Mapping institutional change research in higher education: A BERTopic-based topic modelling study

Abstract

Research on institutional change in higher education has grown quickly, but it remains fragmented across disciplines and theoretical traditions. This study maps the thematic structure of this research in educational sciences and traces how it has changed over 34 years. I analysed the titles and abstracts of 2,623 publications indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection (Education & Educational Research, 1992–2025) with BERTopic, an embedding-based topic modelling tool. Placeholder masking kept the names of countries, nationalities and languages from shaping the topics, and key model settings are reported for reproducibility. The model produced 24 interpretable topics covering 1,824 publications. The general Structural Reforms topic fell from 65.6% of topic-assigned publications in 1992–2000 to 12.5% in 2023–2025, while more specific themes such as sustainability, transformational leadership and diversity, equity and inclusion gained weight. In 2023–2025, Digital Transformation became the largest topic (14.8%), and Artificial Intelligence Integration rose from almost zero to 8.1%. Technology-related research developed in successive waves: e-learning, emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic, digital transformation and generative artificial intelligence. Each wave reframed digitalisation with new concepts instead of simply continuing the previous one. These results suggest that institutional change in higher education is studied through several parallel pathways rather than a single dominant narrative. For policymakers and institutional leaders, the findings point to the need to build the capacity for change as a lasting institutional capability rather than responding to each technological, sociological and political disruption separately.

Keywords

• higher education
• institutional change
• digital transformation
• topic modelling
• BERTopic
• bibliometric analysis

Yükseköğretimde kurumsal değişim araştırmalarının haritalanması: BERTopic tabanlı bir konu modelleme çalışması

Abstract

Yükseköğretimde kurumsal değişime ilişkin araştırmalar son yıllarda hızla artmış, ancak farklı disiplinlere ve kuramsal geleneklere dağılmış parçalı yapısını korumuştur. Bu çalışmada, eğitim bilimleri alanındaki bu araştırmaların tematik yapısı haritalanmış ve 34 yıllık süreçte nasıl değiştiği izlenmiştir. Bu amaçla Web of Science Core Collection'ın Education & Educational Research kategorisinde 1992–2025 yılları arasında dizinlenen 2.623 yayının başlık ve özetleri, gömme (embedding) tabanlı bir konu modelleme aracı olan BERTopic ile incelenmiştir. Ülke, milliyet ve dil adlarının konuların oluşumunu etkilememesi için yer tutucu maskeleme uygulanmış, temel model ayarları ise yeniden üretilebilirlik amacıyla raporlanmıştır. Analiz sonucunda 1.824 yayını kapsayan 24 yorumlanabilir konu elde edilmiştir. Genel nitelikli Yapısal Reformlar konusunun bu yayınlar içindeki payı 1992–2000 döneminde %65,6 iken 2023–2025 döneminde %12,5'e düşmüş; buna karşın sürdürülebilirlik, dönüşümcü liderlik ve çeşitlilik, eşitlik ve kapsayıcılık gibi daha özgül temalar öne çıkmıştır. 2023–2025 döneminde Dijital Dönüşüm %14,8 ile en büyük konu hâline gelmiş, Yapay Zekâ Entegrasyonu ise neredeyse sıfırdan %8,1'e yükselmiştir. Teknolojiyle ilgili araştırmalar, e-öğrenmeden COVID-19 salgınındaki acil uzaktan eğitime, oradan da dijital dönüşüme ve üretken yapay zekâya uzanan dalgalar hâlinde ilerlemiştir. Her dalga, bir öncekinin devamı olmaktan çok dijitalleşmeyi yeni kavramlarla yeniden tanımlamıştır. Bulgular, yükseköğretimde kurumsal değişimin tek bir baskın anlatı etrafında değil, eş zamanlı ilerleyen birden fazla yol üzerinden ele alındığını düşündürmektedir. Politika yapıcılar ve kurum yöneticileri açısından ise değişim kapasitesinin, her teknolojik, sosyolojik ve politik kırılmaya ayrı ayrı tepki vermek yerine kalıcı bir kurumsal yetenek olarak geliştirilmesi gerektiğine işaret etmektedir.

Keywords

• yükseköğretim
• kurumsal değişim
• dijital dönüşüm
• konu modelleme
• BERTopic
• bibliyometrik analiz

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