Transforming Governance of German Higher Education Institutions

Year 2022, , 472 - 517, 30.09.2022

Hongmei Sziegat

https://doi.org/10.30828/real.1164190

Abstract

Since the implementation of the Excellence Initiative and the Excellence Strategy, German higher education institutions have been restructuring university governance, especially those selected as Universities of Excellence. This study uses a holistic and mission-related integrated governance approach to conduct a qualitative analysis of the governance transformation of German Universities of Excellence, aiming to provoke discussion on transforming governance to optimize organizational effectiveness and sustainable development of German higher education institutions. Transforming governance of German Universities of Excellence involves mission statements, strategic goals, institutional strategies, research, teaching, the third mission, internationalization, global engagement, governance relationships and structures, institutional leadership, funding, autonomy, innovation, digital transformation, quality assurance, and sustainable development, aiming to enhance accountability, performativity, transparency, openness and organizational effectiveness with efficient administrative management in alignment with institutional missions, vision, core values, and strategic goals.

Keywords

German Universities of Excellence, Governance Transformation, Digital Transformation, Sustainable Development

References

• Abad-Segura, E., González-Zamar, M. D., Infante-Moro, J. C., & Ruipérez García, G. (2020). Sustainable management of digital transformation in higher education: Global research trends. Sustainability, 12(5), 2107.
• Amaral, A., Jones, G. A., & Karseth, B. (2002). Governing higher education: Comparing national perspectives. In Governing higher education: National perspectives on institutional governance, 279-298. Springer, Dordrecht.
• Baldridge, J. V. (1971). Models of University Governance: Bureaucratic, Collegial, and Political. Research and Development Memorandum, No. 77.
• Balderston, F. E. (1995). Managing Today’s University: Strategies for Viability, Change, and Excellence, Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. Jossey-Bass Inc.: San Francisco.
• Baumann, J., & Krücken, G. (2019). Debated Legitimacy: Accreditation in German Higher Education. Higher Education Policy, 32 (1), 29–48.
• Bauer, M., Bormann, I., Kummer, B., Niedlich, S., & Rieckmann, M. (2018). Sustainability governance at universities: Using a governance equalizer as a research heuristic. Higher Education Policy, 31(4), 491-511.
• Bleiklie, I. (1994). The new public management and the pursuit of knowledge. LOS Senter.
• Bleiklie, I. (1998). Justifying the evaluative state: New public management ideals in higher education. Journal of Public Affairs Education, 4(2), 87-100.
• Bleiklie, I., & Kogan, M. (2007). Organization and governance of universities. Higher Education Policy, 20(4), 477-493.
• BMBF. (2019, Sept 18). Excellence Strategy. Retrieved from https://www.bmbf.de/en/excellence-strategy-5425.html (Retrieved August 8, 2020)
• Bond, M., Marín, V. I., Dolch, C., Bedenlier, S., & Zawacki-Richter, O. (2018). Digital transformation in German higher education: student and teacher perceptions and usage of digital media. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 1-20.
• Boyer, E. L. (1990). Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Princeton University Press, 3175 Princeton Pike, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648.
• Braun, D. (1999). Changing governance models in higher education: The case of the new managerialism. Swiss Political Science Review, 5(3), 1-24.
• Carayannis, E. G., & Campbell, D. F. (2011). Open innovation diplomacy and a 21st-century fractal research, education and innovation (FREIE) ecosystem: building on the quadruple and quintuple helix innovation concepts and the “mode 3” knowledge production system. Journal of the Knowledge Economy, 2(3), 327-372.
• Capano, G. (2011). The government continues to do its job. A comparative study of governance shifts in the higher education sector. Public Administration, 89(4), 1622-1642.
• Christensen, T. (2011). University governance reforms: potential problems of more autonomy. Higher education, 62(4), 503-517.
• Clark, B. R. (1983). The higher education system: Academic organization in cross-national perspective. University of California Press.
• Croxford, L., & Raffe, D. (2015). The iron law of hierarchy? Institutional differentiation in UK higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 40(9), 1625-1640.
• De Boer, H., Endres, J., & Schimank, U. (2007). On the way towards new public management? The governance of university systems in England, the Netherlands, Austria, and Germany. In: Jansen D (ed) New forms of governance in research organizations. Springer, Dordrecht, 137–154.
• De Boer, H., Enders, J., & Leisyte, L. (2007). Public sector reform in Dutch higher education: The organizational transformation of the university. Public Administration, 85(1), 27-46.
• De Boer, H., Huisman, J., & Meister-Scheytt, C. (2010). Supervision in ‘modern’ university governance: boards under scrutiny. Studies in Higher Education, 35(3), 317-333.
• Dobbins, M., & Knill, C. (2014). Germany: From Humboldtism to “constrained marketization”. In Higher Education Governance and Policy Change in Western Europe, 139-171. Palgrave Macmillan, London.
• Dobbins, M., & Knill, C. (2017). Higher education governance in France, Germany, and Italy: Change and variation in the impact of transnational soft governance. Policy and Society, 36(1), 67-88.
