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2022 | Buch

Governance and Performance Management in Public Universities

Current Research and Practice

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This edited volume contributes to the ongoing research and practice on applying performance management to university governance. A comparative approach and international perspective of the issue is provided through extensive use of case studies and empirical findings. A specific focus is also placed on using performance governance applied to higher education institutions' Third Mission, and on enhancing decision makers’ ability to frame dynamic complexity. In this regard, specific attention is devoted to analyzing the cause-and-effect relationships in affecting public outcomes. This also includes managing trade-offs in both time and space, and detecting and counteracting unintended behavioral effects from the use of formal systems focused on quantitative measures for performance assessment.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter
Performance Management and Governance in Public Universities: Challenges and Opportunities
Abstract
This introductory chapter aims at outlining a set of problematic issues, challenges, and opportunities behind the issue of designing and implementing performance management and governance systems in public universities.
With the aim to provide a key to the subsequent chapters, the following debating questions are framed: How can we frame sustainable performance, if referred to an organization (such as a public HEI) located in a given context? What binds governance with performance management in the field of HEIs? What challenges are associated with different governance perspectives in HEIs? Why linking performance management to governance is particularly crucial in the investigated field?
Carmine Bianchi, Eugenio Caperchione
Transparency and Accountability in Higher Education as a Response to External Stakeholders and Rules: A Comparison Between Three Country-Case Studies
Abstract
Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have been increasingly under pressure to enhance accountability towards their stakeholders and to disclose relevant, updated, and reliable information about their performance in terms of teaching/education, research, and other activities, often labeled “third mission”, aiming, for instance, at spreading and validating research in society.
Based on an exploratory qualitative research, build through the analysis of literature, of national legislation, and of the information disclosed in different institutional websites, the purpose of this chapter is to offer a general overview of the present accountability requirements and of the instruments or resolutions, rule-driven but also voluntary, adopted in three European countries used as Country-Case Studies: the Netherlands, Portugal, and Italy. In addition, this contribution aims at proposing a general assessment of the degree of transparency and accountability of public-funded HEIs.
Findings indicate that there is quite a strong emphasis on accountability towards public or private funders/sponsors and to actual and future students and their families. It has also been realized that the weakest area in terms of transparency of HEIs’ performance is that of transfer and consulting activities, contrasting to the attention paid to the disclosure of teaching and education performance information. Overall, HEIs in the three countries seem to be transparent but especially towards expert stakeholders who know exactly what to look for and where, since performance information is often scattered and available on wide documents, making the access and usability of information relatively low.
The current research aims at contributing to the literature on transparency and accountability, particularly on performance information disclosure in the specific environment of public-funded higher education institutions, from an international comparative perspective, while offering to managers and policymakers some hints on how to assess their current transparency practices, as well as some suggestions about possible future amendments and improvements. Clearly, additional investigation is needed to further validate some findings and to introduce other transparency dimensions and national contexts.
Anna Francesca Pattaro, Patrícia Moura e Sá, Johan A. M. de Kruijf
An Analysis of Methodologies, Incentives, and Effects of Performance Evaluation in Higher Education: The English Experience
Abstract
The chapter illustrates the English systems for research evaluation (the Research Excellence Framework—REF) and teaching evaluation (Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework—TEF) as NPM-driven mechanisms aimed at increasing public accountability and efficiency. Particular attention is given to the methodology of assessment, the incentives provided through the evaluation mechanism and the actual/potential effects that have been generating on both academics and universities. These two experiences are analyzed through the lens of the Management Control Theory (MCT), which argues that each evaluation system must be designed according to the nature of the activity/task under evaluation in order to be effective. Two dimensions are particularly relevant to this regard: the degree of the measurability and attributability of the output (i) and the knowledge of the cause–effect relation or transformation process producing the output (ii). Different configurations of these two dimensions lead indeed to different types of evaluation (input, process, output evaluation). Regarding the REF, it is highlighted how peer-review reflects both a process-based and an output-based evaluation since the quality of the research outputs under assessment should be judged according to the consistency of theoretical arguments and research methodologies employed to develop that specific research output. However, when this process shifts towards increasing attention to just quantifiable indicators of research outputs, some unintended consequences may arise. Concerning the TEF, the dominant focus of the metrics-based system towards measurable dimensions of teaching outputs, may not be able to grasp more qualitative and not directly measurable aspects that are still crucial in discriminating between satisfactory or partial performances.
