infonet-economy

In Switzerland, the new university law that re-established the relationship between the cantonal universities and the federal government in 1999 is one important starting point both for the implementation of New Public Management as well as Equal Opportunities in universities. With a discourse analytical reading of documents as well as 30 interviews conducted with experts for gender equality and science policies at Swiss universities we take a closer look at how the equal opportunity work stemming from the Federal Programme has changed from its original launch in the year 2000 to its forth phase ending in 2016. Furthermore, we show how the discourses of NPM and Equal Opportunities respectively have interacted over the last two decades and resulted in different meanings. Finally, we are discussing the consequences of this interaction for the development of both equal opportunities as well as academic governance.