University governance and leadership in Continental Northwestern Europe

ABSTRACT

With regard to the governance structures of European universities, changes have been proposed aimed at their democratic nature, the composition of governing bodies, the degree of centralisation in decision-making and redirecting the balance between collective and individual governing responsibilities. In this article, we address the effects of such governance reforms in public, comprehensive universities in Norway and the Netherlands. Differences across countries, even within a relatively homogeneous region such as Northwestern Europe, can be traced back to differences in underlying political visions towards university governance. After an overview of the main features of university governance structures in the two countries, we argue that a specific regional university governance practice has emerged with different combinations of executive and democratic elements.

KEYWORDS:

• Governance reform
• University governance structures
• Norway
• the Netherlands
• University decision-making

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 The translation of a University Council as ‘representative advisory council’ that is sometimes used is not correct because the council has more than just advisory rights.

2 The executive board consists of three members, usually the rector, the president and a ‘third member’. In a number of universities, the functions of rector and president are combined.