Giovanni Barbato, Matteo Turri
A Longitudinal Analysis of the Relationship Between Central Government and Universities in France: The Role of Performance Measurement Mechanisms
Abstract
France differs from other European countries for presenting a heterogeneous higher education and research system in which multiple and different institutions are involved. In this system, universities have undergone substantial changes in recent decades, both in their relations with the central government and at the corporate level. The chapter dwells in particular on the transformations that have occurred with regard to: strengthening and centralising the evaluation of academic activities; contracts between the university and the ministry; interventions to promote mergers between universities and aggregation of universities; policies to promote excellence. Performance measurement mechanisms play a central role in each of these transformations even though their establishment does not follow linear trajectories and encounters resistance, especially at the university level.
Giovanni Barbato, Clément Pin, Matteo Turri
Adopting a Dynamic Performance Governance Approach to Frame Interorganizational Value Generation Processes into a University Third Mission Setting
Abstract
In recent years, the literature on Higher Education policy and management emphasized an increasingly entrepreneurial role played by Universities in contributing to the socioeconomic development of their regional and local areas. Besides Education and Research, this crucial role identifies a Third Mission to be fulfilled by Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), which entails social engagement, networking, and collaboration with other stakeholders to generate sustainable community outcomes. This chapter introduces the use of the Dynamic Performance Governance approach to analyze the academic network value generation processes underlying Third Mission activities in Universities. The emerging findings—supported by the exploration of an illustrative example focused on University–Industry–Government partnerships—suggest that this approach is particularly valuable in supporting academic networks to frame and evaluate the outcomes, and associated performance drivers, related to Third Mission activities.
Federico Cosenz
The Third Mission Strategies Disclosure Through the Integrated Plan
Abstract
The chapter presents fresh knowledge of how Italian public universities incorporate third mission strategies within the Integrated Plan. The results show that the Integrated Plan can be considered a valid tool to communicate to internal and external stakeholders’ information about the strategies, the actors, and the structures involved in the third mission activities.
The third mission is complementary to the other two missions of universities: teaching and research. It includes a batch of activities related to technology transfer and innovation; continuing education; and social engagement through which universities open their boundaries to the external environment to create value for the society and the region in which they are rooted.
This present research provides fresh knowledge of how Italian public universities incorporate third mission strategies within the Integrated Plan. From a methodological point of view, content analysis is conducted on a sample of Integrated Plans prepared by the largest Italian public universities. Results show a medium level of disclosure, evidencing how the Integrated Plan may represent a useful tool to communicate to internal and external stakeholders’ information about the strategies, the actors, and the structures involved in the third mission activities.
Natalia Aversano, Giuseppe Nicolò, Giuseppe Sannino, Paolo Tartaglia Polcini
Transferring Knowledge to Improve University Competitiveness: The Performance of Technology Transfer Offices
Abstract
Creating and transferring knowledge is actually considered crucial for universities to improve their competitiveness in a new mission to flank teaching and research (third mission). A key concept within the “third mission” is the idea that universities should pay greater attention to knowledge transfer (KT), under the assumption that an efficient KT process from university to industry can be an important source of innovation for firms, a competitive advantage for universities and an engine of economic development for regions. Universities carry out KT activities mainly through their technology transfer offices (TTOs), but the literature findings on the TTO’s role are controversial. Our research contributes to this lively debate, focusing on the efficiency of the Liaison Office (LiO), the TTO in the University of Calabria, measured in terms of research outputs (namely patents, licenses, and spin-off contracts). In the research, we used the qualitative tools of document analysis and semi-structured interviews with university managers involved with KT activities. The findings of the research highlight that LiO plays an important role for the University of Calabria's competitiveness in the third mission, as it effectively valorizes the university research results, mainly helping university spin-offs (USOs) in their start-up and development phases.
Pina Puntillo, Franco Rubino, Stefania Veltri
Third Mission and Intellectual Capital External Dimension: The Implications in the European University Planning Process
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this chapter is to verify the degree of formalization and measurement of the third mission in the planning documents of European higher education institutions (HEIs). We will adopt the perspective of intellectual capital (IC) (Bezhani J Intellect Capital 11(2):179–207, 2010; Ramírez ad Gordillo J Intellect Capital 15(1):173–188, 2014) because the third mission dimensions (technology transfer innovation, continuing education, public engagement) are strictly related to the external dimensions of IC components (human capital, organizational capital, and social capital).
Design/methodology/approach: A content analysis on the planning documents of a sample of 25 European HEIs in Italy, the United Kingdom (UK), France is carried out based on a validated third mission dictionary (Göransson et al. Sci Public Policy 36(2):157–164, 2009; Loi and Di Guardo Sci Public Policy 42(6):855–870, 2015; Marhl and Pausits Eval Higher Educ 5(1):43–64, 2011; Secundo et al. Technol Forecast Soc Change 123:229–239, 2017).
