University autonomy: a matter of political rhetoric?

Modern universities have a diversity of missions and tasks, probably far too many. They are not only delivering qualifi ed teaching and learning in a wide range of areas and subjects and doing research, but are also collaborating in research and development with different organizations in society outside the university. They are also expected to provide a plethora of different services in the ‘knowledge’ and social service universe. No wonder, then, that their ability to adapt to changing conditions in a time of general resource scarcity and competition have been questioned, from both without and within [1]. The obligation to outreach imposed from the outside may be more or less well formulated, and the willingness from the inside to respond is certainly varying. In some cases, universities have stubbornly, and successfully, stuck to their original mission and tasks, as set out in traditional statutes and charters. In other cases, they have, at least partially or rhetorically, been more than eager to change and reformulate their core obligations and institutional strategies, usually in accordance with what they have perceived as changing external conditions and demands. This has led to a state of insecurity, particularly in academia, but also in society at large, about the future role, organization and functions of the university [2]. Although in recent years, and particularly in the last two decades, there has been marked interest all over Europe in increasing the institutional autonomy of the institutions of higher learning, privatization has never been a real option and will not be, in my view, for many years to come. But strange as is may seem, these ‘calls for freedom’ have been equally frequent in political, bureaucratic and certain academic circles. The discussions have ranged from rather nebulous proposals to initiate some kind of ‘privatization’ process to the more humble propositions of the needs to renegotiate the 200 year old Berlin Contract between the nation state and its higher education institutions [3]. It is, nevertheless, a fact that European universities are gradually being decoupled from the state. The question remains whether this process should be called de-regulation, or if we are rather witnessing a process of re-regulation [4]. In 2005, the EUA (European Universities Association) highlighted the need for institutional autonomy in the so-called Glasgow Declaration, in which European Rectors called on their respective ministers of research and education to take immediate and decisive measures in order to radically increase the legal, administrative and fi nancial autonomy of European universities. According to the institutional leaders, the need for a radical shift and bold action was not only a 13