Universities and Ownership Conference in Stockholm

Within the subproject “Property at Universities” of the Collaborative Research Centre “Structural Change of Property” at Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Prof. Mike Geppert, as well as Prof. Tilman Reitz, Professor of Sociology of Knowledge and Social Theory, together with members of their research team, co-organized and participated in the international conference “Universities and Ownership”. The conference was held from 20 to 22 May 2026 at the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities in Stockholm. Closely connected to the ongoing research project “Property at Universities”, the conference brought together international scholars to discuss questions of university ownership, autonomy, governance and institutional strategy.

The interdisciplinary research team from Jena contributed to the conference with several presentations. Prof. Mike Geppert and Andrea Dietl presented their research on changes in ownership structures, particularly in the Brazilian higher education sector, focusing on the roles of financialization and regulation and how these factors affect “actorhood” roles and field positioning of different players, ranging from state-owned universities to numerous private universities. Prof. Tilman Reitz and Marlen van den Ecker addressed questions of academic ownership, academic capitalism and funding impasses in a comparative perspective, looking at Germany, England and Brazil. Elisabeth Bethge presented her quantitative research paper on how the Humboldtian tradition continues to shape the German higher education system while public and private universities respond differently to increasing privatization, competition and changing governance structures. Together, these contributions highlighted how changing ownership structures and market-oriented reforms are reshaping higher education systems in different national contexts.

We would like to thank local host Lars Engwall, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, and all participants for the inspiring discussions and the opportunity to exchange perspectives in such a remarkable setting. The conference made clear that questions of ownership, autonomy and institutional strategy have become increasingly relevant across higher education systems and that comparative research is essential for understanding how universities respond to these transformations.