ابتکارات عالی دانشگاه در اسپانیا، یک استراتژی ممکن برای بهینه سازی منابع و بهبود عملکرد محلی  University excellence initiatives in Spain, a possible strategy for optimising resources and improving local  performance

1. Introduction Education in general is presently undergoing considerable change worldwide. Higher education in particular is increasingly subject to the influence of market forces (Teixeira and Dill, 2011). Hazelkorn (2013) noted that the competition attendant upon globalisation is inducing a historic transformation in higher education the world over. With intensified national and international competitions among universities, international rankings have acquired a key role for policy makers and the public at large. The popularity of such tools has sparked an ongoing debate in most countries about the quality and performance of national higher education systems. Worldclass universities (a term coined by Altbach’s (2004) paper), i.e., the ones at the top of the list, are becoming the model for institutions of higher education (HEIs) around the world. Governments are consequently pursuing the attainment of world-class status for their national universities, primarily by funnelling resources to a few HEIs or by encouraging partnering among universities and other research institutions (Hinfelaar and O’Connell, 2013). Altbach and Salmi (2011a,b) described nine case studies set in different contexts to illustrate the difficulty involved in building a world-class research university. In some European countries, such as France, Germany and Spain, whose universities are not in prominent positions, programmes have been implemented to further academic excellence. The aim of such initiatives is to strengthen the position of the better placed institutions by increasing their funding and fostering the acquisition of greater critical mass. Some universities in these countries have reacted to such policies with partnering strategies that are prompting substantial change in their institutional structures and governance and the higher education system as a whole (de la Torre García et al., 2014). In light of the importance of these institutional alliance policies, the present paper reviews the situation in Spain with an analysis of a specific initiative: the Campus of International Excellence Programme (Spanish initials, CEI). The premise that guided this study was that interinstitutional alliances can be instrumental when responding to needs (cooperation to optimise resources and attain higher international visibility), for they would improve local performance and generate the critical mass required to attain higher ranks in international listings.