Systematic Approach to Higher Education Administration - Research Paper Example

Systematic Approach to Higher Education Administration Systematic Approach to Higher Education Administration Introduction Higher education is designed to provide opportunities for appropriately qualified citizens for leadership roles in the intellectual, social, economic and cultural development of a state and its regions by creating and advancing knowledge. It follows, therefore, that the administration of regional institutions that offer higher education must be approached systematically in order to realize the most desirable results. Further, decentralizing education in the context of establishing regional institutes of higher education largely contributes to regional development. A systematic approach that brings institutes of higher education together with regional stakeholders such as local government, organizations of social development and industries facilitates the alignment of teaching, civic engagement and research with regional development strategies (Knight, 2009). The process of systems thinking will entail developing models that promote how events are understood and the behavioral patterns that result in such events as well as the underlying structures that are responsible for such behavioral patterns. In that perspective, this paper will explore the viability of developing an international campus in Canada for the University of Wyoming. The focus will be on state and institution governance structure and interrelationships and intra-relationships among the structures that govern the institution. It will further discuss the governance structure for the Canadian campus and the major legal and regulatory issues relevant to the expansion as well as budgetary and policy considerations at the regional, local and institutional levels. Feasibility of Developing an International Campus for University of Wyoming The demand for higher education has been rising since the turn of the century. According to research by Labi (2009), more than 153 million students in universities all over the world which was a 50% increase from the year 2000. The increased demand was at a time when government budgets towards higher education were limited as a result of the Structural Adjustment Programs that were imposed on countries by institutes of multilateral lending such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. It followed that public institutions of higher education relied not only on tuition and student fees but also the entrepreneurial activities of the institutions (Kotecha, 2010). However, in spite of the initiatives to boost operating funds, the quality and accessibility of higher education declined during the period. The implication is that the notion of developing an international campus for an institution of higher education is viable since the demand for the services is still on the increase. It is imperative that such development plans are based on specific mechanisms such as need-based scholarships for students enrolling in domestic or overseas universities, large-scale loan programs for students and fee policies (Kotecha, 2010). Further studies also indicate that decreasing quality of higher education and increasing student fees facilitated the entry of the private sector into the education industry with arrangements such as cross-border provisions, public-private partnerships and virtual or distance learning (Creed, Perraton & Waage, 2012). Further, the recent resurgence in supporting higher education as an essential development tool has made higher education to be recognized as the key to preventing brain drain and developing innovators and leaders of the future. In that context, the notion of expanding the University of Wyoming is self-sustaining. Wyoming is a state known for its minerals, hence the University of Wyoming can develop programs that will prepare students to take full advantage of the mining industry and develop the state and nation at large. Similarly, Canada is rich in fossil fuel and any programs developed by the university to address the mining industry will also be highly relevant and applicable in Canada. Essentially, cross-border models will include the attendance of institutions of higher education in foreign countries alongside partnerships, networks and consortia. Most countries expanded their public university systems basing on the Western universities’ traditional systems, which continue to provide higher education to relatively diverse student populations. Consistency of International Campus with University of Wyoming’s Mission and Vision It is the aspiration of the University of Wyoming to be finest public land-grant research university in the nation by serving as a statewide resource for affordable, accessible and high-quality higher education. The institution’s mission is to provide rigorous scholarships, transfer of technology, development of the economy and community and responsible stewardship of the nation’s natural, cultural and economic resources (University of Wyoming, 2009). In their endeavor to promote learning, the institution seeks to provide academic as well as extracurricular opportunities aimed at exposing students to the frontiers of creative activity and scholarship as well as the interdependent world’s complexities. It follows that the international campus will ensure students have individual interactions among fellow students, staff and faculty. It will further nurture and environment in which academic freedom, mutual respect, personal integrity, diversity and freedom of expression will be manifested while opportunities of personal growth, leadership development