Autonomy, efficiency and effectiveness-opportunities for higher education: A pilot study

Abstract

Autonomy and efficiency are among the key topics that dominate the current higher education agenda and will shape the future of the European higher education landscape in the next decade. The capacity of higher education institutions and systems at large to respond to the rapidly changing needs of the society and economy will largely depend on what they can deliver and how autonomous, effective and efficient they are. The paper presents an analytical framework that connects the concepts of institutional autonomy, efficiency and effectiveness and explores the links between efficiency in university management, autonomy and accountability. It builds on (i) EUA's work on institutional autonomy and the University Autonomy Scorecard, assessing the main components of institutional autonomy, and (ii) the higher education efficiency framework developed by EUA in the framework of the USTREAM project. This paper explores the following questions: (i) What mechanisms connect regulatory frameworks to efficiency in university management? (ii) How can autonomy be converted into efficiency and effectiveness at universities? (iii) How can efficiency support accountability? Methodologically, this paper will follow the four-pillar structure of the Autonomy Scorecard (organisational, financial, staffing and academic autonomy) and support its argumentation with several case studies.