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1 – 10 of over 76000Tawanda Jimu and Britta Rennkamp
This paper aims to present insights on the governance of sustainability transitions in higher education in Africa. The authors interrogate the research literatures on the…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to present insights on the governance of sustainability transitions in higher education in Africa. The authors interrogate the research literatures on the governance of socio-technical transitions in water, electricity, transport and waste management, and identify barriers and enabling factors that enhance transformative practices in universities.
Design/methodology/approach
The analytical framework proposed in this paper combines the elements of governance network theory (GNT) and transition topology. The framework of this study is grounded in an actor-centric approach using GNT to understand networks conducive to sustainability transitions. Events and governance networks were mapped on a transition topology to visualise organisational and institutional changes over time. The study engaged students, management, academic and administrative staff in building a community of practice towards sustainability. This research is based on qualitative content analysis grounded in interview data, focus group discussions, workshops, webinars and secondary data analysis.
Findings
The findings show that the university has consolidated a sustainability vision and targets, but several factors prevent the community from achieving these targets, including hierarchical decision-making processes, a multitude of disjointed committees and fragmentation in the campus community.
Originality/value
This research adds to an emerging body of literature in the field of sustainability in higher education with two contributions. Firstly, the study presents a novel perspective(s) on the governance of sustainability transitions by combining the literatures on governance and sustainability transitions using a new methodological approach of transition topology to show organisational and institutional changes. Secondly, the study presents new empirical evidence for improving the governance of sustainability transitions in a diverse and highly unequal African university community in the process of (de)colonisation of knowledge and governance.
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Jean-Louis Denis, Nancy Côté and Maggie Hébert
The theme of collegiality and more broadly of changes in the governance of universities has attracted growing interest within the sociology of higher education. As institutions…
Abstract
The theme of collegiality and more broadly of changes in the governance of universities has attracted growing interest within the sociology of higher education. As institutions, contemporary universities are inhabited by competing logics often defined in terms of market pressures and are shaped by the higher education policies of governments. Collegiality is an ideal-type form of university governance based on expertise and scientific excellence. Our study looks at manifestations of collegiality in two publicly funded universities in Canada. Collegiality is explored through the structural attributes of governance arrangements and academic culture in action as a form of self-governance. Case studies rely on two data sources: (1) policy documents and secondary data on various aspects of university development, and (2) semi-structured interviews with key players in the governance of these organisations, including unions. Two main findings with implications for the enactment of collegiality as a governance mode in universities are discussed. The first is that governance structures are slowly transitioning into more hybrid and corporate forms, where academics remain influential but share and negotiate influence with a broader set of stakeholders. The second is the appearance of forces that promote a delocalisation of collegiality, where academics invest in external scientific networks to assert collegiality and self-governance and may disinvest in their own institution, thus contributing to the redefinition of academic citizenship. Status differentiation among academic colleagues is associated with the externalisation of collegiality. Mechanisms to associate collegiality with changes in universities and their environment need to be further explored.
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Ryan Litsey and Jon McNaughtan
Conceptualizations of university governance have varied over time, with some scholars focused on the structure of stakeholder groups such as faculty, staff, and students in…
Abstract
Conceptualizations of university governance have varied over time, with some scholars focused on the structure of stakeholder groups such as faculty, staff, and students in relation to how institutions make decisions, others focus on the competing spheres of political influence guiding institutional development, and most recently that higher education has adopted business management structures or academic capitalism. Each of these conceptualizations offered new insights into how universities make decisions and evolve. The interactions between the non-profit aspects of higher education institutions and their effects on the internal governance structures have been underdeveloped. In this chapter, the authors propose an urban governance approach to understanding how actors and their institutions make decisions.
In this chapter, the authors dissect these models and propose a shift in perspective described as academic municipalities. Prior models on university decision-making and its impact on institutional constituents all make certain sacrifices when attempting to conceptualize the complex organizational functions of the university. Birnbaum and Tierney in their arguments do not provide enough value to the structure imposed on higher education institutions by virtue of their non-profit status. The corporate concept does not account for the political ramifications to university functions that reach beyond corporate models. Academic capitalism explains the shift of the university to account for changes in the global marketplace but it does not explain the latent functions of the university, such as contributing to the public good, housing, libraries, public services, and other non-market-based activities. What is needed is an explanation that accounts for both market and political forces at play in the university.
