality Assurance in Higher Education (2008-2020) and International Mobility (2014-2019). In Scotland, the policy areas were the fundingdevelopments in Higher Education mainly the tuition fees policy (1999-2016), WideningAccess (2014-2019), and Higher Education Governance Reform (2011-2016). Drawn fromrelevant literature, several key concepts from the literature on policy making, policy expertise,policy advice, research utilization and policy networks were utilised as the lens through whichto theorise the findings emerging from this study. The study adopted a comparative historicalcase study method as the relevant research method. Data were collected through semistructuredinterviews with key informants (n41) in both Algeria and Scotland. In addition, inboth countries relevant data was obtained from a discourse analysis of relevant writtenmaterials such as newspaper articles, consultation papers, government documents, partymanifestos, parliamentary reports, press releases, and briefings. Through thematic analysis,including the constant comparison strategy, key issues were identified from the study’sfindings, which include similarities as well as differences regarding policy advice and expertiseinforming higher education policymaking between Algeria and Scotland between 1999 and2020. The findings demonstrated how policy advice and expertise shaped key policydevelopments in higher education in the two countries, namely, in Algeria, BMD, QualityAssurance, and International Mobility while in Scotland, Funding, Widening Access andGovernance policy areas. Secondly, it showed the ways in which policy community membersengaged in policymaking processes through similar strategies. Further, it revealed therelationship existing between the government and the policy community and how thisinfluences policymaking dynamics. Finally, it explained how despite the historical, political,and cultural differences between the two countries, several similarities exist in terms of the waypolicies in higher education are perceived by the policy actors involved in policymakingprocesses. The study concludes that while governments in both countries must be more opento the advice and expertise of policy communities, Algeria has a learning opportunity fromScotland which has had a deeper and advanced experience with policy development in highereducation.