University governance in Canadian higher education

Jones, Glen A.; Shanahan, Theresa; Goyan, Paul

doi:10.1080/13583883.2001.9967047

Cited by 41 publications

(31 citation statements)

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“…Concerns about job security in the face of budget cuts beginning in the 1970s had led many university faculty associations to seek legal status as labor unions, and the vast majority of Canadian university faculty are now unionized. The creation of labor unions undoubtedly had an impact on the power and influence of academic senates, especially since many key aspects of what once was considered academic policy, such as appointment, tenure, and promotion policies, became component parts of collective agreements (and thus under the purview of governing boards that have authority to approve collective agreements) rather than the purview of the senate (Jones et al 2001.…”

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confidence: 99%

Assessing the role and structure of academic senates in Canadian universities, 2000–2012

et al. 2015

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Academic governance is an important dimension of institutional self-governance. This paper reports on the findings of a new study of university senates (academic councils) in Canadian universities in order to analyze changes in structure and in senate members' perceptions of the structure and role of senates over the last decade. Following the basic design of a similar study in 2000, this study reveals that there have been modest changes to the structure and organizational arrangements of many Canadian university senates over the last 10 years, including the rationalization and reform of the committee structures at many institutions. Findings of the study suggest the importance of senate orientation programming, the need for better oversight and assessment of academic quality, some confusion or ambiguity about the respective roles of board, senate and the administration, and continuing controversy about the proper role of the senate in strategic planning, financial, research, and fund-raising issues and activities.

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confidence: 99%

Assessing the role and structure of academic senates in Canadian universities, 2000–2012

et al. 2015

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“…The process ultimately culminates with the Senate, which has ultimate responsibility for academic matters, and the Board of Governors, which represents the public interest. In those cases of new programs and degrees, final approval is given by the provincial governments (Duderstadt, 2000;Johnston, 2003;Jones, et al, 2001). Within this context, key academic decisions include instructor hiring, academic quality and integrity, and curriculum and academic planning (Duderstadt, 2000;Hamilton, 2000;Johnston, 2003).…”

Section: Involvement Of Academic Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…First, provincial governments create universities and colleges through legislation and must approve all degrees, diplomas, a certificate and other forms of academic programming. These acts also establish an university's organizational structure, notably a Board of Governors, Senate and different Faculties (Jones, et al, 2001). As an example, within British Columbia, the University Act creates a Senate, which is responsible for setting the criteria for academic standards, qualifications for student admission, faculty hires and establishment of new programs, and the various Faculties, which are responsible for their own graduate and undergraduate programs and the hiring of qualified faculty and instructors (Government of British Columbia, 1996).…”

Section: Involvement Of Government Stakeholdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a starting point in explaining the university and opening the "black box", it is important to describe the university context and understand that it is complex and full of multiple accountabilities to stakeholders both inside and outside the organization (Jones, et al, 2001). The university is in many ways an organizational form unto its self.…”

Section: The University Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Impact of a Community-University Collaboration: Opening the “Black Box”

Siemens

2012

CJNSER

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Within the Social Economy, universities are working with community representatives to undertake research projects, service learning opportunities, and increasingly, academic program development, all with the objective of addressing social challenges. As many are quick to caution, the community is actually a sum of its various actors, interests, accountabilities and needs, which university staff and faculty must work to understand. Like the community, the university is a complex organization with politics, conflicts, tensions, and competing goals and objectives. Within this larger context, these various components, focusing on government, academic and administrative stakeholders, will impact and may even limit aspects of a collaboration between the university and its community partners. Through examination of a case study related to a graduate program, which was collaboratively developed between the university and community representatives, this article will identify and explore those accountabilities and the resulting impact on the collaboration. It will conclude with recommendations for similar partnerships. RÉSUMÉDans l'économie sociale, les universités travaillent de pair avec des représentants de la communauté pour lancer des projets de recherche, créer des occasions d'apprentissage par le service et, de plus en plus, développer des programmes d'études universitaires; tout cela dans le but de régler des défis sociaux. Beaucoup s'empressent de formuler une mise en garde : la communauté est en réalité la somme des divers acteurs, intérêts, responsabilités et besoins qui la composent, ce que les membres du personnel et les facultés des universités doivent tenter de comprendre par leur travail. Au même titre qu'une communauté, une université est une organisation complexe constituée de politiques, de conflits, de tensions ainsi que d'objectifs concurrents. Dans ce contexte large, ces diverses composantes, en particulier les intervenants gouvernementaux, universitaires et administratifs, auront des conséquences sur la collaboration entre l'université et ses partenaires communautaires, et peuvent même en limiter certains aspects. Cette étude définit et analyse ces responsabilités et leurs conséquences sur la collaboration par le moyen d'une étude de cas liée INTRODUCTIONAs communities, organizations and individuals strive to address the challenges and opportunities that face them, they are partnering with universities to accomplish their goals (Baum, 2000). These collaborations range from participatory research projects (BALTA, nd;Hall, 2011;Lesser & Oscos-Sanchez, 2007) and service learning activities (Bringle & Hatcher, 2002) to curriculum development and delivery (Centre for Sustainable Community Development, nd). This trend is likely to continue as universities strive to align their academic programming and research closer with community needs and issues (Savan, et al., 2009).Challenges abound with these kinds of collaborations given universities' and communities' differing cultures and contexts. Each ...

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“…(i) universities are non-for-profit corporations created by a charter and established separately from the government (Usher and Potter 2006); (ii) university administrators enjoy significant decision-making powers regarding the use of financial, human and other resources (Metcalfe, Fisher, Gingras, Jones, Rubenson and Snee 2011); (iii) universities can make decisions regarding their internal organization and processes (Jones et al 2001), and (iv) universities have traditionally enjoyed leeway regarding how to spend their funding, due to the use of block grants for allocating funding (Kymlicka 1982). Given that tradition of autonomy, the MYA/MYAAs were immediately perceived as an instrument that could potentially strengthen the government's influence on institutional behaviour.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Accountability Agreements for Ontario Universities: The Balancing Character of a Policy Instrument

Díaz¹

2017

gouvernance

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This paper demonstrates how the choice of instrument facilitates acceptance of a new accountability requirement in the Ontario university sector as it helps balance the government’s need for control with the universities’ need for independence. The instrument, conceptualized as an agreement, embodies the negotiated character of the relationship between government and universities, and conveys the idea to different actors that their needs are met. Despite the promises of the instrument, when objectives are ambiguous, uncertainty is pervasive, and negotiation is limited, the increase in government control is minimized and the changes in university autonomy are negligible, thus suggesting that symbolic and rhetorical compliance may be the sustainable equilibrium between governments and governed. Nonetheless, some level of transformation is observed in the sector as the new tool contributes to strengthening priority alignment, highlighting the value of sharing stories, and increasing acceptance of reporting requirements.

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University governance in Canadian higher education

Cited by 41 publications

References 9 publications

Assessing the role and structure of academic senates in Canadian universities, 2000–2012

Assessing the role and structure of academic senates in Canadian universities, 2000–2012

The Impact of a Community-University Collaboration: Opening the “Black Box”

Accountability Agreements for Ontario Universities: The Balancing Character of a Policy Instrument

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