EUROPE: EUA conference maps new role

The changing relationship between universities and the state was a major theme at the European University Association's conference on governance, but these changes may take unexpected forms. Held in Barcelona late last month, the conference attracted around 350 assorted rectors, vice-rectors and other higher education managers to consider how universities should respond to the increasingly diverse demands of society, and what this means for the way they are run.

It is often said that one of the most significant developments of the past 60 years has been a gradual shift from the state to the market, with phenomena such as the welfare state on the decline and the market taking over many of the functions formerly fulfilled by governments. If this is true for universities, then the growing competition between universities to attract students and the replacement of grants by student loans could provide two illustrations of this trend.

This is definitely the way some students in Barcelona see events. A small group blocked the entrance to the conference on the first day and two students abseiled down the front of Barcelona University's historic building after attaching a large banner to the top calling for the resignation of the rector. They were protesting against the Bologna process which they see as heralding a creeping privatisation of Spanish higher education. For these students, one of the problems with Bologna is that it makes courses overly influenced by the demands of employers as Albert Claret, spokesperson for the Platform for a Public University, explained on Spanish television that evening.

Professor Peter Scott, vice-chancellor of Britain's Kingston University and one of the first speakers at the conference, had a different take on the issue. He believes the state-university relationship is definitely changing; but that to characterise this merely as a shift from state to market or from public funding to private fees is to oversimplify what is really going on. For Scott, it is within the state that the key changes are occurring as it is behaving more and more like the market.

This does not mean, however, that state control over universities is declining: "The state may retain and even strengthen its grip – not necessarily over the detailed management of universities but certainly over their strategic direction," Scott said, "It is not even clear that governments are prepared to reduce their detailed control of universities – simply that this control will be exercised in different ways, through increasingly elaborate accountability regimes – the cults of evaluations, efficiency and targets."

In her analysis of recent trends in university governance, Christine Musselin, director of Sciences Po and the CNRS's Centre of Organisational Sociology in France, detailed some of the new ways the state uses to intervene in higher education. But Musselin agreed these do not constitute disengagement but rather "new ways of steering".
"The state is trying to steer by incentives rather than by rules," she said, "It is giving more autonomy but without relinquishing control. Perhaps we are moving towards the incentive state?"

Society has new expectations of universities, according to Musselin. As well as producing knowledge and training future workers, they are being asked to act as agents of economic growth and important actors in their local environment. This is pushing European universities to change their systems of governance and, although the forms this is taking are very diverse across Europe, some general trends stand out. Changes tend to strengthen the powers of executive leaders and weaken those of deliberative bodies. And governing boards are gradually taking over the role of collegial government.