In higher education research it is necessary to pay attention to both particular topics and case studies, which enables detailed exploration of the topic, and long-term trends on the system level, which provide necessary framework and context for studies focused on more specific topics. Such a frame provides for example a study by Mikael Börjesson and Tobias Dolberg (2021) which focuses on the development of the Swedish higher education system 1945-2020 with particular attention to its expansion. 

Object of the study is development of the higher education in Sweden in four main areas: (1) the transformations of the welfare state and the economy broadly defined, (2) the policies directly involved in redesigning the higher education system, (3) the scale, composition and structural relations between the parts of the higher education system, and (4) the way different social groups (specifically gender and class) have used the system.