The Research Of Supervisory Authority In Government-funded Universities

The establishment of modern university system in China’s higher educational institutions requires establishing the internal governance structure of decision-making, execution and supervision which are mutually checked and coordinated, founding the system framework of leadership under Party committees, administration under the president, academic governance by professors and democratic supervision, and setting up the internal operation mechanism of scientific decision-making, enforceable execution, effective supervision and efficient operation. In the context of university governance, a university is a complicated structure with multiple stakeholders of various interests, with the checking and supervision being the inevitable choice made by the stakeholders after game equilibrium. The supervisory body is an indispensible and essential part of the power operating system of a university.As the theoretical foundations of the supervisory bodies in government-funded universities, researchers, from the perspective of corporate governance and based on principles of economics and politics, put forward principal-agent theory, balance-ofpower theory, stakeholder theory, public accountability theory, game theory and stewardship theory. In general, these theories are useful to corporate governance, but because the supervisory bodies in government-funded universities are merely one aspect of the corporate governance of universities, these theories are not fully applicable to the supervisory bodies in government-funded universities, some such as balance-of-power theory having direct guidance while others being only indirectly significant. Besides, even those theories having direct guidance on the supervisory bodies in government-funded universities can only reflect from one aspect some of the issues and characteristics of the above mentioned supervisory mechanism, for the theoretical foundations underlying the supervisory mechanism in universities should be a theory group( theory system) consisting of a multiple theories. Based on the previous research, the actuality of the government-funded universities and the experience of overseas universities, this dissertation puts forward that the theory group(theory s ystem) of epistemology, balance-of-power theory, educational Equity theory and other relevant theories constitutes the theoretical foundations for the supervisory mechanism in government-funded universities in China. While such theories as principal-agent theory, stakeholder theory, education consumption theory, stewardship theory and modern resource theory are not the direct theoretical foundations, they are indirectly yet inextricably related in innumerable ways to supervisory bodies in governmentfunded universities, and can be regarded as p eriphery theories.In general, the supervising body, as the supervising agent, must have the following properties: 1) legislative empowerment; 2) supervising power being its basic function; and 3) enjoying its independence and auth ority. Strictl y speaking, there is no supervising body for China’s government-funded universities or the supervising bodies are absent in this role--the supervising bodies such as the disciplinary inspection committee, the administrative supervision depart ments, the auditing departments, and the Teachers’ Congress are not in a position to play their supervising role or just walk through the movements of supervision, thus allowing corruptions to occur in universities time and again, as they have the problems of blurry and overlapped powers and responsibilities, lacking independence and authority, imperfect supervising mechanism and inadequate system, and other law and regulation problems. In countries like Germany, Japan, the UK, the US and Canada, and region s like Chinese Taiwan, their universities have instituted sophisticated supervising systems(Japan, for example), stressed stakeholders’ participation in university management and supervision(Germany, the UK, the US, and Canada, for example), attached importance to academic rights, built an checking and coordinated mechanism for the decision power, the executive power and the supervising power to perform, and valued the enactment and effect of a university charter in university governance. Such experience is worth learning in building China’s government-funded university supervising bodies.There exists a common phenomenon of ownership absence in China’s government-funded universities, state-owned enterprises, and corporate bodies in countries with the cont inental law system. These organizations are run under the mechanism of agency, and are all in a sense public goods or for public welfare. They are to some extent homogeneous, and have similar problems in governance. Accordingly, these organizations can ava il themselves to some successful experience from each other in building their supervising bodies. Due to the ownership absence in gover nment-funded universities, there are natural inadequacies in supervising gover nment-funded universities, and it is thus o f greater importance to exercise adequate supervision over government-funded universities. In designing a supervising body for a government-funded university, we should make full use of the experience of building a supervising body in corporate governance structure, especially that of state-owned enterprises, and corporate bodies in countries with the continental law system. In view of the realities of the ownership absence in government-funded universities in China, it is imperative to institute an indepen dent and specialized supervision board in government-funded universities. Relevant laws the university charter will ensure the independence and equality and supervision power of the supervision board in government-funded universities with the executive bod y(i.e. the president-led university board), prescribe in details the organization and procedure rules of the supervision board, straighten out the supervising mechanism to enact the supervision. Meanwhile, the complementary role of other supervision bodie s should be brought into full play. Efforts should be exerted to adhere to and perfect the disciplinary inspection and supervision system, strengthen the supervision of the Party leaders and cadres, perfect the Teachers’ Congress System, enhance the intern al democratic management and supervision, improve the internal audit system, establish and improve the internal auditing bodies. Thus, the internal supervision system centered around the supervision board and integrating and coordinating other supervising factors will be established in universities, a checking and coordinated mechanism for the decision power, the executive power and the supervising power to perform will be built, and a modern university system will be established to promote the healthy development of the higher education in China.