ACADEMIC AUTONOMY
IN CURRENT POLITICAL AND SOCIOECONOMIC CONDITIONS
Mykhailo Minakov, University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (Kyiv, Ukraine)
Fulbright Scholar 2012/2013 (Kennan Institute; Harvard University)
DEFINITION: AUTONOMY
• Autonomy, in Western ethics and political philosophy, the state or condition
of self-governance, or leading one’s life according to reasons, values, or
desires that are authentically one’s own. Encyclopaedia Britannica
• Kant, maximalist definition: autonomy as a faculty of a person to self-govern
based on universal principles only, without heteronomic/pathological impact
• Mill, minimalist definition: autonomy as an ability of a human to direct own
actions in accord with his/her wishes, values and inclinations
• Habermas, balanced definition: autonomy is a state of a group where private
interests are channelled (through rules and institutions) to become public
regulations
DEFINITION: ACADEMIC AUTONOMY
•
Academy as autonomous corporation (privilege granted by Pope or Emperor or Commune)
European Universities Association, Prague Declaration (2009)
•
EUA strongly believes that increasing institutional autonomy is a key element to enable universities to best
respond to the new demands placed on universities.
•
EUA reaffirms the crucial role of autonomy as a success factor for European universities in the next decade.
•
organisational structures and institutional governance – in particular, the ability to establish structures and
governing bodies, university leadership and who is accountable to whom
•
financial issues – in particular the different forms of acquiring and allocating funding, the ability to charge
tuition fees, to accumulate surplus, to borrow and raise money from different sources, the ability to own land
and buildings and reporting procedures as accountability tools
•
staffing matters – in particular the capacity to recruit staff, the responsibility for terms of employment such
as salaries and issues relating to employment contracts such as civil servant status
•
academic matters – in particular the capacity to define the academic profile, to introduce or terminate
degree programmes, to define the structure and content of degree programmes, roles and responsibilities
with regard to the quality assurance of programmes and degrees and the extent of control over student
admissions.
UNIVERSITY AUTONOMY IN EUROPE I ExploRAToRy STUdy by Thomas Estermann & Terhi Nokkala
(file:///Users/mykhailominakov/Downloads/EUA_Autonomy_Report_Final.pdf )
DEFINITIONS: CONCLUSIONS
• balance between university autonomy and accountability to state
• balance between independence from ministry and internal self-governance
• ability to self-govern based on
• principles of accountability to science (reason d’etre), society
(socialization, development, international competition) and state (public
finance provider)
• principles of scholarly cooperation for science advancement and proper
higher education
POST-SOVIET POLITICAL SYSTEMS
post-soviet oligarchy as
• stable form of governance with abuse of public institutions for the private
gain
• specificity : use of public posts to increase and preserve property of the
chosen rent-seekers
• whichever democratic and/or authoritarian attempts, oligarchy manages to
be re-established
oligarchy as a principle for all sectors, including academic/higher education
SITUATION IN POST-MAIDAN UKRAINIAN
• government drops off financial support to all sector but defence
• Soviet legacy:
• continued division of research and education
• pyramid of subjugation with all values and practices accepted by
university professors and administrators during career-development
• ministry of education destroys over-centralised ‘empire of education’,
promotes rectors’ feudalism
• preserved systemic control from within (e.g. approval of rectors, approval of
diplomas of PhD, doctors of sciences, docents and professor
CASE : ORDER OF APPROVAL OF
DOCENTS/PROFESSORS SELECTED BY
UNIVERSITIES
• difference of a post and a status of
professor/docent are re-established, with
interest of bureaucrats
• professor as a payment for previous
achievements
• achievements measured bureaucratically,
with no regard to the future of research,
interest of university, real opportunities of
scholars
• poverty and bureaucratic imagination
CONCLUSIONS
• academic feudalism with no positive impact on academic autonomy and
academic progress
• future possibility to re-establish ministerial empire
• domination of bureaucracy over scholarship
• reform did not start