Decentralization: A Strategic Approach

Abstract

A perusal of recent literature on higher education reveals a deluge of calls for decentralization. Residential college proponents seek a more appropriate academic milieu. The American Association of University Professors, the National Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers frantically seek to represent certain elements of the academic profession who are concerned about their role in some areas of decision making. Even the prestigious Carnegie Commission on Higher Education and the controversial President's Commission on Campus Unrest have recommended the desirability of various forms of decentralization. Perhaps the faith in and high aspirations for decentralization are best exemplified by the conclusion of the Berkeley Study Cominission on University Governance that saw it as a method of transforming the structure of the university to deal with issues of participation, quality of education, bureaucratization, and impersonality.' Beyond this element of faith in decentralization, the practical reality begins to emerge. The approaches to decentralization are often piecemeal and implemented without any strong evidence about the impact that the modification is likely to have or