Findings: Our findings confirm that despite the relevance of third mission activities for economic and social development, the lack of a comprehensive definition and measurement framework for the third mission leads to a low formalization of the third mission in university disclosure. As a consequence, the external dimension of IC is formalized and disclosed in a limited manner. Specifically, although third mission has evolved from a productive concept focused on the economic exploitation of research to a universalistic concept that also includes the social impact of university activities, the formalization of third mission is mainly related to the productive conception.
Originality/value: This chapter attempts to link the third mission and IC. As knowledge-based institutions (Sánchez and Elena J Intellect Capital 7(4):529–548, 2006), HEIs pay high attention to IC, whose external dimension can be considered strictly related to third mission. This perspective highlights the relevance of third mission within HEIs’ activities.
Implications: This chapter highlights the best-in-class experiences and provides suggestions for universities that are later adopters of third mission measures; it can further suggest the determinants for enhancing third mission disclosure to policy makers and public managers.
Elisa Bonollo, Simone Lazzini, Zeila Occhipinti
Institutional Logics to Unveil Entrepreneurial Universities’ Performances: A Cross-Country Comparative Study
Abstract
The success of entrepreneurial universities depends to a large extent on the system of beliefs, relationships, and rules that shape their research and innovation projects. In this light, entrepreneurial universities can be seen as focal actors of hybrid networks in which heterogeneous subjects, characterized by different perceived interests and multiple institutional logics, interact in a systemic way. Consequently, each entrepreneurial university is immersed in a complex organizational field that influences and is influenced by their actions. This chapter draws on the institutional logics perspective to investigate how entrepreneurial universities respond to logic multiplicity. With this purpose, we analyze the case studies of one Continental European, one Anglo-Saxon, and one Asian entrepreneurial university. Then, we develop a framework that relates their key performance indicators to the nine institutional logics individuated at the organizational field level. Theoretical and managerial contributions will be discussed along the chapter.
Canio Forliano, Paola De Bernardi, Alberto Bertello, Francesca Ricciardi
Third Mission in Universities from a Performance Management Perspective: A Comparison Between Germany and Italy
Abstract
Purpose: The university system is facing, for both economic and social legitimacy reasons, a profound reform process that must be adequately managed both at the macro and at the micro level. In this reform process, the relationships between knowledge production processes and knowledge exploitation processes are increasingly becoming important. This relationship, known as “third mission” of the university, has to be managed appropriately to make it profitable in terms of knowledge production and knowledge usefulness, but also to bring to universities financial resources able to balance the decreasing amount of resources provided by central governments and/or public administrations at the different governmental levels. Despite this situation, the purpose of the chapter is to analyze the role that a governance and a control system play to foster and manage universities’ third mission appropriately, especially with reference to the coordination of the different organizational layers (central and departmental) existing within a university.
Methodology: The objective of the research is pursued through the development of a comparative case study between four universities, located in two different European countries (i.e., Italy and Germany), which are characterized by different governance systems of their third mission. This methodological approach makes evident not only the features characterizing the governance systems of the two university systems but also the contingent situations existing in the two countries and their influence on the definition of their governance systems. The case studies are developed through the analysis of the documents available at the system level and in the four universities, and by interviewing the most relevant actors in the governance systems of the four universities.
Results: This chapter contributes to understanding the role played by the third mission in the reform process of university systems and the conditions for building a good governance and control system for the successful management of universities’ third mission.
Originality: This chapter focuses on the internal dimension of universities' third mission both at system and organizational level. While most literature focuses on the relationship between universities and the business world, this chapter focuses on the universities’ internal mechanisms used for governing and controlling their third mission.
Theoretical and practical implications: The study helps to understand from a theoretical point of view the role of governance and control systems within universities’ third mission. In practical terms, the analysis makes it possible to identify the governance and control mechanisms and their characteristics that allow and facilitate the development and the efficient and effective management of the third mission within universities.
Pasquale Ruggiero, Patrizio Monfardini, Dieter Wagner, Dominik Bartsch
Metadaten
Titel
Governance and Performance Management in Public Universities
herausgegeben von
Prof. Dr. Eugenio Caperchione
Prof. Dr. Carmine Bianchi
Copyright-Jahr
2022
Electronic ISBN
978-3-030-85698-4
Print ISBN
978-3-030-85697-7
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-85698-4