Changing patterns of governance for Australian universities

Abstract

Dissatisfaction with the 'corporate' model for university governance, a model advocated by both sides of the Australian parliament and adopted by Australian universities over the past two decades, prompted the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee (AVCC) in 2003 to suggest an alternative 'trusteeship' model. The paper discusses how this model differs from the traditional 'collegial' and 'corporate' models in a number of key areas and attempts to determine whether good reasons exist to justify changing from the current 'corporate' style to a 'trusteeship' form of governance.