Are Public Research Universities Effective Communities of Learning?: The Collective Action Dilemma of Assuring Academic Standards

Are public research universities effective communities of learning? Over time our collegial processes for maintaining and improving academic standards have been corroded by forces both within and outside the university. We now confront a dilemma of collective action in which decisions individual faculty members make with regard to teaching may not optimize the learning that university graduates contribute to society. The paper reviews the sources of our current dilemma, the effectiveness of related public policies, and potentially relevant design principles drawn from research on successful self-governing organizations. Developing governance processes that will truly assure and improve student learning will be one of the most significant and meaningful challenges for the American public research university in the coming years.