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Frank C. Butler and Lisa A. Burke-Smalley
With today’s business faculty being tasked with making meaningful contributions to their community, corporate stakeholders, as well as in research and student learning, this makes…
Abstract
Purpose
With today’s business faculty being tasked with making meaningful contributions to their community, corporate stakeholders, as well as in research and student learning, this makes faculty engagement and performance outputs key to metrics of college success. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to understand how faculty engage in shared governance at the college level is important to ensure success of the college.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors searched for research that examined governance structures in colleges of business and found this has received scant attention. After reviewing the research examining university governance, the authors evaluate how faculty engage in shared governance at the college level.
Findings
The authors identify four categories of decision-making that often involve shared governance and outline different shared governance options for colleges of business, along with their pros and cons. The authors posit that the most appropriate governance approach for a college of business depends upon the college’s external environment, culture and other contextual dimensions. Finally, guidance for future research and practice, including considerations for changing governance, is provided.
Originality/value
How colleges of business operationalize their governance structures has received scant attention in the management literature.
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Mathews J. Phiri and Alistair George Tough
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and records management in the context of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between corporate governance and records management in the context of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Design/methodology/approach
This is a qualitative research taking the form of a collective case study of six institutions.
Findings
That good records management can and does contribute to effective corporate governance and accountability. However, this relationship is not necessarily present in all circumstances.
Research limitations/implications
That further corporatisation in higher education is likely to be supported by, and result in, better records management.
Originality/value
The paper proposes governance record keeping as an approach to managing records and documents in the world of governance, audit and risk.
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Anna Saiti, Ian Abbott and David Middlewood
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and assess the role played by university governance in the effectiveness and efficiency of the higher education system through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate and assess the role played by university governance in the effectiveness and efficiency of the higher education system through literature analysis and the management evaluation method of Organization and Methods (the O and M technique) and argue for a more radical change in, and greater scrutiny of, university governance so as to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of university operations and thus yield a more optimal satisfaction of social needs.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper employs the O and M technique in order to investigate and assess the role played by university governance in the effectiveness and efficiency of the higher education system.
Findings
The “objective” is education and knowledge and there is no room for experimentation in the system. The higher education sector does not need experiments to develop further. Rather, it deserves cautious, creative and innovative consideration and needs a very distinctive treatment of national problems. No matter the policy orientation of the system, higher education policy makers should not forget that higher education has a tremendous influence on peoples’ attitudes and beliefs so the focus should be on the actual knowledge on social responsibility and on the commitment of higher education to serve social interests and needs.
Research limitations/implications
The analysis developed in this study would benefit from a deeper exploration by investigating more numerous and diverse examples from the international arena of higher education.
Originality/value
This study acts as a complement to previous research on higher education governance since it develops further the analysis and the understanding of university governance. By using as examples two countries with different orientation in their higher education system (mainly due to differences in cultural and ideological perceptions) and keeping in mind that there is no ideal model for university governance, this study could enlighten decision makers in any country to develop a more effective and constructive model of university governance that would serve societal interests more effectively.
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Edward N. Tetteh and Daniel F. Ofori
Institutional governance has recently attracted significant attention, fuelled by increasing numbers of global high‐profile corporate failures and scandals. In many countries…
Abstract
Purpose
Institutional governance has recently attracted significant attention, fuelled by increasing numbers of global high‐profile corporate failures and scandals. In many countries issues have been raised about university governance. In Ghana, university governance has become crucial following the upsurge of private universities in recent years arising out of: increased demand for tertiary education resulting from high population growth; and expanded enrolment at basic and secondary levels, which have far exceeded the capacity of existing institutions. This study aims to explore and assess the governance arrangements of private and public universities in Ghana.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐stage sampling technique was used to select three private and two public universities. An exploratory and comparative approach was used to examine the governance arrangements of private and public universities in Ghana.
Findings
Both private and public universities in Ghana follow the “traditional”, “business”, and “trusteeship” models of university governance, although in different proportions. Additionally, both types of institutions follow the bicameral system of decision making.
