Affiliation:
1. Faculty of Law and Administration Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University Warsaw Poland
2. Institute of Political Science and Public Administration Siedlce University of Natural Sciences and Humanities Siedlce Poland
3. Erfurt School of Education University of Erfurt Erfurt Germany
4. Faculties of Labour Relations and Law University of Castilla‐La Mancha Albacete Spain
5. Faculty of Law University of Castilla‐La Mancha Albacete Spain
Abstract
AbstractDespite the growing popularity of mergers in higher education, limited research examines their impact on conflicts within the affected universities and their surroundings. The article discusses the issue of university mergers in Belgium, Germany, and Spain, which were so severe that they required resolution by a constitutional court. The methods include an analysis of constitutional courts' judgments, supported by the analysis of literature and legal acts concerning higher education. The results indicate that both forced and voluntary mergers lead to fierce conflicts resolved by constitutional courts. Conflicts may arise not only in universities to be merged or already merged but also within the institutional environment of the university. In addition to the unified universities themselves, participants in such conflicts may also include competing universities, professional associations, student unions, and governmental bodies. In court disputes regarding the merging of universities, a violation of the university's right to autonomy and/or of academic freedom in general are usually alleged. The results also show that the different structures and organizational cultures of universities need not presage the failure of the merger.