Autonomy and Control of Research Universities

A Case Study of the University of California

Abstract

　 The purpose of this research is to consider the significance of university autonomy, taking the recent strife between the University of California and the state legislature as an example. The higher education system in California, outlined by the famous Master Plan, used to be prized for its success in realizing both the quality and quantity of public higher education. However, Master Plan’s missions in terms of both access and excellence have been hampered by the lingering financial deterioration.

　 Many previous researches have seen the Californian model of higher education as an example of functional differentiation policy. Other previous research, which focused on the relationship between UC and the state government, assumed the similarity of the regulatory function of the governing board of the university and the state government, because both of them are expected to represent the people of the state. Some other recent research that recommends a policy shift tends to convey an image of a university that is constitutionally independent but subordinate to political and economic circumstances. This research reinterprets the Californian model of higher education from the viewpoint of conflict between institutional autonomy and public control.

　 In order to keep its volume and quality as a world-class research university (system), California’s flagship state university, in the midst of a significant decline in state funding, has been driven to a strategy deceptively harmful to Californian’s public interests. There was a risk that proposed new legislation requiring UC to accept more Californian students with more restricted funding would limit the university’s management resources and strategy and cause an ironical situation in which well-intentioned public control would make it even more difficult for a public research university to carry out its public mission. Securing institutional autonomy backed by political independence was deemed to be the key that would enable a public research university with insufficient public support to keep pursuing its public mission in access and excellence.