Government and university autonomy

Abstract

"University autonomy" is considered as the cornerstone of the university system and it means that universities are to be free in the setting of their goals and priorities and implementation of them. University autonomy is significantly dependent on the university overall perspective and the degree of political interference. Despite the fact that securing the independence of universities in higher education is relative, it has not been fully realized in any higher education institution. But this concept in its lifetime, has always been faced with two major problems; misunderstanding of dimensions and indicators, and particularly, the different obstacles and barriers to it especially those that are affected by government interference. Thus, this study is aimed to assess different aspects of university autonomy and the role of government in achieving its obstacles and barriers and qualitative approach based on structuralism method and used the documentary analysis as the means for data collection. The findings suggest experts on the four dimensions of organizational autonomy, financial, academic and staffing as the main dimensions of independence, most opinions are, Political processes of countries, the rule of political thought, decision making centralized system of government, financial constraints and recruitment, particular bias or sectarian factions of the most important obstacles and barriers on the path to achieve university autonomy which in formation of all these obstacles and barriers, governments play an essential role.

Keywords

• university autonomy
• government
• organizational autonomy
• financial autonomy
• academic autonomy