Beyond professionalisation: Enhancing the governance culture for Australian university governing boards

Key challenges in the reform of governance, quality assurance, and finance in Vietnamese higher education – a case study

“…The Party system may well be a cohesive force across the higher education system, but it seems also to present conditions that promote fragmentation of authority within the higher education system. Of interest here is the shift occurring in many continental European nations in favour of more corporate forms of university governance (Moodie 2007;Elena and Sánchez 2013), or involving 'hybrid' forms of shared governance and management (Baird 2006). This type of transformation seems far removed from the direction being followed in Vietnam, where power continues to be held tightly by the Party and by rectors, rather than by institutional governing boards.…”

“…In 2007, a further revision of the framework was issued by the Ministry of Education and Training, with 10 quality standards and 61 quality-related criteria. The University was one of five Vietnamese universities that participated in a quality assurance project supported by the Dutch Government in 2005-2006. In 2007-2008 was expected that five of its seven 'member universities' would complete both internal and external quality assurance assessments.…”

Bringing them into the tent – student association and the neutered academy

“…A set of National Governance Protocols were established in 2004 (DEST 2004) and subsequently revised, requiring legislative changes to University Acts, structural changes within universities, annual reporting and assessment processes to ascertain compliance (Swansson and Blackman 2009). The role of the student association in the governance of that organisation comes under increasing scrutiny in light of the tension between participatory board models and the emerging 'corporate' models (Baird 2006). Governance protocols prioritising 'quality' according to modern corporate frameworks reduced the number of people on governing boards.…”

“…Modern university boards have a high percentage of external members and prioritise skills and delegation of academic matters. Tools such as induction, performance review, risk management and management information systems have become a priority of modern university governing boards (Baird 2006). However, in audits of university governance carried out by the Australian Universities Quality…”

Reinventing Governance: The Role of Boards of Governors in the New Austrian University

“…Overall, the quality of the boards' work is therefore key to the (perceived) success of the higher education reform. Against this backdrop, the empirical analysis reveals that Baird's (2006) conclusion 'good board governance is not easy', derived from the Australian experience, is more than valid in the Austrian case-and that not only board members, but also politicians should acknowledge the complexities of university governance.…”