Governance in American Higher Education - Paper Example

The effectiveness and efficiency of services provided by any institution of higher learning are determined by the institution's governance and the type of governance structures put in place by the institution. Governance includes decision-making processes and systems, both formal and informal, and relationships between individuals and groups within these institutions. The difference between governance and administration is that governance processes and policies are established earlier than in administration. The governance of American institutions of higher education is distinct to the governance in other parts of the world. In other parts of the world, the governance of higher education institutions is uniform. In the U.S., institution governance is unique, depending on the history and the needs of each institution. Another reason for this diversity is the lack of centralized authority for education. Governing boards have distinctive features allowing a decentralized governance system where autonomy and power are distributed. The U.S. governance system is democratic in representation and decision making. This type of governance is known as shared governance.

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In shared governance, individual decisions fall into the realm of different groups within the governance structure (Cramer, 2017). The roles of the president, administrators, faculty members, and trustees in making decisions on academic governance are outlined. Shared governance states that there should be joint higher learning institutions' governance. Collaborative governance ensures that multiple members have input on critical decisions in the institution.

Shared governance helps ease the complexity, difference in history, and size of American higher education. For instance, at liberal arts colleges, the whole faculty is involved in governance, making their governance processes distinctive. Governance at larger institutions such as institutions granting doctoral and master's degree programs tends to be a representative process through joint committees and faculty senate. Unions are vital factors in the governance of community colleges (Cramer, 2017). Academic governance has changed over time. However, it has maintained the importance of participation and consultation of campus shareholders in making significant decisions promoting democratic principles.

The complex process of governance contains many groups. The groups differ with the level of responsibility by the type of institution, historical evolution, and culture of the institution. The college and university charters from the state legislature have delegated authority for oversight and decision making to the trustees and boards (Cramer, 2017). Traditionally boards dominated decision making, and faculty had very little involvement. However, after professionalizing the faculty, efforts were made to obtain greater participation and authority within the decision-making process, and they were successful.

The organizational structure of the American higher institutions varies concerning the type of institution, history, and culture, although they have many similarities. Most universities, both public and private, are governed by governing boards that are either system-wide or institutional. This combination of uniqueness and uniformity reflects the unique characteristics of individual colleges and universities portrays and the shared task common to the American institutions of higher education. Private colleges and universities have more varying aspects than public universities. Relying on bureaucratic organizational structures by the institutions, both private and public, make their governance to be relatively uniform.

The organizational structure of colleges and universities plays an essential role in guiding the institutions (Cramer, 2017). Critical authority structures are incorporated in both public and private colleges and universities. These authority structures include a president or a chancellor, the governing board, academic senate, and some administrative leaders. Public institutions collaborate with external entities such as the state and federal governments that interact and shape procedures and policies concerning the internal organizational structures of the institutions.

The governing board of the university is there in public universities and colleges in half of the U.S. states. Some of these states have a state coordinating boards that grant operating authorities and student assistance in both public and private institutions. The governing board's authority is the state where the school resides. Citizen trustees constitute of both public and private institutions governing boards. Mostly in public institutions, the members of the governing boards are political appointees. These political appointees link the institution, the national and state political structures.

The responsibility of the higher education institutions governing boards includes corporate governance, institutional operations, and personnel decisions(Eddy & Amey, 2018). The governing boards also plan and budget the higher education according to the decisions of the government. Since members of these boards are political appointees, the governor, therefore, influences them significantly. However, in several states, members of the governing boards are directly elected by the people.

Due to the rapid societal changes in needs, the traditional way of governing higher education institutions through faculty senates are incompetent. Therefore, nonprofit higher education institutions are advised to move from this shared governance corporate governance in which decision making is at the presidential level.

A National Report on Academic Governance in Higher education in 2003 studied the faculty governance structure as part of the complex shared governance. In their research, they came up with three types of faculty governance and decision making structures. The first one was the fully collaborative decision-making model. In this model, decisions are shared within the administration and the faculty. The second model was the consultative decision-making model, where decision making is done only by senior administrators and board members. The third model was the distributive decision-making model. Decision making was according to the assigned responsibilities of each member of the board of administrators.

The role of the faculty senate in college and university governance is to prevent the centralization of academic program control. This decentralization enables the faculty members to be flexible enough to respond timely to the changes affecting their fields. The faculty senates serve as training platforms for future academic leaders in the governance of higher education institutions.

The decisions made by the faculty members primarily affects the academics of the institution. Often the senate faculty makes decisions concerning curricula monitoring, ensuring that the existing degree programs have integrity, developing new courses and degree programs, authorizing changes to programs that are existing, and endorsing the closure of existing programs (Eigenbrood & Aker, 2016). The senate faculties also review the promotions, tenure, and post-tenure processes of the institution's staff members. There are subcommittees in most senates that monitor these matters. Theses subcommittees help the faculty to have a broader involvement in academic governance. The subcommittees provide oversite of co-curricular activities in the institutions.

Administrators in higher education institutions such as the department chair and leaders have a role in the governance of the institutions they work in. The functions of department leaders depend on the frame that their departments fall in. the departments fall into four different structures. The departments in the human resource frame develop and understands the relationships between individuals within the institution, investment of time and resources, and reviewing the hiring process (Rall et al, 2020). The departments in the cultural frame identify issues and problems arising from the history and culture of the institution and department. The structural frame departments deal with the academic structure of the institution and decision making.

Administrators act as the university's representative and its academic community to external agencies. An administrator has a role in promoting a positive image of their institution and maintaining a fair and close relationship with the governing board (Hendrickson et al., 2013). The presidents of institutions of higher learning act as principle fundraisers in the institution.

The federal government spends much money to sponsor research, provide student grants, and tax credits on tuition. The state government, on the other hand, offers direct institutional subsidies and student grants. The federal government plays an essential role in setting research priorities and funding them. Most prestigious research grants are awarded after a peer-review process. The federal department for education is responsible for accrediting institutions as eligible for federal student financial assistance. The state policies, together with the governing boards that are appointed or elected by the state, determine the priorities and sets conditions that govern and manage public institutions. The states operate as owners of public institutions.

References

Cramer, S. (2017). Shared governance in higher education, volume 2: New paradigms, evolving perspectives. SUNY Press.

Eddy, P. L., & Amey, M. J. (2018). Leading in the middle. https://scholarworks.wm.edu/educationbookchapters/37/

Eigenbrood, R., & Aker, L. (2016). Governance in American Higher Education. Reviewed by Zenon Jasinski Editors: Ryszard Kucha and Henryk Cudak Typesetting: Agnieszka Sliz Cover design: Marcin Szadkowski, 359.

Hendrickson, R. M., Lane, J. E., Harris, J. T., & Dorman, R. H. (2013). Academic leadership and governance of higher education: A guide fortrustees, leaders and aspiring leaders of two-and four-year institutions. Stylus Publishing, LLC.

Rall, R. M., Morgan, D. L., & Commodore, F. (2020). Toward Culturally Sustaining Governance in Higher Education: Best Practices of Theory, Research, and Practice. Journal of Education Human Resources, 38(1), 139-164. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/abs/10.3138/jehr.2019-0006