Change in Universities

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Change in Universities International
perspectives and experiences Peter
Maassen UiO Styremøte 23 November 2007
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• External conditions wrt institutional change
• Change experiences
• Conclusions

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External conditions 1. Political 2.
Economic 3. Socio-cultural
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External conditions 1. USA aimed at creating
winners (competition), accepting losers 2.
Europe dont like losers (political steering),
hesitant to create winners
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• External conditions National level in Europe
• Traditional policy and reform issues in HE
• Decrease of direct government interference in
  higher education and strengthening of
  institutional autonomy.
• 2. Professionalisation of institutional
  leadership and management,
• and adaptation of the institutional governance
  structures.
• 3. Further development of the quality assessment.
• 4. Adaptation of the funding basis of the HEIs.

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• External conditions National level in Europe
• New policy and reform issues in HE
• Stimulating the cooperation between Universities
  and Industry
• (Public-Private Partnership).
• 2. Strengthening the international
  competitiveness of universities.
• Promoting system differentiation in higher
  education, including
• the trend to concentrate talents/resources.
• 4. Increasing the attractiveness of the
  university as a working place.

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• External conditions Nordic examples
• Denmark
• National globalisation strategy with central
  place for universities and colleges
• Strong organisational, financial and political
  separation between universities and colleges
• Mergers between universities, and integration of
  research institutes in new universities result 3
  super universities and 5 research universities
• Increase in research budget (incl. free research
  funds) of which 70 will be invested in 3 super
  universities
• Tuition fees for most non-EU students

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• External conditions Nordic examples
• Finland
• Performance contracts between universities and
  Ministry
• Reform aimed at reducing number of HEIs (20
  universities and 30 polytechnics)
• Competitive funds for stimulating mergers 3
  winners Turku, East Finland and Helsinki. Latter
  merger between 3 institutions aimed at creating
  new Innovation University
• University of Helsinki national flagship but
  without extra funding
• National system of graduate schools
• New government discusses aot tuition fees for
  non-EU students

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• External conditions Nordic examples
• Sweden
• Spreading of research funds over all universities
  and colleges
• Discussions on less universities (5 to 8)
• Report from national Commission Resurser for
  kvalitet
• Main proposals
• 4-year plan period
• Education funding 50 basic component and 50
  performance basis
• Research funding only for universities 50 basic
  component and 50 performance based
• Growing differentiation and profiling less
  universities

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2. Change experiences of universities -
Rankings - Categories of research
universities - Institutional responses
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Change experiences of universities
rankings - Global, regional, national -
Various indicators, mainly research based -
Limited validity great impact - UiO best
Norwegian university, but either stable or
dropping in global rankings - Europe UK,
Netherlands, Switzerland best positions in
rankings
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Change experiences of universities
categories Institutional categories US
Carnegie classification Europe EU
categorization project Practically relevant
classification 1. Mosaic Universities
Traditional flagships bottom up profiling no
clear choices or institutional strategies 2.
Research Intensive Universities Choice
Concentration of funds and talents, but still
broad and comprehensive 3. Elite
Universities Choice world leading in research
in all areas
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Change experiences of universities
responses University of Wisconsin/Madison Univ
ersity of Amsterdam University of
Utrecht Technical University of Munich / LM
Munich University of Helsinki University of
Copenhagen ETH Zurich
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Change experiences of universities
responses University of Wisconsin/Madison -
From mosaic to elite university - Joint effort
of state, all public HEIs and other stakeholders
- University of Wisconsin System (UW)
(http//www.wisconsin.edu) 13 four-year
universities, incl. 2 research universities with
doctoral programmes, remainder higher
professional education universities 13
two-year colleges Pyramid structure Concentr
ation of research funds and top staff and
students in UW Madison
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• Dutch universities
• Reforms started in 1985 emphasis on
  institutional autonomy and quality of teaching
  and research. Comprehensive Law in 1993
• New institutional governance structure in 1997
  from most democratic to most executive
• Establishment of internal teaching centres of
  excellence for the best students (university
  colleges)
• Interesting examples of institutional change
• University of Utrecht and University of
  Amsterdam
• http//www.uva.nl/organisatie/object.cfm
• http//www.science.uva.nl/organisatie/organogram.
  cfm
• Far-reaching adaptations of governance structure
  and internal organisation, incl. comprehensive
  teaching schools and research institutes

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Technical University of Munich / LM University
Munich Since 1 year 2 of 3 German elite
universities - Emphasis on research
excellence - Among first German universities to
adapt internal organisation and governance
structure - Cooperation with Bavarian
authorities and (esp. TUM) industry TUM
Concept Entrepreneurial University -
International Graduate School of Science and
Engineering - Two excellence clusters (incl.
Cognition for Technical Systems) - Until 2011
150 million invested in expanding strong sides
and strengthen weak units
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University of Helsinki - Institutional
research strategy based on Pasteurs quadrant
(Stokes) - Evaluation of all research groups in
2 rounds. Outcomes are used to cut funding of
about 40 of research groups - No financial
support from Ministry. - Reform
stagnating
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Pasteurs quadrant
Quest for New Knowledge/ Fundamental Understandin
g
Consideration of use
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University of Copenhagen - Merged aot with
Pharmaceutical University - Balance Bachelor
Master level students 50/50. - Budget around Dkr
6 billion - Through Universitys Programme of
Excellence internal funds invested in excellent
researchers (2008 Dkr 350 million for 20
researchers) (www.ku.dk/english) - Attracts
researchers from Karolinska
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ETH Zurich - National university - Budget
around CHF 1.2 billion ( around Nok 6
billion) - Personnel policy centralised. All
major academic and administrative appointments
made by central leadership.
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3. Conclusions 1. Successful university
reform combination of external and internal
factors 2. Main change elements external -
Incentive and competition based national
financing schemes - Concentration of talents
(from PhD students to professors) -
Concentration of research funding -
Professionalisation of management/leadership -
Growing emphasis on economic role
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3. Main change elements internal - From
public to business administration inspired
governance structure - From V. Bush (1945) to D.
Stokes (1997) as inspiration for research
strategy - Separation of research and teaching
funding - Separation of research and teaching
organisation - Separate education structures for
best students - Changing balance between
bachelor and Master/PhD students - Internal
competition for large research grants - Cutting
funding of low quality research groups/units -
Centralization of personnel policy
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The end