History
All Australian universities are currently addressing the same governance and related issues. The driving force has been an engagement with good practice that has been sharpened by increasing government intervention that, in turn, has been a response to a changing higher education environment – including:
- increasing competition among universities and private providers for students and resources;
- an increased emphasis on higher education to provide skilled graduates and technological advances to underpin national competitiveness and changed expectations of higher education providers;
- heightened concerns around efficiency and probity in the use of public funding;
- changing expectations of private stakeholders as they increasingly contribute to full cost of educational services;
- an increasingly global education system that facilitates student choice on the basis of price, in addition to course and institutional quality; and
- continuing changes in teaching pedagogy and information technology.
These changes continuously drive strategic and operational decisions of Universities which, in turn, impact upon academic processes and the governance and management of academic activities. Not surprisingly, these changes have been reflected in the activities and interrelationships between University Councils, Academic Boards, University management, and indeed all stakeholders.
There is a long and varied history of what constitutes a university. If we confine our notion of a university to an institution with the ability to grant degrees then the oldest institutions satisfying our current notions were either European or Near Eastern. On this basis most scholars now credit the University of Bologna (est. 1088) as the first University although there is some rivalry with the University of Paris. The latter institution was organized by faculty who then solicited students while the University of Bologna was a university organized by students who then sought tutors. However, if we broaden our definition to an institution of higher learning with fewer but still some of the characteristics we now associate with a university such as research and teaching, self-administration, and academic independence then the University of Constantinople (est. 425) is probably the first such institution. The transformation of universities that eventually resulted in the modern research university began at the end of the mediaeval period. Thus, whatever our concept universities do have a long tradition. Moreover, they are clearly enduring institutions that have undergone substantial change in response to both internal and external processes. Indeed, one might profitably argue that their endurance has been a result of the process of renewal.
The revised protocols for approval of Australian higher education providers give a local and contemporary perspective to the question of what consistutes a University. These state, inter alia:
“Additional criteria for all Australian universities 4. In addition to meeting the nationally agreed general criteria for higher education delivery in Protocol A, an Australian university will meet the following criteria:
| D1. | demonstrates a culture of sustained scholarship which informs teaching and learning in all fields in which courses are offered; |
| D2. | undertakes research that leads to the creation of new knowledge and original creative endeavour at least in those fields in which Research Masters and PhDs or equivalent Research Doctorates are offered; |
| D3. | demonstrates commitment of teachers, researchers, course designers and assessors to free inquiry and the systematic advancement of knowledge |
| D4. | demonstrates governance, procedural rules, organisational structure, admission policies, financial arrangements and quality assurance processes which are underpinned by the values and goals of universities and which ensure the integritu of the institution's academic programs." |
Keywords relevant in the current context are sustained scholarship, new knowledge, creative endeavour, commitment to systematic advancement, and governance and processes which ensure academic integrity. These are terms that we associate with the modern concept of a university.
With the decline in Church and/or State support, modern universities have assumed a duality that was not seen in earlier times. Thus, universities retain their position as collegial academic institutions having a high level of autonomy. On the other hand, there is a judicial concept of a university as a trading corporation covered by relevant legislation with a high level of external accountabilities. There can be no doubt that a modern university is a business enterprise in which academic standards and/or values provide the basis for business success. However, efficient management of the business ensures supply of resources that underpin the ability to maintain high academic standards . There is and should be a creative tension between the various notions of a university as an institution that pursues and communicates knowledge, that equips people for a productive contribution to society, and that creates a liberal culture for the welfare of mankind.
The question arises as to how best to balance the duality and the various notions of a university? This dilemma was addressed by Ward (2007):
“Changes in higher education worldwide do seem to confront shared issues as well as those specific to distinctive national arrangements. The expansion of public expenditures in higher education has been associated with demands for enhanced accountability and effectiveness. These demands have required a more active managerial approach to the administration of universities and increased pressures for universities to seek revenues beyond those provided by public funding. These pressures sometimes conflict with the academic values that have inspired and sustained the university throughout its history. These values include academic freedom, intellectual integrity, moral and ethical probity as well as a commitment to ensure fairness in access and a commitment to respond to social concerns. Although universities have not always been true to these values and commitments, they remain the bedrock of higher education’s identity and institutions need to be alert to any pressures that diminish their influence. In addition, demands for narrowly construed outcomes combined with the market-related basis of new revenues may create incentives that distort the core missions of higher education institutions as purely utilitarian motives drive both curricula and research.”
The unique system of governance within a university involving as it does two separate and variously termed entities plus a Vice-Chancellor has evolved to cope with this complexity. Thus, enabling legislation in the form of the Charles Sturt University Act 1989 (the Act) prescribes that Charles Sturt University will have a Council that will be the governing authority of the University which “acts for and on behalf of the University in the exercise of its functions” and which assigns to University the “control and management of the affairs of the University”. The Act also requires that the University have an Academic Senate, consisting of the Vice-Chancellor and such other members as the Council may appoint.
The Senate model is founded on principles of “consultation, collegiality and broad-based representation with free and open debate. Senate provides an important venue for staff and student involvement in academic decision-making and upholds the voice and the interests of the Academy in a tripartite relationship of Senate and Council; the Vice-Chancellor and Senior Executive; and the academic community.”
Any system of governance must progress a culture in which these ideals can be realized. This mandates a governance system and processes by which Academic Senate can encompass its various roles.