• Dunleavy, P., Margetts, H., Bastow, S., & Tinkler, J. (2006). New public management is dead—long live digital-era governance. Journal of public administration research and theory, 16(3), 467-494.
• Dunleavy, P., & Margetts, H. Z. (2010). The second wave of digital era governance. In APSA 2010 Annual Meeting Paper.
• Etzkowitz, H., & Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The dynamics of innovation: from National Systems and “Mode 2” to a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations. Research Policy, 29(2), 109-123.
• Ferlie, E., Musselin, C., & Andresani, G. (2008). The steering of higher education systems: A public management perspective. Higher Education, 56(3), 325-348.
• Guri-Rosenblit, S. (2005). Distance education and e-learning: Not the same thing. Higher Education, 49(4), 467-493.
• Hasse, R., & Krücken, G. (2013). Competition and actorhood: A further expansion of the neo-institutional agenda. Sociologia Internationalis, 51(2), 181-205.
• Hartwig, L. (2006). Funding systems and their effects on higher education systems. Bavarian State Institute for Higher education Research and Planning.
• Hladchenko, M. (2013). Mission statement–A component of the strategic management of a university (on the example of German universities). New Educational Review, 31(1), 229-240.
• HOCHN. (2020). Application of the Sustainability Code about Higher Education Institutions - an Approach to Sustainability Reporting at Higher Education Institutions. https://www.hochn.uni-hamburg.de/-downloads/handlungsfelder/nhb/20201113-nhb-en-screen.pdf (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• Hochschulforum. (2016). 20 Theses on digital teaching and learning in higher education. Retrieved from https://hochschulforumdigitalisierung.de/en/20-theses-digitalisation-higher-education (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• Hüther, O., & Krücken, G. (2013). Hierarchy and power: A conceptual analysis with particular reference to new public management reforms in German universities. European Journal of Higher Education, 3(4), 307-323.
• Hüther, O., & Krücken, G. (2018). Higher Education in Germany-Recent Developments in an International Perspective. Cham: Springer International Publishing.
• IEKE. (2016). Evaluation der Exzellenzinitiative Endbericht der Internationalen Expertenkommission. https://www.gwk-bonn.de/fileadmin/Redaktion/Dokumente/Papers/Imboden-Bericht-2016.pdf (Accessed 1 December 2021) Kehm, B. M., & Lanzendorf, U. (2006). Reforming university governance: Changing conditions for research in four European countries. Lemmens.
• Kehm, B. M. (2013a). To be or not to be? The impacts of the excellence initiative on the German system of higher education. In Institutionalization of world-class university in global competition (pp. 81-97). Springer: Dordrecht.
• Kehm, B. M. (2013b). Universities as specific and incomplete organizations? New theories of ‘Universities as Organizations’. In 4th International Conference “University Traditions: A Resource or a Burden, 26-28.
• Kehm, B. M. (2014). New forms of university governance in Germany: Autonomy, self-governance and the distribution of authority. In International trends in university governance (pp. 31-47). Routledge.
• Kezar, A., & Eckel, P. D. (2004). Meeting today’s governance challenges: A synthesis of the literature and examination of a future agenda for a scholarship. The Journal of Higher Education, 75(4), 371-399.
• Kogan, M., Bauer, M., Bleiklie, I., & Henkel, M. (Eds.). (2007). Transforming higher education: A comparative study (Vol. 13). Springer Science & Business Media.
• Kosmützky, A. (2012). Between mission and market position: Empirical findings on mission statements of German higher education institutions. Tertiary Education and Management, 18(1), 57-77.
• Kosmützky, A., & Krücken, G. (2015). Sameness and difference: Analyzing institutional and organizational specificities of universities through mission statements. International Studies of Management & Organization, 45(2), 137-149.
• Küpper, H. U. (2003). Management mechanisms and financing of higher education in Germany. Higher education management and policy, 15(1), 71-89.
• Kretek, P. M., Dragšić, Ž., & Kehm, B. M. (2013). Transformation of university governance: on the role of university board members. Higher Education, 65(1), 39-58.
• Krücken, G., & Meier, F. (2006). Turning the university into an organizational actor. Globalization and organization: World society and organizational change, 241-257.
• Krucken, G. (2011). A European Perspective on New Modes of University Governance and Actorhood. Research & Occasional Paper Series: CSHE. 17.11. Center for Studies in Higher Education.
• Krücken, G., Blümel, A., & Kloke, K. (2009). Towards organizational actorhood of universities: Occupational and organizational change within German university administrations. Deutsches Forschungsinstitut für öffentliche Verwaltung.
• Landri, P. (2018). Digital Governance of Education: Technology, standards, and Europeanization of education. Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Larsen, I. M., Maassen, P., & Stensaker, B. (2009). Four basic dilemmas in university governance reform. Higher Education Management and Policy, 21(3), 1-18.
• Lazzeretti, L., & Tavoletti, E. (2006). Governance shifts in higher education: A cross-national comparison. European Educational Research Journal, 5(1), 18-37.
• Leydesdorff, L. (2000). The triple helix: an evolutionary model of innovations. Research Policy, 29(2), 243-255.
