Abstract
The transformation of higher education systems under the pressure of new needs required by the “society of knowledge” in France and Italy has had a deep effect on the relationship between state and university, and therefore a direct impact on university governance. This article sums up the main results of a research carried out on university Présidents in France and Rettori in Italy, with the aim of understanding their views about the changing process in higher education systems and the related impact on their leading role. There emerges a picture of systems transiting from a traditional centralised Napoleonic structure to a new one where the growing autonomy requires a different kind of governance not previously experienced, and thus not easy to implement mostly because of the resistance coming from universities themselves. The majority of Presidents and Rectors seem aware of the changing process and the related problems even if they do not all agree upon feasible trends to follow. Such a disagreement appears to be an understandable consequence of the unstable and unpredictable direction of the changing situation in the two systems.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Associazione Treelle. (2003). Università italiana, università europea? [Italian university, European university?] Genova: Quaderno n 3.
Becher, T. (1989). Academic tribes and territories: Intellectual enquiry and the culture of disciplines. Milton Keynes: Open University Press.
Boffo, S., Dubois, S., & Moscati, R. (2006). Il governo dell’Università. Rettori e Presidenti in Italia e Francia. [University governance: rectors and presidents in Italy and France.] Milano: Guerini Studio.
Clark, B. (1983). The higher education system: Academic organization in cross-national perspective. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Clark, B. (1998). Creating entrepreneurial universities: Organizational pathways of transformation. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Cohen, M.D., & March, J.G. (1974). Leadership and ambiguity: The American college president. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Cohen, M.D., March, J.G., & Olsen, J.P. (1972). A garbage can model of organizational choice. Administrative Science Quarterly, 17(1), 1–25.
Cyert, R.M., & March, J.G. (1963). A behavioural theory of the firm. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Dill, D.D., & Sporn, B. (Eds.). (1995). Emerging patterns of social demand and university reform: Through a glass darkly. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Huisman, J., Maassen, P., & Neave, G. (Eds.). (2001). Higher education and the nation state: The international dimension of higher education. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
March, J.G, & Simon, H.A. (1958). Organizations. New York: Wiley.
Meek, V.L., Goedegebuure, L., Kivinen, O., & Rinne, R. (Eds.). (1996). The mockers and mocked: Comparative perspectives on differentiation, convergence and diversity in higher education. Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Mignot-Gerard, S. (2003). Who are the actors in the government of French universities? The paradoxical victory of deliberative leadership. Higher Education, 45(1), 71–89.
Mora, J.G. (2000). Governance and management in the new university. Tertiary Education and Management, 7(2), 95–110.
Moscati, R. (Ed.). (1997). Chi governa l’università? [Who governs the university?] Napoli: Liguori.
Musselin, C. (2001). La longue marche des universités françaises. [The long march of French universities.] Paris: PUF.
Neave, G. (1996). Homogenization, integration and convergence: The Cheshire cats of higher education analysis. In V.L. Meek, L. Goedegebuure, O. Kivinen, & R. Rinne (Eds.), The mockers and mocked: Comparative perspectives on differentiation, convergence and diversity in higher education (pp. 26–41). Oxford: Pergamon Press.
Neave, G. (2002). “On stakeholders, Cheshire cats and seers” in the CHEPS Inaugurals. Enschede: Universiteit Twente.
Pfeffer, J. (1982). Organizations and organization theory. Boston, MA: Pitman.
Sporn, B. (1999). Adaptive university structures: An analysis of adaptation to socioeconomic environments of US and European universities. London: Jessica Kingsley.
Weick, K.E. (1976). Educational organizations as loosely coupled systems. Administrative Science Quarterly, 22(1), 1–19.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Boffo, S., Dubois, P. & Moscati, R. Changes in University Governance in France and in Italy. Tert Educ Manag 14, 13–26 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1080/13583880701814132
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13583880701814132