"University Autonomy and the Globalization of Academic Careers"

San Domenico di Fiesole, 11-12 November 2008.

Call for Papers deadline September 3rd, 2008.

It is often argued that in order to improve research and educational performance universities should be given sufficient institutional autonomy – this includes financial and managerial autonomy, academic and scientific autonomy as well as organisational and staffing autonomy – and that the academic market should be open and competitive. Such claims raise many questions. How do higher education systems differ according to their degree of autonomy and competition? Do differences in autonomy translate into differences in performance? How important are different forms of autonomy? How should public university academic contracts be determined? Which universities are successful examples of ‘university autonomy’? How should ‘autonomous public universities’ be made accountable? Which policy reforms should be implemented in order to make universities competitive in a globalized academic market? Why is it so difficult to implement some of these policies?

The one-and-a-half-day workshop will focus on these, and related, issues with a special emphasis on the potential - and the limitations - of university autonomy to open-up and enhance academic careers in Europe, in the context of an increasingly globalized academic market.

Scientific Committee

• David Dill, Depatment of Public Policy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• José Gines Mora, Centre for the Study of Higher Education Management, Valencia University of Technology, and Institute of Education, University of London
• Christine Musselin, Centre de Sociologie des Organisations, CNRS, Paris
• Ramon Marimon, Max Weber Programme, European University Institute
• Frans van Vught, Center for Higher Education Policy Studies, University of Twente
• Reinhilde Veugelers, Catholic University of Leuven and Bureau of Economic Policy Advisors, EC