MECHANISMS OF FOSTERING UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY AND

ACCOUNTABILITY

Gavar - 2015

GAVAR STATE UNIVERSITY In - House Training

TOWARDS AUTONOMOUS UNIVERSITY

In the new global university landscape, our universities have to build up their own institutional character and distinguish themselves so as to compete effectively with other universities. While the guidance of the Government has successfully laid a firm foundation for the university sector and facilitated the growth of the universities, the time is now right for the Government to allow the universities to chart their own way forward to better respond to the rapidly changing and competitive environment.

WHY DO UNIVERSITIES NEED AUTONOMY?

There is broad agreement between stakeholders that institutional autonomy is important for modern universities. While this notion has been empirically substantiated in various studies, it should also be noted that autonomy alone is rarely enough. Though institutional autonomy is a crucial precondition that enables universities to achieve their missions in the best possible way, other elements are equally necessary to ensure real success.

Autonomy helps to improve quality standards. There is clear evidence that success in improving quality within institutions is directly correlated with the degree of institutional autonomy.

GENERAL LEVEL OF AUTONOMY

When comparing the regulatory frameworks in which institutions operate to those of previous decades, it emerged that the level of university autonomy has indeed increased over the long term. Despite the numerous restrictions that still curtail autonomy, interviewees generally rated their system’s level of institutional freedom as satisfactory in comparison to the past. Only in a small minority of countries was the prevailing level of autonomy regarded as unsatisfactory. Nevertheless, in a number of countries, changes following the adoption of austerity measures were considered to have reduced financial and staffing autonomy alike. And when levels of institutional freedom were compared to other systems, many interviewees felt that their autonomy was markedly lower than that of institutions in other countries.

ACADEMIC AUTONOMY

Capacity to decide on overall student number

Capacity to select students(BA, MA)

Capacity to introduce programmes (BA, MA, PhD)

Capacity to terminate programmes

Capacity to choose the language of instruction(BA, MA)

Capacity to select quality assurance mechanisms and providers

Capacity to design content of degree programmes

University Autonomy and Accountability

Re-visiting or reexamining the idea of university is certainly an exercise that improves the understanding of the role and the responsibilities of anybody involved in the governance of an autonomous and accountable institution of higher education.

Universities are “institutions that provide specially protected fora in which there is freedom to float, explore, criticize and teach theories and ideas of all sorts, fashionable and unfashionable, useful and useless’’.

The University Sector and The European Commission have all recognized that increasing university autonomy and accountability represents a crucial steps towards modernizing higher education in the 21th century.

LIFE CYCLE: Student’s Point of View

Enhancement of Autonomy and Accountability of HEIs

Enhancement of Autonomy and Accountability of HEIs

The Autonomy and Accountability of HEIs is enhanced through:Building on the capacity of administrative staff for managing

system changes efficientlyRevising the legal (system level) and regulatory (HEI level)

frameworks in line with Bologna action lines Establishing the state-of-the-art university management system

through overhaul of approaches to system changes: strategic, financial and human

resource management Introducing working approaches to student-centered educational

provisions: ECTS and academic programme management to assure quality and promote student mobility.

AUTONOMY OF HEIs

The fact that university autonomy is adopted by most countries and inscribed in their constitutions, is a meaningful acknowledgment that institutional autonomy and academic freedom are intrinsic attributes of universities.

Stable national legislation and regulations on university autonomy and the corresponding understanding by stakeholders of the implications for the day to day life of institutions are critical factors to be adequately considered.

The triangle of academic freedom, institutional autonomy and accountability is one of the most important responsibilities of academics, governance bodies and stakeholders.

CURRENT CHALLENGES RELATED TO AUTONOMY AT INSTITUTIONAL LEVEL

The status of state non-profit organization deprives the university of being an independent educational institution.

Some laws, such as the Law on Procurement make certain restrictions for free economic management.

The impossibility of selecting and admitting students on its own, which is conditioned by centralized exams according to a joint order of higher education institutions.

The departmental regulations of the RA that limit the autonomy of universities, students transfer and disposal procedures, etc.

The impossibility of the implementation of a new, modern professional educational program by the university conditioned by the obligatory term to obtain a license by the Licensing authority of the RA Ministry of Education.

COMPONENTS OF ACADEMIC AUTONOMY

• to appoint their own staff without external

interference

• to decide which students to admit

• to identify what and how to teach

• to control their own standards

• to establish their own academic priorities

• to determine internally their own future

development.

A Long-Range View of Accountability

Higher education leaders note that their intense focus on the particulars of accountability is necessarily balanced by the bigger-picture goal of what they do. 

It’s vital not to overlook the long-range accountability that higher education has to educate students for.

Universities need to keep reminding themselves and the public that they are preparing students for not just their first job, but for a career, for life after graduation. The universities want them to get that first job after graduation - a well-paying job. But university obligation does not stop there. The universities have to prepare people for the unknown.

A high-quality university education prepares a young person for a lifetime of achievement.

STUDENT EXPERIENCE AS A PART OF ACCOUNTABILITY

ACCOUNTABILITY REQUIREMENTS

Interviewees highlighted excessive accountability requirements, in many cases following funding cuts and the tightening of public budgets, as an additional difficulty. While it was readily acknowledged that universities should be held accountable to society and towards their funders, it was stated that the introduction of overly resource- and time-intensive bureaucratic measures is also preventing universities from achieving their full potential. Rather than setting long-term targets and taking a strategic lead, some governments have displayed a growing tendency to micro-manage university affairs. Quality assurance processes also raised concern. Strict programme accreditation and, in some cases, a new legal status of quality assurance agencies were considered as limiting autonomy.

ACCOUNTABILITY AIMThe ultimate aim of the university accountability process should be to guarantee universities maintain the principles and ethical practices that protect the public from fraud, the type of fraud that can result from the gap between what is said and what is done, between what is offered in academic terms and what is taught. Intervention should be justifiable to check whether the qualitative and quantitative indicators that each institution uses to measure quality are met.

Universities, whether public or private, cannot be exempt from internal and external control and there has been a clear move towards implementing institutional assessment and accountability processes since the end of the twentieth century. But this process of accountability should not be influenced by the government in power or by political bias within universities. This is the domain of the university community, through self-assessment and through the society to which it belongs 

ELEMENTS IN ACCOUNTABLE ORGANIZATIONS

1. Clear vision, mission and priorities

2. Shared ownership: Shared accountability for all type priorities

3.Effective Execution: Linking people and processes to achieve high performance

4. Relentless attack of dysfunctional habits and mechanisms: Accountable Leaders make a point to surface and address these habits and develop new and effective mechanisms

5. Proactive recovery: Create recovery plans for mistakes

6. Measure performance execution

7. Recognize success: Ensure people feel a sense of accomplishment

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