The Flux Of The British University Autonomy

Ever since the birth of the university,the university autonomy has been regarded as the Scripture in the development of the universities and has thus been the research object of numerous researchers.Yet in different times,cultural traditions and administration systems,the university autonomy and academic freedom vary greatly in forms,degrees and impacts.Of which,the Oxbridge way of autonomy and freedom from the outside world is seen as the closest model to the Medieval universities,admired and followed by countries all over the world.Nevertheless,the New Public Management movement has arisen worldwide since 1980s when the market was introduced into the field of higher education as a coordinator.As a result,the higher education institutions have been experiencing a convergence,namely the substantive autonomy of the university is being narrowed down and down,so is the British classical autonomy.Moreover,since the middle 1800s,the British higher education system has been expanded obviously and diversely:the rise of city universities,the start of the Plate-Glass universities and the surge of universities after 1992 enriched the concept "university".Against the historical background of "the relationship between the government and the university",the autonomy of those universities brings new features.Originating from that background,this study explores the following questions:what heritage of the British classical universities is left in the modern world?What forms has the university autonomy turned into?What forms of the autonomy of the"Red Brick Universities" and "Plate-Glass Universities"?What track does the British university autonomy develop?What trend can we expect?What drivers and what laws can be figured out?Employing multiple research methods,such as historical study,literature study and case study,this thesis explores the development of the university autonomy of different types of British universities from a historical view.The thesis consists of three parts:the first part acts as the introduction,made up of the research background,research values,literature review,key concepts,research design,etc.The second part is the main body of the thesis,covering from Chapter 2 to Chapter 5,shedding light on the autonomy forms and power distribution of the British universities with regard of "the relationship between the government and the university" in different historical periods.To be more concrete,Chapter 2 introduces the origin and forms of the autonomy of British classical universities.The universities had played games with the Church and the Sovereign since the Medieval Age.Despite the fact that the "Glory Revolution" gave birth to the central government,the central government had never interfered the internal affaires of the universities.Chapter 3,4 and 5 eliminate the exact forms of different types of universities,the power distribution between the universities and the government,and the changes of the internal governance structure,against the background of the changing relationship between the government and the university.Chapter 3 explores the autonomy changes in a period of high confidence between the government and the universities,from the middle 1800s to 1970s,covering classical universities,city universities and"Plate-Glass" universities.Chapter 4 explores the autonomy changes in the period when the government interfered aggressively the universities.Through no new type of universities appeared in this period,the government had to cut down the budget to weather the economic crisis and to improve the efficiency of the universities,arousing changes in power distribution and the university autonomy.Chapter 5 explores the changes in the university autonomy when the government has built an accountability system.A comparison is made between the pre-1992 and post-1992 university autonomy when poly-tech colleges were upgraded to universities.Composed of the conclusion and discussion,the third part summarizes the overall changes of the university autonomy in the three periods and among different types of universities:classical universities continue to use the internal governing structure constituted by professors's associations and administrators;city universities inherit the autonomy structure of co-governing by lay persons as border members and internal members;networking of co-autonomy by diverse stakeholders has appeared in Plate-Glass Universities;Post-1992 universities follow the directorate-centered structure.Other than that,the autonomous modality of British universities has experienced interesting tracks,such as the gradually increasing and decreasing phases of social status and power of academic groups,the growth of centralization,and the rising power of administrators led by vice-chancellors,etc.The drivers and rules are analyzed,and some implications are drawn by this study.