Higher education mergers have been on the rise in many countries around the world for various reasons. Just like any other organisational change, they involve conflicts. Recognising the lack of research on this sensitive but much-needed topic of addressing conflict dynamics in university mergers, Ed.M. Soojin Eun investigated factors that contribute to conflicts in higher education mergers in addition to their impact on both the merger process and the university community. By interviewing stakeholders involved in the Tampere University merger on their perception of tensions that had occurred during the process, her doctoral research reveals underlying value clashes between the leadership group and the academic community, in addition to the structural, leadership- and university-related aspects that had contributed to the contention.
The dissertation sheds light especially on the elements that led the leadership to execute the merger in the way they did. From these findings, Eun provides actionable insights and strategies for restructuring higher education institutions with minimised tensions, offering a valuable resource for policymakers, university leaders, and stakeholders involved in institutional change.
“Every university merger is unique, as each institution brings different characteristics and backgrounds to the context. Since conflict is inevitable in any organisational change, leaders should anticipate potential conflicts specific to each institution and prepare coping strategies carefully tailored to each institution prior to the merger. What worked at one institution may not work at another. If not, as this case illustrates, they can trigger unexpected repercussions across both the merger process and the post-merger status of the university even if the impacts are not always quantifiable or visible,” Eun says.
By incorporating the various elements that she discovered in the case, Eun created for the first time a theory on conflict mitigation in university mergers in different stages by applying the grounded theory methodology. Conflict mitigation involves structural, systemic, and human-oriented dimensions, such as legal clarification, appropriate pacing, substantive stakeholder involvement, careful selection of change-implementers and sense-making processes based on trust and respect, to name a few.
Eun also pays attention to the conditions that led the merger process to be handled in a specific way and emphasises that a human-oriented approach is essential for reducing conflicts and their impact on the organisation as all organisations are ultimately composed of people.
“When leaders treat university restructuring primarily as a structural or administrative matter, it can easily create problems since people who are going through change need sense-making processes and time to understand and adapt to the change. When implementing a merger, it should be remembered that it is people with their distinctive values who make up these organisations. If the process of value alignment among relevant stakeholders is overlooked and leaders mainly focus on creating structural and systemic change, it could lead to unintended consequences as seen in this case,” Eun explains.
Overall, the dissertation provides practical insights for implementing university mergers with reduced conflicts. The results of the study can help to mitigate potential conflicts in future mergers of higher education institutions.
Originally from South Korea, Soojin Eun worked for the National Assembly in Seoul before beginning her doctoral studies.
Public defence on Friday 31 October
Ed.M. Soojin Eun’s doctoral dissertation in the field of administrative science, specifically higher education administration, titled Mergers in Higher Education: Understanding stakeholder perceptions of leadership–academic community conflicts mid- and post-merger of a Finnish University will be publicly examined at the Faculty of Management and Business at Tampere University at 12.00 on Friday, 31 October 2025. The venue is auditorium D11, Päätalo (main building) on the city centre campus (address: Kalevantie 4, Tampere).
The Opponent will be Associate Professor Hugo Horta from the University of Hong Kong. The Custos will be Professor Jussi Kivistö from the Faculty of Management and Business.
The doctoral dissertation is available online
The public defence can be followed via a remote connection (Zoom)
Photo: Soojin Eun