A framework for managing complexity in higher education

Abstract

This theoretical paper depicts the changes in the context of higher education with the help of complexity theory and the Cynefin framework. The framework is developed with the intention to offer perspectives to explore complex systems in knowledge work characterized by uncertainty and lack of cause-effect relationships. There is an ambitions national project in Finland aiming at changing the work life in Finland the best in Europe by 2020, because work life in Finland has encountered many reforms lately, and these changes have increased the demand level of work, which in turn requires changes from higher education and its outcomes.