Page 62 - Through the gate of the neoliberal academy • Herschberg

60 CHAPTER 3
the micro-level. To analyse both the interview transcripts and focus group transcripts, qualitative content analysis (Lieblich, Tuval-Mashiach, & Zilber, 1998) was conducted. Codes derived from the analysis of the meso-level criteria were used, but an open stance to other findings on selection criteria related to internationalisation and excellence was ensured. Due to the richness of interview and focus group data, the analysis resulted in very specific additional codes in this step, such as visits abroad, nationality, foreign countries, subjectivity, potential, independence and international network. Then, the criteria found on the meso-level (university and department) were compared with the micro-level (committee members). This comparison between meso- and micro-level was made for both the Natural Sciences department and the Social Sciences department. Next, committee members’ accounts of their application of criteria were explored. Their responses were analysed as instances of consent, compliance and resistance to selection criteria stemming from meso-level university and department policies and macro-discourses of internationalisation and excellence. The multi-level analysis also enabled us to identify four inequalities in the application of criteria.
3.4 Results
First was explored if and how the prevailing macro-discourses of internationalisation and excellence, as articulated in the literature, were adopted at the meso-university level, followed by the meso-departmental level. At the departmental level, a distinction was made between the Natural and Social Sciences. Then, it was explored if and how committee members apply the macro- and meso-level criteria when selecting tenure- track assistant professors. The results illustrate how the translation from the macro- and meso-level to the micro-level creates inequalities for early-career researchers in the selection process.
University policies
In this section, it is shown how the macro-discourses of internationalisation and excellence have spilled-over to the meso-university level.
The main objective of [the university’s] internationalisation policy is to contribute to enhancing the quality of its core activities: research, education and service. (Internationalisation policy, 2013, p. 1)
Achieving the proposed targets [of the internationalisation policy] will contribute