Controversies over higher education governance are in the news these days. The most recent occurred this summer when several members of the board of the University of Virginia asked the president, Teresa A. Sullivan, to resign, only to be forced to reinstate her after protests from students, faculty, donors, alumni, and others. That situation…

Personally, the authors have seen the evolution of teacher education for over 30 years. From "diagnostic/prescriptive teaching" through "reflective practice," the quality of the programs and students has improved greatly. Turning that subjective appraisal into a quantifiable evaluation is a tricky enterprise in education. However, the demand for…

At age 27, the author became a chairwoman of the Board of Directors of a $75-million conglomerate, the largest student-governed business in the nation. At Associated Students UCLA (University of California at Los Angeles), four undergraduate and four graduate students serve on the board, which oversees the several bookstores, dozens of…

Internal auditing, which can help governing boards exercise their control responsibilities, is discussed, including financial, compliance, and operations auditing. Governing boards should be prepared to handle reports on operation audits, financial and compliance audits, and reviews of management information systems. (MLW)

Demands for public accountability have built to a crescendo over the past several decades, driving home the fact that governing boards have premier responsibility as guardians of a college or university's performance. But to what extent do higher education's many stakeholders hold common perspectives on the definition and purpose of…

This statement offers guidelines, principles, and recommended practices for governing boards at institutions of higher education. First, some facts and perceptions such as the increase in number of part-time or adjunct faculty, failure of state funding to keep pace with cost increases, and public demands for greater accountability are identified.…

This statement responds to the need for all higher education leaders to consider the perspectives of external voices while resisting purely political or ideological agendas. Long-standing and recent external challenges to the traditions of citizen governing boards of colleges and universities make it necessary to distinguish between broad, often…

Until 1985, higher education was a growth industry, and new programs were a by-product of that growth. Now, new programs must be justified by extensive data analysis. This trend and others indicate governing boards are taking the new-program approval process seriously. (MLW)

When the AGB task force on the state of the Presidency in American Higher Education was meeting last fall in Washington, D.C., to deliberate about the role of the academic presidency, the Secretary of Education's Commission on the Future of Higher Education convened across town to examine issues ranging from access to affordability to…

The "Times Higher Education Supplement" of 9 February 2006 briefly reported that the Privy Council, tasked with approving the statutes of universities, was now going to leave their internal arrangements in their own hands. These underlying policy directions need to be set in the context of the important change of emphasis from…

One of the major reasons legal costs are sky-rocketing in higher education is that colleges and universities aren't doing enough to oversee properly what they're being charged. Some advice for trustees and administrators in planning legal operations is presented. (MLW)

This booklet contains two statements from the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges (AGB). The "Statement on Institutional Governance" encourages all governing boards and chief executives to examine the clarity, coherence, and appropriateness of their institutions' governance structures, policies, and practices. It presents…

Implementation of new college and university accounting standards for financial statements do not change the need for institutional accountability and, therefore, for fund accounting. The new standards will, however, change the level and appearance of external reporting. (MSE)

Urges governing boards at public colleges and universities to support budgeting for performance as a means of assuring public accountability while protecting academic autonomy. Considers performance incentives, the role of performance indicators, the distinction between performance funding and performance budgeting, possible problems, and the role…

Advocates of corporate governance reform hailed passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in 2002 as a long-overdue raising of the accountability bar for corporate directors. Although SOX, as the law is widely known, does not legally apply to nonprofit boards, it has profoundly influenced the way many trustees, especially current and former corporate…