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The role of universities in higher education policy-making
Abstract
The relationship between universities and governments has attracted considerable attention in the decade of the 1980's as governments have sought to use universities as instruments of economic policy. Consistent with the interest in the perceived capacity of universities to play a vital role in economic development and restructuring, the Minister for Employment, Education and Training in the Australian government released Higher Education: A Policy Discussion Paper in December 1987. The Discussion Paper proposed the most significant changes in the history of Australian higher education. The government sought to increase participation in higher education and to redirect the research effort in universities away from the basic to a more applied research effort directed at solving immediate economic needs. The proposals included the abolition of the binary system, the restructuring of research funding, review of management structures, and implementation of educational profiles, implementation of academic staff assessment and the definition of institutional role and mission through the application of student load benchmarks.^ The study sought to understand the process of higher education policy development especially with respect to the role of the universities in the policy development process. The relevance and application of selected policy development models was central to the research. The study was qualitatively based and employed the grounded theory research methodology.^ The sources of data included the Policy Discussion Paper; the response of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee; the responses of the individual universities; the Policy Statement; a survey of Vice-Chancellors; the views of an expert panel; and reports in the press collected during the policy development and implementation process.^ The data revealed that the universities supported the expansion of the higher education system proposed by the government but that the universities opposed and rejected many specific proposals. Although the universities reported their opposition they were unsuccessful in persuading the government to amend the offending reforms. The major conclusion of the study was that the universities should not rely solely on the policy development mechanism which operated in the development of higher education policy and instead should look to the Systems model of public policy for guidance in their relationship with government. ^
Subject Area
Political Science, General|Education, Higher
Recommended Citation
Trollope, David Carson, "The role of universities in higher education policy-making" (1989). ETD collection for University of Nebraska-Lincoln. AAI9023004.
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/dissertations/AAI9023004