Review on University Management:A Global Perspective

Abstract

Knowledge economy is essential to the growth of the developing countries and universities are essential ingredient to the health of new knowledge economy, which indicates the economic and social progress of a nation. University is society's one of the most enduring creations, it has been primary agent in the transformation of societies. Challenges in higher education is no longer only nation centric. They have already attained global dimensions, particularly after trade in services has been brought under the purview of the WTO regime. The University's mission should be towards providing education of the highest quality coupled with a leading contribution to the advancement of knowledge, thereby developing in students the imagination, talents, creativity and skills necessary for the varied and rapidly changing requirements of modern life. This pursuit of education improvement requires a strong future orientation and a willingness to make long-term commitments to students and to all stakeholders, communities, employers, faculty and staff. Universities need to demonstrate accountability to all the stakeholders and customers. Universities and other higher education institutions that are recognized to be in the knowledge business, valuing knowledge and viewing knowledge as an asset need to be dynamic, innovative and continued learners. This entails systems approach and thinking. As systems thinking is a shift of mind set from in seeing people as helpless reactors to seeing themselves as active participants in shaping their reality, from reacting to the present to creating the future by being proactive. The multiple roles played by the university accentuate them to anticipate many types of changes, including changes in education requirements, instructional approaches, resource availability, technology, and demographics. A major long-term investment associated with improvement could be the investment in creating and sustaining a mission-oriented assessment system focused on learning. This entails strategic management of the entire University activities. There is a need to engineer the working system of the universities. The forces of technology and globalization are creating a revolution that is forcing the universities to seek new ways to reinvent themselves for sustenance. Universities must innovate or else will perish. Their ability to learn, adapt and change becomes a core competency for its survival. Operational facets of University management is highly complex and non linear in reality. Such a system is characterized by interaction of feedback loops that when combined, define the structure of the university system and its behaviour over time. To facilitate the sustenance ill the dynamic environment and in the wake of GATS agreement, 'Systems thinking' will assist universities to be proactive and foster healthy environment for its regulation. Thus, this paper reviews the world wide perspective to arrive at the various issues and different facets of university management to ascertain the complexity and operational aspects pursued by various authors. This could drive the development of new university governance on a firm footing.