Abstract
This paper is an attempt to reconcile two different perspectives and come up with a more comprehensive conceptualization of university autonomy by adopting a stakeholder approach in identifying indicators of university autonomy. One perspective views university autonomy as a protection of academic freedom and the other as a performance enhancer. In order to secure public support for university autonomy, a strategy to satisfy both perspectives is required. A stakeholder approach helps identifying stakeholder interests which leads to an analysis of what is expected in return for university autonomy. University autonomy indicators developed out of these interests would facilitate a measure to evaluate and secure academic freedom and institutional autonomy in a way that secures better support for university autonomy from higher education stakeholders. This paper examines existing literature to identify higher education stakeholders and their interests and comes up with an example of autonomy indicators that reflect these interests.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
AAUP American Association of University Professors (1915). Declaration of principles on academic freedom and academic tenure, available at http://www.aaup-ui.org/Documents/Principles/Gen_Dec_Princ.pdf, Accessed 13 May 2018.
Aghion, P., Dewatripont, M., & Stein, J. C. (2008). Academic freedom, private-sector focus, and the process of innovation. RAND Journal of Economics (Wiley-Blackwell), 39(3), 617–635. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1756-2171.2008.00031.
Aghion, P., Dewatripont, C., Hoxby, M., Mas-Colell, A., & Sapir, A. (2009). The governance and performance of research universities: Evidence from Europe and the U.S. Cambridge: National Bureau of Economic Research.
Alves, H., Mainardes, E. W., & Raposo, M. (2010). A relationship approach to higher education institution stakeholder management. Tertiary Education and Management, 16, 159–181. https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2010.497314.
Ash, M. G. (2006). Bachelor of what, master of whom? The Humboldt myth and historical transformations of higher education in German-speaking Europe and the US. European Journal of Education, 41(2), 245–267. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1465-3435.2006.00258.
Bauries, S. R. (2014). Individual academic freedom: An ordinary concern of the first amendment. Mississippi Law Journal, 83, 677–743.
Beiter, K. D., Karran, T., & Appiagyei-Atua, K. (2016). 'Measuring' the erosion of academic freedom as an international human right: A report on the legal protection of academic freedom in Europe. Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law, 49, 597–691.
Bilgrami, A. (2010). Truth, balance, and freedom. In J. Franck & J. Bricmont (Eds.), Chomsky notebook (pp. 334 to 347). New York: Columbia University Press.
Boer, H. de Jongbloed, B., Enders, J., & File, J. (2010). Progress in higher education reform across Europe. Governance reform. Volume 1: Executive summary and main report. Enschede: Center for Higher Education Policy Studies.
Bogue, E.G., & Aper, J. (2000). Exploring the heritage of American Higher Education: The evolution of philosophy and policy. Phoenix: The Oryx Press.
Butler, J. (2009). Critique, dissent, disciplinarity. Critical Inquiry, 35, 773–795. https://doi.org/10.1086/599590.
Byrne, P. (2015). Academic freedom for the next 100 years : Social value of academic freedom defended. Indiana Law Journal, 91, 5–16.
Byun, K. (2008). New public management in Korean higher education: Is it reality or another fad? Asia Pacific Education Review, 9(2), 190–205. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03026499.
Christensen, T. (2011). University governance reforms: Potential problems of more autonomy? Higher Education, 62, 503–517. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9401-z.
Christensen, T. (2012). Global ideas and modern public sector reforms: A theoretical elaboration and empirical discussion of a neoinstitutional theory. American Review of Public Administration, 42(6), 635–653. https://doi.org/10.1177/0275074012452113.
Cole, J. R. (2009). Defending academic freedom and free inquiry. Social Research, 76(3), 811–844 Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/40972159.
Davies, M. (2015). Academic freedom: A lawyer's perspective. Higher Education, 70(6), 987–1002. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9884-8.
DBIS Department for Business Innovation & Skills (2011). Students at the Heart of the System.
DBIS Department for Business Innovation & Skills (2016). Success as a knowledge economy: Teaching excellence, Social mobility and student choice. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/higher-education-success-as-a-knowledge-economy-whitepaper. Accessed 27 Nov 2018
Doğan, D. (2016). Academic freedom from the perspectives of academics and students: A qualitative study. Education & Science, 41(184), 311–−331. https://doi.org/10.15390/EB.2016.6135.
EC European Commission (2011). Supporting growth and jobs - an agenda for the modernization of Europe’s higher education systems. Communication from the commission to the parliament, the council, The European economic and social committee and the Committee of the Regions. http://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/education/library/policy/modernisation_en.pdf. Accessed 27 Nov 2018
Elton, L. (2008). Collegiality and complexity: Humboldt’s relevance to British universities today. Higher Education Quarterly, 62(3), 224–236.
Enders, J., Boer, H. d., & Weyer, E. (2013). Regulatory autonomy and performance: The reform of higher education re-visited. Higher Education, 65(1), 5–23. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-012-9578-4.
Estermann, T., Nokkala, T., & Steinel, M. (2011). University autonomy in Europe II the scorecard. The European University Association.
EUA European University Association (2001) Message from Salamanca shaping the European Higher Education Area, accessed at http://www.eua.be/eua/jsp/en/upload/Salamanca_declaration_en.1066755820788.pdf
Felt, U., & Glanz, M. (2003). University autonomy in Europe: Changing paradigms in higher education policy. University of Vienna.
Fish, S. (2014). Versions of academic freedom. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Freeman, R. E. (1984). Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston: Pitman.