• Leisyte, L. (2014). The transformation of university governance in Central and Eastern Europe: Its antecendents and consequences. In Leadership and Governance in Higher Education: handbook for decision-makers and administrators, vol. 1, E 1-4. Raabe Verlag.
• Maassen, P. (2003). Shifts in governance arrangements. In The higher education managerial revolution? (pp. 31-53). Springer, Dordrecht.
• Magalhães, A., & Amaral, A. (2009). Mapping out discourses on higher education governance. In Huisman, J. (Ed.) International perspectives on the governance of higher education: Alternative frameworks for coordination, 182-197.
• Mause, K. (2011). Transformations of the Educating Leviathan: The Restructuring of German Higher Education in the Noughties. Austausch–German Studies (Online Journal), 1(2), 13-35.
• Mayer, P., & Ziegele, F. (2009). Competition, autonomy, and new thinking: Transformation of higher education in Federal Germany. Higher Education Management and Policy, 21(2), 1-20.
• Neave, G. (1998). the evaluative state reconsidered. European Journal of Education, 33(3), 2
• Neave, G. (2001). Governance, change, and the universities in western Europe. In Governance in higher education: The university in a state of flux (pp. 52-67). Economica.
• Neave, G., & Van Vught, F. A. (1994). Government and Higher Education Relationships across Three Continents: The Winds of Change. Issues in Higher Education Series, Volume 2. 65-284.
• Pandey, I. M. (2004). Governance of higher education institutions. Vikalpa, 29(2), 79-84.
• Powell, J. J., Fernandez, F., Crist, J. T., Dusdal, J., Zhang, L., & Baker, D. P. (2017). Introduction: The worldwide triumph of the research university and globalizing science. In The Century of Science. Emerald Publishing Limited.
• Schimank, U., & Lange, S. (2009). Germany: A latecomer to new public management. In Paradeise, C., Reale, E., Bleiklie, I., & Ferlie, E. (Eds.). University governance: Western European comparative perspectives, pp. 51-75. Springer, Dordrecht. Shattock, M. (2002). Rebalancing modern concepts of university governance. Higher Education Quarterly, 56(3), 235-244.
• Shattock, M. (2006). Managing good governance in higher education. McGraw-Hill Education (UK).
• Talloires Declaration. Talloires Declaration of University Leaders for a Sustainable Future. (1990). http://ulsf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/TD.pdf (Accessed 1 December 2021).
• Teichler, U. (2002). Graduate employment and work in Europe: Diverse situations and common perceptions. Tertiary Education and Management, 8(3), 199-216.
• Teichler, U. (2011). Germany: How changing governance and management affects the views and work of the academic profession. In Changing governance and management in higher education, 223-241. Springer, Dordrecht.
• THE. (2022). THE Impact Rankings Methodology 2022. Version 1.3. https://the-impact-report.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/Impact+2022/THE.ImpactRankings.METHODOLOGY.2022_v1.3.pdf (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• Trakman, L. (2008). Modeling university governance. Higher Education Quarterly, 62 (1‐2), 63-83.
• Trencher, G., Yarime, M., McCormick, K. B., Doll, C. N., & Kraines, S. B. (2014). Beyond the third mission: Exploring the emerging university function of co-creation for sustainability. Science and Public Policy, 41(2), 151-179.
• United Nations. (2015). The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/21252030%20Agenda%20for%20Sustainable%20Development%20web.pdf (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• van Vught, F. & de Boer, H. (2015). Governance models and policy instruments. In the Palgrave international handbook of higher education policy and governance (pp. 38-56). Palgrave Macmillan, London.
• Vidovich, L., & Currie, J. (2011). Governance and trust in higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 36(1), 43-56.
• Weber, L. (2006). European university governance is in urgent need of change. Higher education governance between democratic culture, academic aspirations and market forces, 63.
• WR. (2006). Erste Runde in der Exzellenzinitiative entschieden. Retrieved from https://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/exini-pm-131006.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1 (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• WR. (2007). Zweite Runde in der Exzellenzinitiative entschieden. Retrieved from https://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/exini-pm-191007.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1 (Accessed 8 August 2021)
• WR. (2020). Excellence Strategy and Excellence Initiative. Retrieved from https://www.wissenschaftsrat.de/download/archiv/Information_ExIni_ExStra_engl.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1 (Accessed 1 December 2021)
• Wolter, A. (2004). From State Control to Competition: German Higher Education Transformed. Canadian Journal of Higher Education, 34(3), 73-104.
• Wolter, A. (2007). From the academic republic to the managerial university–The implementation of new governance structures in German higher education. Reforms of higher education in six countries. Commonalities and Differences, 111-132.
• Wolter, A. (2012). State, Market, and Institution in German Higher Education–New Governance Mechanisms Beyond State Regulation and Market Dynamics. In-State and market in higher education reforms (pp. 129-147). Brill Sense.
• Ziegele, F. (2006). The German tuition fee debate: goals, models and political implications of cost-sharing. In Cost-Sharing and Accessibility in Higher Education: A Fairer Deal? (pp. 265-293). Springer, Dordrecht.
• Ziegele, F., & Rischke, M. (2013). Higher education funding: Mechanisms in Germany. Revista de Educacion y Derecho, 8.