Impact of mergers on conflicts at universities—Conclusions from courts decisions

• Published date: 01 June 2024
• Author: Monika Stachowiak‐Kudła,Sina Westa,Pablo Meix‐Cereceda,Juan Azorín‐Toboso
• Date: 01 June 2024
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1002/crq.21424

RESEARCH ARTICLE

Impact of mergers on conflicts at universities—

Conclusions from courts decisions

Monika Stachowiak-Kudła

1,2

| Sina Westa

3

|

Pablo Meix-Cereceda

4

| Juan Azorín-Toboso

5

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

Correspondence

Monika Stachowiak-Kudła, Institute of

Political Science and Public

Administration, Siedlce University of

Natural Sciences and Humanities,

Siedlce, Poland.

Email: mstachowiak@poczta.fm

Abstract

Despite the growing popularity of mergers in higher educa-

tion, 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' judg-

ments, 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, partici-

pants in such conflicts may also include competing univer-

sities, professional associations, student unions, and

governmental bodies. In court disputes regarding the merg-

ing of universities, a violation of the university's right to

autonomy and/or of academic freedom in general are usu-

ally alleged. The results also show that the different struc-

tures and organizational cultures of universities need not

presage the failure of the merger.

1|INTRODUCTION

Institutional mergers are those in which two or more separate organizations form a unitary

structure and overall management control comes under a single governing body and single

Received: 24 November 2022 Revised: 18 September 2023 Accepted: 30 January 2024

DOI: 10.1002/crq.21424

Conflict Resolution Quarterly. 2024;41:551–571. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/crq © 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC. 551

chief executive (Harman, 2002). Universities are somewhat conservative institutions that often

resist change and attempt to retain their established structures (Ridder-Symoens, 2002). Hence,

higher education (policy) reforms, including the merging of two institutions into a single univer-

sity, can be a source of conflict (Barsky, 2002). Such conflict is typically characterized by a strug-

gle between people with opposing needs, ideas, beliefs, values, or goals (Watson et al., 2017).

The tensions and complexities that a merging process entails have become a popular

research theme in higher education studies over the past two decades (Antonowicz &

Seker

ak, 2022; Borlaug et al., 2023; Harman & Harman, 2003; Kohvakka, 2021; Lawlor, 2013;

Pritchard, 2024; Ylijoki, 2014). However, research on the legal aspects of mergers is lacking.

Since mergers can be voluntary or forced (Kyvik & Stensaker, 2013), fertile ground exists for

conflict resolution via legal disputes.

This study presents an analysis of constitutional courts'—as the supreme courts of states—

judgments on the conflicts triggered by university mergers. The database comprises all 99 judi-

cial decisions from eight European countries fulfilling two criteria: they have constitutional

courts, and they provide constitutional regulations protecting academic freedom or the right of

universities to autonomy (Belgium, Czechia, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, and

Spain). Judgments by constitutional courts on university mergers are rare; we have identified

only four cases from three countries: Belgium, Germany, and Spain (see Appendix Table A1).

The decision to exclude a branch from the University of La Laguna on the island of Gran Can-

aria and incorporate it into the University of Las Palmas does not apply as a typical university

merger; hence, it is only marginally discussed in this article.

The analysis of constitutional courts' judgments, supported by the analysis of literature and

legal acts concerning higher education, allow for a broader context of conflicts (beyond the

organizational structures of the universities). In turn, structured questionnaires (Hay &

Fourie, 2002; Safavi & Håkanson, 2018; Sehoole, 2005; Yoon & Kim, 2015) and document analy-

sis (Hatton, 2002; Tirronen & Nokkala, 2009; Ursin et al., 2010) facilitate the observation of only

what is happening at a university. While structured questionnaires can be helpful when antici-

pating a conflict, this study suggests that concerns surrounding a merger are framed into com-

pact legal arguments only when a case is brought before a court.

The article is structured as follows: the first part provides a basic theoretical framework and

theoretical contributions that can be made from the analysis. The second part offers insight into

the decisions of constitutional courts that provide an understanding of the fierce conflicts at

universities caused by mergers. The final section briefly concludes the findings of the paper.

2|LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 |University merger initiatives

The central question formulated in the merger literature is as follows: Who initiated each merger?

The initiative for a university merger can come from either the universities themselves (voluntary

merger) or the government (forced merger). The governments of individual European countries

provide incentivesto implement mergers (Hazelkorn, 2007). Our study confirms this.

Agreement is widespread that merger processes cause problems and conflicts. The likeli-

hood of conflicts is high in the case of forced mergers (Skodvin, 1999) since they generate

greater opposition between stakeholders (Aspara et al., 2014; Cartwright et al., 2007). Based on

the jurisprudence of constitutional courts, both forced mergers (German and Spanish cases)

552 STACHOWIAK-KUDŁAET AL.