- Roskilde University Denmark
This thesis examines how the university directive of 2003 changed the thoughts about and the processes on RUC. The theoretical framework is mainly Actor-Network Theory, which is used to help understand the network in which the actors are battling to give the object RUC meaning. The thesis does however also include Discourse Theory by Laclau and Mouffe to locate prevailing discourses about RUC. The thesis concludes that the university directive itself did not have a major influence on decision-making on RUC during the transition under rector Henrik Toft Jensen. However with the new rector Poul Holm in 2006 the possible fears of the directive was affirmed, as it enabled rector to make decisions based on intuition rather than democratic processes. The result was a step away from democracy and a leap towards business-like management. Poul Holm lasted a little more than two years, leaving an environment of distrust behind at the university, to be sorted his successors; Henning Salling-Olesen and Ib Poulsen who it seemed managed to find the middle ground between nurturing the university democracy and satisfying the political actors. Therefore the university law in itself did not harm RUC, however the consequence thereof started the biggest crisis at RUC in recent years.