Isomorphism in Higher Education Policy: the incorporation of supranational perspectives into Irish national policy

This paper has been informed by the proposition developed by institutional theorists that higher education systems tend to develop independently of local context. They are instead influenced by global ideologies which define what universities and other HEIs are about; how they should be structured; how they should act; how they should be administered and how they should evolve. International organisations are critical in the development and diffusion of these ideas.