Gajda, A. (2015). Academic freedom for the next 100 years: Academic duty and academic freedom. Indiana Law Journal, 91, 17–37.
Gibbons, M. (1998). Higher education relevance in the 21st century. Education, the. World Bank.
Gillon, B. & Henderson, I. (2012). What is academic freedom? University world news, 28 October, issue 245.
Hammersley, M. (2016). Can academic freedom be justified? Reflections on the arguments of Robert Post and Stanley Fish. Higher Education Quarterly, 70(2), 108–126. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12086.
Hearn, J. C., Warshaw, J. B., & Ciarimboli, E. B. (2016). Privatization and accountability trends and policies in U.S. public higher education. Education & Science, 41(184), 1–−26. https://doi.org/10.15390/EB.2016.62.
Herbert, A., & Tienari, J. (2013). Transplanting tenure and the (re)construction of academic freedoms. Studies in Higher Education, 38(2), 157–173. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2011.569707.
Hogan, P. C. (2015). The personal ethics of academic freedom: Problems of knowledge and democratic competence. AAUP Journal of Academic Freedom, 6, 1–15.
Jankowski, N., & Provezis, S. (2014). Neoliberal ideologies, governmentality and the academy: An examination of accountability through assessment and transparency. Educational Philosophy & Theory, 46(5), 475–487. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2012.721736.
Jongbloed, B., Boer, H. D. Enders, J., & File, J. (2010). Progress in higher education reform across Europe. Funding reform. Volume 1: Executive summary and main report. Enschede: Center for Higher Education Policy Studies.
Kettunen, J. (2015). Stakeholder relationships in higher education. Tertiary Education and Management, 21(1), 56–65. https://doi.org/10.1080/13583883.2014.997277.
Kivistö, J. (2008). An assessment of agency theory as a framework for the government-university relationship. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 30(4), 339–350. https://doi.org/10.1080/13600800802383018.
Knott, J. H., & Payne, A. A. (2004). The impact of state governance structures on management and performance of public organizations: A study of higher education institutions. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, 23(1), 13–30. https://doi.org/10.1002/pam.10176.
Leisyte, L., Westerheijden, D. F., Epping, E., Faber, M., & Weert, E. D. (2013) Stakeholders and quality assurance in higher education, Paper for 26th Annual CHER Conference Lausanne (CH).
LeRoy, M. H. (2016). How Courts View Academic Freedom. Journal of College and University Law, 42(1), 1–58.
Liefner, I. (2003). Funding, resource allocation, and performance in higher education systems. Higher Education, 46, 469–489. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027381906977.
Macfarlane, B. (2012). Re-framing student academic freedom: A capability perspective. Higher Education, 63(6), 719–732. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9473-4.
Marginson, S., & Considine, M. (2000). The enterprise university: Power, governance and reinvention in Australia. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
McMahon, W. M. (2009). The private and social benefits of higher education: Higher learning, greater good. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Miller, B. (2014). Free to manage? A neo-liberal defence of academic freedom in British higher education. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 36(2), 143–154. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2013.861055.
Mitchell, R., Agle, B., & Wood, D. (1997). Toward a theory of stakeholder identification and salience: Defining the principle of who and what really counts. The Academy of Management Review, 22(4), 853–886 Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/259247.
MoE Ministry of Education (2015). The master plan for the Program for Industrial needs-Matched Education (PRIME) (in Korean).
Neville, B. A., Bell, S. J., & Whitwell, G. J. (2011). Stakeholder salience revisited: Refining, redefining, and refueling an underdeveloped conceptual tool. Journal of Business Ethics, 102(3), 357–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0818-9.
Nokkala, T. (2012). Institutional autonomy and the attractiveness of the European higher education area - facts or tokenistic discourse? In A. Curaj, P. Scott, L. Vlasceanu, & L. Wilson (Eds.), European Higher Education at the Crossroads: Between the Bologna Process and National Reforms (pp. 59–81). Netherlands: Springer.
Post, R. (2012). Democracy, expertise and academic freedom. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Post, R. (2013). Why bother with academic freedom? FIU Law Review, 9, 9–20.
Robertson, M. (2016). Versions of academic freedom. Journal of Legal Education, 65, 672–703.
Sadler, R. (2005). Interpretations of criteria-based assessment and grading in higher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 30(2), 175–194. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260293042000264262.
Shepherd, J. (2006). Staff are silenced by fear of reprisals. Times Higher Education Supplement, 4 August. https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/staff-are-silenced-by-fear-of-reprisals/204631.article, Accessed 13 May 2018.
Slaughter, S., & Rhoades, G. (2004). Academic capitalism and the new economy: Markets, state, and higher education. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sporn, B. (2002). Convergence or divergence in international higher education policy: Lessons from Europe. Vienna University.
Stein, D. G. (Ed.). (2004). Buying in or selling out? The commercialization of the American research university. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.
Tierney, W. G., & Lanford, M. (2014). The question of academic freedom: Universal right or relative term. Frontiers of Education in China, 9(1), 4–23. https://doi.org/10.3868/s110-003-014-0002-x.
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (1997). Recommendation concerning the status of higher-education teaching personnel. http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=13144&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html, Accessed 13 May 2018.
Watson, C. (2011). Accountability, transparency, redundancy: Academic identities in an era of “excellence”. British Educational Research Journal, 37(6), 955–971. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411926.2010.508514.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by a 2-Year Research Grant of Pusan National University.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Choi, S. Identifying indicators of university autonomy according to stakeholders’ interests. Tert Educ Manag 25, 17–29 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-018-09011-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11233-018-09011-y