Analysis of institutions of university governance: A classification scheme applied to postwar changes in Dutch higher education

Governance within higher education is a most complicated issue. Managing a university, variously described as ‘monadic chaos’ or ‘organised anarchy’, is a redoubtable challenge. Of all issues currently under discussion in the world of higher education, few are more controversial than those pertaining to the institutions of governance (Neave 1988).1 Who should govern a university, how, and to what ends, have been recurring questions in the history of universities (De Groof et al. 1998). Constitutional issues such as these have been raised passionately, again and again, though obviously there have been quiet times too (Bargh et al. 1996). Matters of institutional design are deemed of particular importance because, right or wrong, they are considered as essential for realising people’s visions of the ideal university (Moodie & Eustace 1974: 23). As such, these issues easily touch upon values like effectiveness, efficiency, the quality of primary processes, democracy, institutional autonomy, academic freedom, or the university’s role towards society. Therefore, discussions of institutional design derive their importance and their fervour in part from the fact that they inspire the ‘affirmation of legitimate values and institutions’ (March & Olsen 1983: 292).