This article examines the challenges faced by a Portuguese technical university that is striving to develop its research base within a developing science, technology and higher education system. The paper identifies lack of resources, and also organizational factors, as particular challenges. These include faculty inbreeding, career structures and…

In 1999, after a series of far-reaching reforms aiming at decentralisation, deregulation and increased local autonomy in Swedish education, the Government decided to introduce a five-year experiment, which would develop these reform efforts even further. Even though Swedish compulsory schools already were the most autonomous in Europe with regard…

Purpose--Developing third stream activity is becoming increasingly important for business schools as they come under increasing financial pressure. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the strategies adopted by new university business schools and highlight the resources, capabilities and constraints under which they are operating. …

Australian universities have enjoyed large-scale autonomy. In a society that increasingly regards university education from an instrumentalist point of view, universities' anxious safeguarding of their autonomy is widely seen as an attempt to evade accountability. Yet there has been an acceptance that a corollary to autonomy is accountability.…

The political environment for higher education in Australia is becoming more difficult and constrained. Although there are many sources of influence and constraint, by far the most important source is government--both federal and state. Both universities and colleges of advanced education (CAEs) now receive almost all funds from the federal…

Higher education has become the focus of increased public debate. Stewardship of public resources, student achievement or the lack thereof, relationships and "partnerships" with business and industry in the area of research, substantial increases in tuition and fees, public perception of wrong-doing in the quality of programs, and allegations of…

Illustrates the extreme diversity of private education and defends the use of the term "private" or "nonpublic." (WD)

Explores extent to which devolved management is drawing school-based union representatives into a more prominent role. Argues that while there can be significant differences between individual schools, increased school autonomy is raising the profile of trade union activity in the workplace, and this needs to be better reflected in educational…

Two brief papers examine the "vanguard college" proposal, postsecondary education concept that parallels the charter school movement for K-12 education. Vanguard colleges would agree to exceed state (Massachusetts) performance standards in exchange for greater operational freedom, fiscal autonomy, and faculty benefits. Guidelines focus…

The autonomy of public and private universities and colleges has steadily eroded since the founding of Harvard in 1636. Documents the steady encroachment of external agencies on the operation and governance of higher education and discusses the implications of that erosion of autonomy for student affairs professionals. (MKA)

Describes discussion at the Salzburg Seminar on the meanings of autonomy in European and American higher education, and explores why, for eastern European and former Soviet universities, the quest for academic freedom is complicated: greater institutional and faculty autonomy has brought more dependence on external funding. (EV)

Amid concerns about standards, testing, and accountability, talk of the impact of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) on another recent education reform, charter schooling, is conspicuously absent. As public schools, charter schools across the country are subject to NCLB's testing requirements. At first blush, it seems only fair that charter schools…

In 2003 the Danish government reformed universities to "set them free" from the state. Yet ministers are actively trying to shape universities and even set research agendas. How does the government's notion of "freedom" reconcile independence with control? We identify three discourses of freedom: freedom to use academic…

In 2003, the State of Qatar engaged the RAND-Qatar Policy Institute to assist Qatar University, the nation's first and only public higher education institution, with reform of its major administrative and academic structures, policies, and practices. This monograph summarizes that reform effort, which formally lasted from October 2003 through…

This is a preliminary survey of the laws and statutes that determine governance arrangements for higher education systems as well as individual institutions in 24 countries of Sub-Saharan Africa. Following an overview of recent higher education governance trends within Africa, it describes the current range of practice and most common approaches…