and physical health will be promoted. As the only university in Wyoming, the institution commits itself to service and outreach that extends its technological capacity and human talent to serve its local community, the state, nation, region and the world (University of Wyoming, 2009). The primary means necessary to identify the specific resource allocations and action plans necessary to accomplish the complex mission are vested in the institution’s strategic plans and more importantly, a systemic approach to the administration of higher education. Overview of Governance in Canadian Universities Universities in Canada are created as private and not-for-profit corporations in which their legal foundation is a unique charter (Mortimer & Sathre, 2007). The unique charter further creates a bicameral arrangement of governance in which authority is delegated between an academic senate and an administrative governing board. In conflict situations between the two entities, the administrative governing board assumes the superior role. However, it is worth noting that academic senates at most universities in Canada are created through the charter legislation. Ideally, the senate is not considered as the board’s creature as it is in other jurisdictions. Through the charter legislation, the governing bodies are provided with significant procedural and substantive self-sufficiency to act in the universities’ best interests. Although there are limitations to the self-sufficiency especially with regards to government steering through policies pegged on targeted funding mechanisms and operating grant, universities in Canada have higher levels of self-autonomy than universities in the US and many other jurisdictions (Mortimer & Sathre, 2007). In most Canadian universities, at least three decision-making sources are implied by the charter legislation in which administrative matters are the responsibility of the governing body and academic matters are the responsibility of the academic senate. The university’s central administration forms the third decision-making source and has the powers to appoint the president who oversees the day-to-day running of the institution. The method of provision of higher education in this context can be defined as the primary means by which the international campus will be governed. Wyoming University Governance Structure Institutes of higher education can be considered as moderately open systems operating under a series of legal rather than social mandates that represent the participants’ consensus (Knight, 2009). As a consequence, considerable amounts of systems energy will be consumed in an attempt to maintain relationships rather than pursuing the core goals of the institution. To address such problems and identify the goals of education in the state as well as coordinate the means of attaining the goals, the Wyoming Education Planning and Coordinating Council was established by the Wyoming Legislature in 1997. The council, chaired by the governor, is also charged with the responsibility of identifying, collecting and disseminating issues and information that affect education in Wyoming and facilitates cooperation among all education institutions in the state (Education Commission of the States, 2013). Its core mandate is to ensure public higher education is transformed relevantly and appropriately such that it meets universal success expectations. The mandate was developed with the acknowledgement that the current public education system is specifically designed to provide equal opportunity and access to qualified persons but does not explicitly address universal success. Since Wyoming is a state rich in minerals, the council also reckons that its institutes of higher education must produce highly competent and responsible citizens to further develop the mining industry both within and outside the state borders as well as regionally. Therefore, it was imperative to develop educational leadership programs that fully engaged participants in systems thinking and developing skills that would result in systemic change. Further, the formal structure of university governance in Canada features substantial flexibility in the context of determining what a university is set up to accomplish and how the mission will be accomplished. To achieve its goals, the governance structure of the university works closely with the state’s governance structure. Internally, the institution is headed by a president who is appointed by the trustees and acts as the chief executive officer and administrative officers including heads of subunits. Academic officers comprise of deans, assistant deans, associate deans, directors and departmental heads (Education Commission of the States, 2013). The president may delegate responsibility or authority to members of the academic personnel but will require the trustees’ approval to delegate key areas of responsibility. The vice president responsible for academic affairs reports to the president for functions pertaining to general administration and coordination. In the capacity of the principal administrative officer in charge of academic affairs, the vice president maintains administrative supervision of all the academic colleges, graduate schools, university programs and the Outreach School. The vice president responsible for administration also assumes the role of principal financial officer and reports to the president on matters of business administration and finances. He is also responsible for institutional planning, developing long-term financial strategies and preparing and administering the university’s budget. Then, there is also the Vice President and General Counsel