Vera Moser, Justin J.W. Powell, Nicolas Engel, Sophie Abend & Lena Wolf (2025)
Alter, 19(4). Open access, pp. 31-51

Abstract. Investigating the institutionalization of inclusive higher education, the study focuses on how such policies and programs have evolved in Germany and Luxembourg. Embedded in transnational discourses on academic excellence, democracy, and inclusion, the latter bolstered by global ratification of human rights charters (UN-CRPD), the analysis draws on neo-institutionalist theory and the sociology of values to examine the on-going tension between universities’ commitments to academic excellence and their obligations to recognize diversity and to promote equity, justice, and inclusion. While diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs refer to human rights, they often serve as part of strategies to bolster university reputations in competitive markets. Increasingly worldwide, contemporary political backlash has challenged the legitimacy and scope of DEI agendas. Raising questions about (de)institutionalization dynamics, we compare three research universities – Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Friedrich-Alexander-