A new paper titled “Outpacing Reforms: Lived Realities of Organizational Change in Regional Universities in a Post-Socialist Context” has been published in the leading journal Studies in Higher Education.
Authored by Ahmet Aypay, Zhadyra Makhmetova, Alper Çalıkoğlu, Aida Sagintayeva, Saule Yeszhanova, and Laura Ibrayeva, the study investigates how organizational change unfolds in regional universities operating within resource-limited and non-dominant higher education systems. Using a blended framework that integrates rationalist and emergent perspectives, the authors analyze strategic plans and conduct interviews with administrators and faculty to capture the lived realities of institutional transformation.
The findings provide new insights into the complexities of reform implementation, highlighting the interplay between policy intentions and everyday practices in regional universities. The article contributes to ongoing debates on higher education reforms, offering implications for scholars, policymakers, and institutional leaders navigating organizational change in post-socialist contexts.