A Study Of The "Co-Governance" By Presidents And Professors In The Governance Pattern Of Chinese Public Universities

"The Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020)" states, "A modern college system with Chinese characteristics shall be perfected. School governance shall be restructured. Public universities shall uphold a governance system in which the presidents shall be in charge under the Party committee leadership. " besides, the concept of governance pattern of modern university system with Chinese characteristics is clearly defined:under the leadership of the Party committee, presidents in charge of management, professors in charge of academic study, democratic supervision. Chinese public universities have spared no efforts to improve the governance pattern according to the four meanings. However, in practice, processes and results of university governance vary due to different understandings of the governance pattern. Though improvement has been achieved in structuring modern university system with Chinese characteristics and bettering the governance pattern, the dilemma between governance philosophy and practice begins to appear, and the conflicts and challenges between academic freedom and public interest, democracy and efficiency still exist. With a focus on the study of subjects of university governance, this dissertation proposes the view that universities should "be co-governed" by presidents and professors based on the corporate governance theory and stakeholder theory formed in the 1980s and 1990s, which has a far-reaching significance and value for fulfilling the structuring of modern university system with Chinese characteristics raised in the "outline".The major problems in the governance of Chinese universities including unclear subjects of governing, the tendency of excessive administration, limitations and drawbacks of academic power in operation, and ineffective strategies of establishing modern university system. Then how can we optimize the inner governance pattern of universities? What is the ideal pattern of university governance? What factors is the actual pattern of university governance related to? What constrains it? It is argued that an effective approach to solving these problems is the "co-governance" of the university by presidents and professors. "Professors" and "presidents" are major stakeholders of universities. In modern universities it is of realistic rationality that individuality of the university as an academic organization and the generality of the university as a social organization together with the goal of the university development could make the academic power coexist and cooperate with the administrative power. Therefore, through the "co-governance" of administrative staff centered on presidents and academic staff represented by professors, the competitive power of university organizations could be enhanced.The argumentation mechanism of this research is built within the basic framework of philosophical logic studies. Specifically, it has studied the basic category and theoretical dimension of university governance from an ontological perspective, offered theoretical foundations and related cases epistemologically, and tested the reasonableness of the presupposed model by means of questionnaire, in-depth interview, and statistic analysis empirically. By reviewing and comparing the domestic and overseas literature and conducting field studies, the author has researched into the change and development of European and American university governance, thus, summarized main models and grasped its developmental trajectory and evolving pattern.Throughout the history of European and American universities and the short course of Chinese modern universities, it can be seen that though started and developed in distinct courses, western and Chinese models of running universities are now heading towards the same direction-"presidents taking charge of the management and professors the academic studies". Step by step, the executive and academic powers of universities will be exercised in balance. To provide more in-depth and detailed information for the present study, the research has probed into the status quo, existing problems, causes and improvement measures of current governance in universities, discussed the necessity, feasibility and approaches of "co-governance", and analyzed the lessons of "co-governance" in the author’s school.This research has analyzed problems existing in the present governance pattern of universities with two empirical case studies, including reforms in a certain university’s performance-related pay system and in South University of Science and Technology of China, in another word, it answers questions of "Who governs? What to be governed? How to govern?" The case study reveals that the absence of "co-governance" has become a crucial problem of the university administration system, which is mainly represented by excessive governance of presidents’management and barriers for professors to govern academic studies. Simply calling for "de-administration" and stressing professors governing universities over administrators is also one-sided and impractical. The author holds that the co-governing system of universities needs to be structured, instead of contending who, professors or presidents, should govern universities. Respondents of questionnaires and interviews with presidents have also showed a high consensus on "co-governance",The current selection and improvement of the governance model of Chinese public universities cannot be determined by universities themselves or some groups, but the overall social environment, of which the demanding and constraints must be attached great importance to. "Co-governance" does not serve as a compromise between professors in charge of academic studies and presidents in charge of management, but a more practical mode of university governance out of the debate for either this or that under the present situation. It is a model which emphasizes tradition as well as universality, and complies with the practical demand of the socialism with Chinese characteristics to universities.Guided by the notion of "co-governance" and the leadership of the Party committee, presidents execute the governance on behalf of the administration power, which involves implementing national guidelines and policies on education, raising funds, managing finance and administrative affairs, carrying out social service, passing on cultural heritage, cooperating and exchanging with international institutions, and maintaining teaching and academic activities through all levels of administrative staff and organizations at the university. Meanwhile, professors participate in the university management on behalf of the academic power and fulfill their duties via professors’ committee and academic committee. As to those involving both administrative and academic concerns, faculty members and administrators should consult with each other.The "co-governance" by presidents and professors is feasible for the following reasons. First, the distinction between presidents and professors’roles is the prerequisite for "co-governance". Second, it covers both sides of one system of the university governance. Third, it fits the actual condition of Chinese public universities. Universities can achieve "co-governance" by way of carrying out a top-level design through university statues, defining the dividing line between administrative and academic governance, and establishing mechanisms for administration and academics separately. In other words, "co-governance" can be achieved by setting up an interrelated system connecting professors’ committee and administrative and academic branches of all levels.The model of "co-governance" in public universities shall be framed according to the following principle:"co-governance" is achieved by means of decision-making, participation in decision-making, advice-offering and consulting, etc in accordance with the management of various affairs by different subjects. The Party committee is entitled to the power of making decisions when it comes to vital issues and events and strategic planning of the university to manage from a macro-perspective. Therefore, this type of administrative governance is characterized by political attitude and consensus, in which the administrative subjects make the decision and academic subjects give relevant advice. In other words, on the one hand, administrative subjects exercise the power of making decisions concerning administrative affairs under the leadership of the Party committee, namely, presidents taking charge of management. This ensures presidents’ governance fulfilling the function of administration as well as characterized by political attitude and consensus with relevant advice offered by academic subjects. On the other hand, academic subjects exercise the power of making decisions concerning academic affairs and teachers’ development via academic committees, namely, professors taking charge of the academic study. Thus, academic governance is characterized by a high standard of technicality, consensus and academics with advice and supporting services provided by administrative subjects.Two essential preconditions must be prepared for the realization of "co-governance". One is to advocate national and local legislature, which could provide support for it from a higher level; the other is to nourish a good internal atmosphere for it in the universities. In addition, to avoid and handle the problems which might emerge from the "co-governance", institutions shall also restructure their subjects of governance in order not to make the structure of subjects too complicated; besides, supervisory organs shall examine the process of implementation periodically to guarantee efficiency; furthermore, clarification of the subjects of decision-making can help to save the trouble of obscure responsibilities.