The reforms in higher education governance in recent years are driven by the same external and
internal pressures and are largely following the same pattern. They tend to have the following
elements:
• Legislation that establishes universities as autonomous independent entities
• Withdrawal of the state from certain detailed control and management
functions and the devolution of responsibility to universities themselves
• The creation of buffer bodies or agencies to carry out some of the detailed
financial control and supervision functions in the sector or to provide sectorwide
services
• Adoption of funding models that give institutions greater freedoms and that
encourage them to develop new sources of income
• Creation of external agencies that monitor the quality of all courses delivered
by institutions
• The development of new forms of accountability through reporting on
performance and outcomes in achieving nationally set goals for the sector, as
well as institutionally set targets
• Confirmation of the role of a university board as having overall responsibility
to the minister or the buffer body
• Gradual withdrawal of the state from decisions on the appointment of the chair
of the board or president and members of the board
• Expectations of managerial competence by the board and the president
The resulting changed environment presents challenges both to the staff in the MOE and to those
in institutions. The move from control to regulation/supervision requires new models of working
at the centre; the acquisition by boards of overall responsibility for results necessitates different
styles of decision making and new structures within the institution. Making the reforms work
involves new skills and is not always achievable overnight.