Research limitations/implications
Only five of 19 universities in Ghana were sampled. Future research might expand the sample size to test and validate the initial perspectives from this study and also investigate differences between governance arrangements of faith based and non‐faith based private universities.
Originality/value
The paper reports the findings of the first nation‐wide investigation into governance arrangements of Ghanaian universities. It will interest policy makers, university authorities, and other stakeholders in the higher educational sector.
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This study argues that online user comments on social media platforms provide feedback and evaluation functions. These functions can provide services for the relevant departments…
Abstract
Purpose
This study argues that online user comments on social media platforms provide feedback and evaluation functions. These functions can provide services for the relevant departments of organizations or institutions to formulate corresponding public opinion response strategies.
Design/methodology/approach
This study considers Chinese universities’ public opinion events on the Weibo platform as the research object. It collects online comments on Chinese universities’ network public opinion governance strategy texts on Weibo, constructs the sentiment index based on sentiment analysis and evaluates the effectiveness of the network public opinion governance strategy adopted by university officials.
Findings
This study found the following: First, a complete information release process can effectively improve the effect of public opinion governance strategies. Second, the effect of network public opinion governance strategies was significantly influenced by the type of public opinion event. Finally, the effect of public opinion governance strategies is closely related to the severity of punishment for the subjects involved.
Research limitations/implications
The theoretical contribution of this study lies in the application of image repair theory and strategies in the field of network public opinion governance, which further broadens the scope of the application of image repair theory and strategies.
Originality/value
This study expands online user comment research to network public opinion governance and provides a quantitative method for evaluating the effect of governance strategies.
Peer review
The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-05-2022-0269
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Kerstin Sahlin and Ulla Eriksson-Zetterquist
Recent changes in university systems, debates on academic freedom, and changing roles of knowledge in society all point to questions regarding how higher education and research…
Abstract
Recent changes in university systems, debates on academic freedom, and changing roles of knowledge in society all point to questions regarding how higher education and research should be governed and the role of scientists and faculty in this. Rationalizations of systems of higher education and research have been accompanied by the questioning and erosion of faculty authority and challenges to academic collegiality. In light of these developments, we see a need for a more conceptually precise discussion about what academic collegiality is, how it is practiced, how collegial forms of governance may be supported or challenged by other forms of governance, and finally, why collegial governance of higher education and research is important.
We see collegiality as an institution of self-governance that includes formal rules and structures for decision-making, normative and cognitive underpinnings of identities and purposes, and specific practices. Studies of collegiality then, need to capture structures and rules as well as identities, norms, purposes and practices. Distinguishing between vertical and horizontal collegiality, we show how they balance and support each other.
Universities are subject to mixed modes of governance related to the many tasks and missions that higher education and research is expected to fulfill. Mixed modes of governance also stem from reforms based on widely held ideals of governance and organization. We examine university reforms and challenges to collegiality through the lenses of three ideal types of governance – collegiality, bureaucracy and enterprise – and combinations thereof.
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Adéle L. Moodly and F. Owen Skae
Public universities in South Africa are required to govern, manage and structure themselves in accordance with the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997. Notwithstanding this…
Abstract
Public universities in South Africa are required to govern, manage and structure themselves in accordance with the Higher Education Act 101 of 1997. Notwithstanding this, institutional culture also plays a role in determining how governance is conducted within these universities. This is shown within the Institutional Statutes and Rules, wherein the nature of both the leadership and governance processes manifest in these documents. The 2015–2016 proved to be a watershed year in the South African higher education (HE) sector, as it reflected on inter alia, how academic endeavor and governance of universities is to be achieved. Prior to this period and post the advent of the new democracy, public universities operated under significant autonomy. More broadly pre-2015–2016 Statutes reflect this, with historically white institutions evidencing prioritizing autonomy as the prime driver of governance. Attempts to introduce self-regulatory codes were resisted, as they were seen as a way to corporatize and managerialize universities. This chapter reviews the impact of institutional culture and the fallists’ protests on the governance models of three universities, through the analysis of their institutional statutes pre- and post-2015–2016 period. It contextualizes HE governance both internationally and locally, and further outlines forms of governance within South African higher education institutions.
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