Creating Entrepreneurial Universities: a matter of competition and accountability Angelo Paletta - Monica Baraldi Alma Mater Studiorum University of Bologna, Italy Siena, April 3 td 2009
In recent years, major risk factors have highlighted the need of new models of governance for higher education at different levels: -Institutional; -Financial; -Human resources; -Educational and research programs; -Infrastructures and technologies; -Partnerships and Networks.
Context of change for a more complex environment Towards a sustainable entrepreneurial university Rethinking: Stakeholders Functions Technologies
International literature increasingly defines the University as an entrepreneurial organization (B. Clark): 1)Strategic governance and planning for the pursuing of the mission; 2)Organizational development of the centre and the decentralized units; 3)New leadership dynamics.
Development for substitution Vs. Development for accumulation: 1)What are the activities that create value?; 2)Where to cut, where to make investments? 3)How to plan the offer in relation to the mission and the environment?
A few criticalities to develop a sustainable/entrepreneurial University: 1)Link between the annual budgeting and the long-term strategic planning; 2)Budgeting processes and their relationship to the organization; 3)Internal control systems and instruments of risk management; 4)Reporting and Communicating with the community to develop trust and reliability.
Towards a new model of accountability system: Operational Accountability: for universities that compete and are accountable for their financial, intangibles, and human resources Operational Accountability: for universities that compete and are accountable for their financial, intangibles, and human resources Legal Accountability: mainly focused on administrative and financial information
Research Questions: 1)How to compare audited financial statements of different universities at national and international levels? 2)What are the best practices that inform/report about the achievement of goals and respect of mission? 3)How to inform/report about the principal drivers that create social and economic values ? 4)How to involve the main stakeholders that work within and outside the University?