Corporate Governance and Internatial Audit in Public Higher Education Institutions in Portugal

Abstract

Governance covers a comprehensive analysis of how higher education is governed. Governance comprises a complex set of aspects such as the legal framework, the features of the institutions, the form of relationship with the whole system, the funding model, as they are being held accountable on how money is spent and the less formal structures and relationships that affect behavior.The radical changes in the university environment, has imposed changes within the higher education institutions (HEIs). The massification of education and the reduction of the company's willingness to fund the decrease in government funding and increasing institutional autonomy have forced universities to adopt new forms of manageme In Portugal, the Legal Regime of Higher Education Institutions (RJIES) sought to promote meaningful change and a paradigm shift in the governance of these institutions in Portugal. The main objective of this article is to understand the consequences that the new regulations had in the governance of HEI and in the adaptation of processes, in a context of reduction of higher education funding.