This study applies resource dependence theory to address the question of how the critical resource dependence relationship emerges in the context of a university's performance agreement. This study focuses on two Nordic universities that have adopted performance agreements while simultaneously using strong performance-based state funding. Resource…

India desperately needs good governance in colleges and universities so as to create a culture of innovation, and entrepreneurship so as to become and remain competitive in world market. Poor governance and poor leadership is observed to be the root cause for all ills in university education. Indian students and professors are brilliant but…

This paper describes the current state of governance and reforms of Indonesia's higher education system. It seeks to identify the impact of and the constraints on the national higher education reform agenda with respect to institutional autonomy for public universities. Under the prevailing government regulations, 11 public universities have been…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to report four case studies in Australia that respond to the question: "How have schools with a relatively high degree of autonomy used their increased authority and responsibility to make decisions that have led in explicit cause-and-effect fashion to higher levels of student achievement"?…

Purpose: Increased school autonomy and accountability have been a common denominator of national reforms in otherwise heterogeneous governance systems in Europe and the USA. The paper argues that because schools serving disadvantaged communities (SSDCs) often have lower average performance, they are more often sanctioned or under closer scrutiny,…

While traditional public school and charter school systems continue to undergo dramatic reforms in response to the educational crisis, charter schools are praised as possessing the distinguishing characteristic of maintaining autonomy in exchange for increased accountability (Buckley & Schneider, 2009). The expectations for charter schools are…

Discusses effects of British methods of resource allocation to the colonial universities on the methods used by the successor states, primarily for Ghana and Nigeria, in terms of the national governments' announced intentions and beliefs. Concludes that although the West African systems are similar to the British system, they are very much local…

"IMHE-Info" is the newsletter published by the Institutional Management in Higher Education (IMHE) programme of OECD. This issue includes: (1) Tertiary Education for the Knowledge Society; (2) The Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes (AHELO); and (3) City-Regions in Focus. Publications of interest, IMHE News, and a calendar…

The system for financing higher education in West Germany is outlined, including the principles, organization, and procedures for resource allocation, state and university responsibilities, institutional governance and the roles of individuals and groups at various levels of governance, and institutional procedures for budgeting and auditing. (MSE)

Autonomy, in the context of higher education, is defined as the ability of a university or college to govern itself without outside controls. Autonomy and academic freedom are discussed and procedural and substantive autonomy are distinguished. (MLW)

This paper examines various ways in which states, colleges, and universities are balancing tensions between demands for greater institutional autonomy and demands for greater accountability to state legislatures. Noted are the states' varying fiscal situations, mixed messages on autonomy given by state governments to institutions, and increasing…

The origin of deregulation of higher education in Colorado, its effects, and implications for other states are discussed. In "How and Why It Happened," Thomas G. Tancredo traces the development of a new budgeting process, called MOU (memorandum of understanding). Under MOU each governing board is responsible for setting the expenditure…

The decade 1980-90 saw a spate of educational reconstruction occurring simultaneously in many countries. This book argues that the school restructuring of the past 10 years has been called the "education-reform movement," but that term is somewhat misleading. The current reform efforts seem to aim primarily at the control and governance of both…

Results of a national study of budgetary control imposed upon 88 Ph.D. granting public universities by 49 state governments (excluding Alaska) are presented. A comparative analysis is provided of financial control practices in each state, along with an index that places these practices along a continuum. Information is included on the nature and…

The issues of government responsibility and institutional autonomy that arise in university-government relations in the United States and Australia are discussed, and similarities in some European countries are noted. Political and market forces are examined as they affect government relations. (MSE)