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Increasing Engagement in University Governance

Increasing Engagement in University Governance. Glen A. Jones Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement. Objectives. Academic work in Canada: Implications for governance Are there ways of increasing faculty and student engagement? Some possible approaches.

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Increasing Engagement in University Governance

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  1. Increasing Engagement in University Governance Glen A. Jones Ontario Research Chair in Postsecondary Education Policy and Measurement

  2. Objectives • Academic work in Canada: Implications for governance • Are there ways of increasing faculty and student engagement? Some possible approaches.

  3. Changing Academic Professions • Common questionnaire given to faculty in 19 jurisdictions (18 countries plus Hong Kong) • Canadian survey involved 2 stage cluster sample (18 institutions selected by category, at least 1 in each province)

  4. Figure 4 High and Low Work Satisfaction (% Respondents) By Country

  5. Faculty Hours Per Week on Administration:Teaching Term

  6. Faculty Time (Hrs per week) During Teaching Term

  7. In terms of governance: • The majority do not believe that their institutions are well run • Have concerns about the level of collegiality • 39% believe that senior administrators are providing competent leadership

  8. Lack of faculty involvement is a real problem ( % Agree or Strongly Agree)

  9. Canadian Full-Time Faculty • High levels of job satisfaction • Reasonably well remunerated • Heavily unionized • Work hard and are quite productive • Differences of opinion over university management/governance • Pulled in many directions – but less interest (and recognition) for service/admin compared to research and teaching

  10. Horizontal and Vertical Fragmentation Figure 3: Horizontal and Vertical Fragmentation

  11. So why aren’t faculty engaged? • Pushed and pulled in multiple directions – with an increasing emphasis on their research and teaching activities. • Fragmentation of academic work may mean that new categories of academic workers are not part of formal governance – and collective bargaining has become the major form of influence over policy.

  12. Other hypotheses on faculty and student engagement: • There is no problem (no crisis) • Selection problem (not attracting the right individuals) • Lack of perceived influence (the rubber stamp assumption) • Ignorance (of their role, of the university, of governance)

  13. Possible approaches …

  14. This is a Human Resource problem: • Recruitment • Selection • Training • Evaluation

  15. This is a group dymanics/process problem: • Are processes welcoming and inclusive? • Are participants respected? • Is there an appropriate turn-over of members (term limits)? • Are processes evaluated? Are group dynamics evaluated? Is feedback used to improve group processes?

  16. This is an educational problem: • Do members understand what universities do? • Do members understand that universities are not like other institutions/corporations? • Do members understand the unique nature of university governance? • Do they understand their role in this unique governance arrangement?

  17. Thank you!gjones@oise.utoronto.ca www.glenjones.ca

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