The benefits of arbitrariness: How institutional actors deal with Studierbarkeit and its vagueness

Abstract

Studierbarkeit or studyability has recently gained considerable prominence in higher education in the DACH region, linked to quality assurance requirements and funding reforms, yet also with a considerable variety of definitions and operationalisation attempts.The aim of this paper is therefore to shed light on how decision makers deal with the ambiguity of the issue. Analysing the strategic plans and performance contracts from all Austrian public universities since 2016 shows that the concept is linked to a multitude of different discourses and quality indicators, without establishing an “identity” of its own. The resulting ambivalence of the concept is – at least for now – highly functional for all the institutional actors involved by leaving many options open for future developments while apparently sticking to a common goal.