who provides the university with legal advice and is the institution’s contact point that coordinates with the Attorney General of the state. He is also responsible for the administration of procedures and regulations related to the management of risk, health and environmental safety. Other vice presidents include the vice president for information technology, vice president for institutional advancement, vice president for research and economic development and vice president for student affairs (Mortimer & Sathre, 2007). Wyoming State Higher Education Governance Structure The university’s leadership works closely with the Wyoming Education Planning and Coordinating Council that comprises of the chairperson of the senate education committee, chairperson of the House education committee and the chairperson of the State Board of Education. Other members include Wyoming Community College Commission’s executive director; two citizens who are appointees of the governor; an instructor of the University of Wyoming appointed by the university’s board of trustees; and a certified K-12 teacher who is an appointee of the public instruction superintendent (Education Commission of the States, 2013). The teams coordinate to serve particular communities including those with a history of poor participation in higher education. While the university is primarily an institution for teaching and research, it also serves other functions beyond the sphere of education especially in the mineral-rich state. It is a critical social and financial institution in the state whereby it offers educational, social, research, cultural and economic opportunities to citizens as well as outsiders. In that sense, it acts as a key contributor to state development by acting as a major employer and buyer and user of services and goods apart from providing knowledge economy to the state (Jones, Shanahan & Goyan, 2008). Using the systems thinking approach, the two teams can implement an expansion plan for the university and develop an international campus in Canada working in collaboration with Canadian authorities. Systemic thinking will enable them to understand how life events and the need for higher education in the region are interconnected with life events. The environment that surrounds higher education has changed considerably and so should the approaches used in solving problems relating to it, hence the need of the systematic approach (Fetters, Czerniak & Shawberry, 2009). Higher Education Governance Structure in Canada The US and Canada released the Beyond the Border Action Plan in 2011 in an effort to enhance security while facilitating the movement of people, goods and services between the two nations (Zuckerman, Riley & Inserra, 2012). Although the move was largely intended for the purposes of trade between the two countries, it relevantly facilitates the seamless expansion of the Wyoming University to set up a new campus in Canada where universities are legally created as corporations. However, it is worth noting that the public universities in Canada are chartered legally as not-for-profit, private corporations in the sense that the state does not own them. In the Canadian context, university governance is overseen by academic councils refered to as university senates (Jones, Shanahan & Goyan, 2009). The academic senate is typically a larger entity than the governing board of any university and the members are elected from different constituencies. After the state creates and sanctions a university, it becomes an autonomous and self-governing corporation via an internal constitution detailed in its set of bylaws. As a not-for-profit corporation in Canada, the university will not have shareholders and its tax and reporting systems will be different from those of for-profit corporations. However, since the law will recognize its status of a fictitious person, the university will be allowed to hire personnel, get into contracts, own property, sue and be sued (Tierney, 2008). Every university in Canada is established through a unique legislative charter that names it and prescribes governance arrangements that will be used at the institutional level to make decisions. Although the governance arrangements have several elements in common, every university’s charter is unique with substantive differences regarding the governing bodies’ composition and language that describes the responsibilities and powers of the bodies (Rowlands, 2012). Besides the creation of the corporation and the establishment of basic governance systems, the charters presume the corporation will determine its own activities and how its affairs will be administered. In this sense, the University of Wyoming will be able to design its own curriculum so long as it is in concert with the local legal and regulatory requirements as specified by the provincial government. Corporate charters in most Canadian universities articulate a bicameral formal governance arrangement. Therefore, the expansion plans of the Wyoming University must be carried out considering that the legislation in Canada will create two governing bodies for the university and describe how responsibilities will be divided between the two entities. Further, apart from the university’s central administration, academic senate and the governing board, there are university policy networks at all universities and they are comprised of powerful individuals who influence decision-making at the institutional level. In all the universities in Canada, the policy networks are comprised of faculty associations and student organizations. The Systems Thinking Approach in Higher Education Education generally plays