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Institutional Autonomy in Higher Education

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Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions

Synonyms

Institutional capacity; Strategic profiling; Reform; Governance

Definition

The capacity of Higher Education Institutions to design internal structures, select and train staff, shape academic programmes and use financial resources, in line with their specific institutional missions and profiles.

Introduction

University governance and the relationship between the state and higher education institutions are issues that have generated intense debate and reflection in the past decade. Institutional autonomy is widely considered as an important prerequisite for modern universities to be able to develop institutional profiles and to deliver efficiently on their missions. Discussions around university governance and autonomy arose across Europe in different contexts as a response to diverse challenges; as a result, the need emerged to develop a common terminology and structure to address such an important topic, with an increasing demand for comparability and benchmarking across...

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Governance, Funding and Public Policy Development, European University Association (EUA), Brussels, Belgium

    Thomas Estermann & Enora Bennetot Pruvot

Authors
  1. Thomas Estermann
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  2. Enora Bennetot Pruvot
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Thomas Estermann .

Section Editor information

  1. CIPES, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Alberto Amaral

  2. Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    António Magalhães

  3. Centre for Research in Higher Education Policies (CIPES), Porto, Portugal

    António Magalhães

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Estermann, T., Bennetot Pruvot, E. (2018). Institutional Autonomy in Higher Education. In: Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_136-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_136-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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