Governance of university continuing education in Germany. A scoping review of research in a game-changing area

Abstract

The governance of academic continuing education is an area of research that has received little attention to date. On the one hand, this may be related to the fact that it plays a minor role as a “third mission” area at universities. On the other hand, governance mechanisms in higher education are necessarily closely linked to its political, financial, and contextual characteristics, which require differentiation from educational governance more broadly. Based on a scoping review, the existing research on the governance of university-based continuing education in the German higher education system has been systematically prepared using a multi-level model. This shows a comprehensive view across all levels, which makes use of broad theoretical references and is qualitatively oriented in terms of research methodology.