barba mater

Barba MaterLessons from history

on university structures

By Harry FekkersMaastricht University

Contents

Theory: Mintzberg

The first universities

Universities during enlightenment

The Humboldtian university

Twentieth Century

Now and the future

Theory

Framework to interpret facts and developments

Mintzberg (Structuring in fives, M. On Management): 6 elements of structure

Coordination in organisations

Mutual adjustment, which achieves coordination by the simple process of informal communication (as between two operating employees)

Direct supervision, is achieved by having one person issue orders or instructions to several others whose work interrelates (as when a boss tells others what is to be done, one step at a time)

Standardization of work processes, which achieves coordination by specifying the work processes of people carrying out interrelated tasks (those standards usually being developed in the technostructure to be carried out in the operating core, as in the case of the work instructions that come out of time-and-motion studies)

Standardization of outputs, which achieves coordination by specifying the results of different work (again usually developed in the technostructure, as in a financial plan that specifies subunit performance targets or specifications that outline the dimensions of a product to be produced)

Standardization of skills (as well as knowledge), in which different work is coordinated by virtue of the related training the workers have received (as in medical specialists - say a surgeon and an anesthetist in an operating room –responding almost automatically to each other’s standardized procedures)

Standardization of norms, in which it is the norms infusing the work that are controlled, usually for the entire organization, so that everyone functions according to the same set of beliefs (as in a religious order )

The first Universities

Bologna, Paris, Salerno and many more.

In 1400 there were some 100 universities in Europe

Student bodies

Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa in 1155: Authentica Habita

Structure: pioneering, entrepreneurial

First universities

Scientific Revolution

XV – XVII century, Enlightenment

Many discoveries/theories outside the university

University mainly teaching

Research: experiment, new instruments. Technology: Leonardo. Development of Mathematics

Breakthroughs: Descartes, Brahe, Galileo, Newton

Universities of Enlightenment

The von Humboldt University

Integration of research and teaching

Academic freedom

Elitist

Not only technology and physics: humaniora and arts

Priviliges, research facilities

Humboldtian

State Universities IX-XX

National needs

Academic – professional bureaucracy

Demographic democracy

Specialisation, pigeon holes

Structure hierarchical but, how do you manage wild cats

Committees

The State Universities

Innovation in XXI

Scientific breakthoughs: ICT, life sciences

Large scale research

Knowledge as economic driver

Large proportion of population needs higher education

Competition, the “Perfect Storm

State funding cannot keep pace with needs

The Innovative University

The Innovative University

Youngest member of ECIU

ECIU = European Consortium of Innovative Universities

11 members, Swinburne became member in 2003

Swimburne University of Technology

Structure of Swimburne

Faculties only one branch of activity.Serve as sources.

Main structure geared towards markets

Overview

Context of decision making

Academic

Government

Market

(Burton Clark, 1988, 2003 )

• Strengthened steering core• Enhanced development periphery• Diversified funding base• Stimulated academic heartland• Entrepreneurial belief/spirit

Return of a Duplex Ordo?

Litterature

Henry Mintzberg (McGill, Canada): Structure in 5’s: designing effective organisations, 1983, Prentice Hal Mintzberg on Management, 1989, MacMillan, New York

Hilde de Ridder-Symoens & Walter Rüegg (editors): A History of the University in Europe, Vol. I (Middle Ages), Vol. II (1500-1800), Vol. III

(1800-1945), Vol. IV (1945- present, forthcoming), 1996, Cambrige University Press

Paul F. Grendler: The Universities of the Italian Renaissance, 2004, John Hopkins University Press

Gabriel Compayré: Abelard and the Origin and Early History of Universities, 1893, London, William Heineman

Burton R. Clark: Creating Entrepreneurial Universities, 1998, Oxford: Pergamon-Elsevier Science Sustaining Change in Universities: Continuities in Case Studies and Concepts, 2004,

Open University Press

Michael Shattock: Managing Successful Universities, 2003, Open University Press