How does university autonomy compare across Europe?

How does university autonomy compare across Europe? EUA scorecard to benchmark 26 countries in Europe. On 15 November 2011, EUA will publish a major new study on the state of university autonomy in Europe, the results of which are currently being finalised. This work is the outcome of the “Autonomy Scorecard” project, which has the ambitious aim to rate and rank European higher education systems according to the level of autonomy given to universities. With universities under increasing pressure to perform, to respond to international competition and to improve the quality of their teaching and research, higher education institutions also need the freedom to pursue their individual missions.
The study focuses on four broad dimensions of autonomy – organisational, financial, staffing and academic autonomy – across 26 European countries. In addition to a detailed analysis of the current state of institutional autonomy in Europe, the report will include four separate scorecards which rank and rate countries in each of the four areas outlined. In each of these dimensions, the scorecards will award a percentage score to each national (or federal) system and produce a table, which classifies them into four groups with high, medium-high, medium-low or low levels of autonomy. The list of autonomy indicators that are assessed for each of the different autonomy areas is available here.
The report and its scorecards therefore do not aim to create a new university ranking, but rather evaluate the legislative frameworks in national higher education systems in order to stimulate a debate on institutional autonomy at national and European level.
The work builds on the first EUA autonomy report published in 2009 (“University Autonomy in Europe I” ) that provided a wide range of data on institutional autonomy. The “Autonomy Scorecard” project, which treads new ground in developing a methodology to collect, compare and weight such data, has been carried out in close collaboration with the university sector. The national rectors’ conferences, EUA’s collective members, have collaborated on the project.
The launch event for the publication of the report will take place at Musée BELvue in Brussels, on Tuesday 15 November at 18:00. To register your interest in participating in the event, please email autonomy@eua.be.
The “Autonomy Scorecard” project, supported by the EC Lifelong Learning Programme, has been carried out in conjunction with EUA’s project partners, which include the German Rectors’ Conference, Universities Denmark, the Conference of Rectors of Academic Schools in Poland and the University of Jyväskylä, Finland.
See also on the blog Rapport sur les classements mondiaux d'universités et leur impact.