Abstract
This article analyzes the contemporary role of the University Grants Committee (UGC) vis-à-vis New Zealand's universities and the Department of Education. Emphasis is given to the historical and political factors which resulted in devolution of the University of New Zealand in the early 1960s and brought the UGC into being. Established to guide the development of the university system in a period of budgetary expansion, the UGC assesses the financial needs of the universities and the national need for new academic programs. Recent financial exigency prompted the government to introduce restrictions on the financial autonomy of the universities. The UGC has lost some of its autonomy in consequence, but a fundamental change in its relationship to government or in its protective role with respect to the universities is considered unlikely.
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Eisemon, T.O. Reconciling university autonomy with public accountability: The state, University Grants Committee and higher education in New Zealand. High Educ 13, 583–594 (1984). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128567
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128567