three key roles that include transmission of knowledge and cultural values, provision of custodial care and, especially higher education, the preparation of students for life as responsible and contributing citizens after school. However, public education has largely been successful in the first two of the mentioned roles and much less successful in the preparation of students for life beyond school (Jones, Shanahan & Goyan, 2008). Consequently, public education has become a prime source of pattern maintenance in the modern society and the concept of pattern maintenance is the underlying factor behind the failure to match the dynamics of the society’s expectation. Therefore, the administrative systems should shift to purpose-seeking ones from deterministic ones or, in social terms, to participative from dictatorial ones. In the context of higher education, the implication is that education should be perceived as a system in which one student can access multiple information resources rather than on in which one teacher instructs many students (Jones, Shanahan & Goyan, 2008). By expanding the University of Wyoming and creating an international campus, the institution will be making progress towards matching the expectations of the society by making higher education more accessible not only in the state but regionally. Recommendations to the President for the Legislature/ Ethical Considerations The president of the University of Wyoming will need to understand that setting up an international campus in Canada will go through similar processes as starting a business in the country. Although the institution will basically be a not-for-profit corporation, it will still be describes as a business because its design will inadvertently generate material transactions such as the exchange of payment for the services received. In the Canadian context, there are two business formats and they include unincorporated and incorporated businesses. Unincorporated businesses imply that the owners (directors) are the business and will be bound to assume and personally accept all the risks associated with running the business. On the other hand, it is recommended that the University of Wyoming incorporates its operation in the Canadian expansion program in order to separate liability and taxation matters from the owning entity. The cost implications of incorporating the institution will cost in the range of $ 500 to $1000 but there are bound to be government levies related to corporate registration. Canada is one of the safest and extremely liberal countries in the world characterized by low crime rates. However, the University of Wyoming will be ethically obligated to ensure the safety of not only its potential new students but also the residents of the community in which they intend to set up the new campus. Persons who will be required to relocate to pave way for the project must be compensated adequately and fairly and no one should be evicted from their land forcefully. Further, in line with making education universally available, the institution should give equal opportunities to all applicants to its programs starting from advertisement to admission. Conclusion It has been shown that higher education is designed to provide opportunities for leadership roles in the intellectual, social, economic and cultural development by creating and advancing knowledge. Therefore, the administration of institutions of higher education must be approached systematically in order to achieve the most desirable results. The alignment of teaching, civic engagement and research with regional development strategies can be facilitated by a systematic approach that draws institutes of higher education and regional stakeholders together. The 50% increase in demand for higher education between 2000 and 2009 to 153 million students worldwide has also been shown to make the expansion idea feasible. Further, the expansion plan is consistent with the university’s mission of providing scholarships, transferring technology, developing the economy and community and being responsible stewards of the nation’s natural, cultural and economic resources. Finally, opening a campus in Canada will require similar procedures to those of opening a business; hence, there will be legal and regulatory as well as ethical implications. References Creed, C., Perraton, H., & Waage, J. (2012). Examining development evaluation in higher education interventions: A preliminary study. London: London International Development Center Working Paper. Education Commission of the States. (2013). State-level coordinating and/or governing agency. Colorado: Author. Fetters, M., Czerniak, C., & Shawberry, J. (2009). 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Retrieved from http://chronicle.com/article/Experts- Assess-Global-Surge-in/47357. Mortimer, K., & Sathre, C. (2007). The art and politics of academic governance: relations among boards, presidents, and faculty. Connecticut: Praeger. Rowlands, J. (2012). Accountability, quality assurance and performativity: The changing role of the academic board. Quality in Higher Education, 18(1), 97–110. Tierney, W. G. (2008). Competing conceptions of academic governance: Negotiating the perfect storm. Maryland: The Johns Hopkins University Press. University of Wyoming. (2009). University of Wyoming mission statement. Retrieved from http://www.uwyo.edu/president/mission-statement/ Zuckerman, J., Riley, B., & Inserra, D. (2012). Beyond the Border: U.S. and Canada Expand Partnership in Trade and Security. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/time-to-lead/universities-that-educate-the-world-for-free/article4595536/ Read More