Spreading like wildfire, school autonomy with accountability (SAWA) policies have transformed education worldwide. Rooted in new public management, SAWA is a 'policy bundle' that links greater decision-making at the school level with standardization and monitoring practices like large-scale assessments and performance indicators. As with every…

In 2012, the Vietnamese government enacted the institutional autonomy policy to support the reform process of the higher education system. The autonomy policy signifies the transfer of decision-making authority from ministries to public universities to increase university performance and competitiveness in the globalized knowledge economy. This…

The aim of this article is to explore how Swedish principals experienced the decentralisation and re-centralisation reforms and how they affected principals' autonomy and decision-making capacity. Data were obtained from three surveys of Swedish principals, carried out in 2005, 2012 and 2019. The results show that principals experienced a high…

This study aims to assess the practice of institutional autonomy at Jimma University in Ethiopia. The study employed a mixed approach by collecting research data through a questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and document analysis. Two hundred and thirty-two randomly selected instructors and academic leaders were contacted through the…

In 2003, Qatar launched the "initiative for Developing Education, called Education for New Era Reform," based on four principles: independence, accountability, diversity, and choice. Public schools were therefore converted to "Independent Schools" and provided with more resources. We examined the reform's effectiveness using an…

Several European countries have made it possible for public universities to become foundation universities. The transformation has also involved a change in their governance model with external actors taking important decision-making positions. We believe that these changes also imply a transformation of the organisational culture of the said…

Abundant research has shown the influence of social background on university dropout. However, there is little research that considers the different progression options for analysing the structure of the decisions that students make. This article explores the possible alternative decisions of: (1) continuing the initial degree course chosen; (2)…

This contribution examines recent transformation in the institutionalization of a new mode of governance in the field of Higher Education. We identify three characteristics of the institutional design of public Quality Assurance Agencies (QAAs) that operate at the national level in the field of higher education. In order to do so, we examine three…

The form of internal university governance is often based on the phenomena of institutional isomorphism within examinations of legitimacy. Under the background of the "CPC leadership + unbalanced governance" state governance model, Chinese universities need to break away from the preconceived notions of balanced governance in their…

The purpose of this article is to describe the effects of university governance on campus management based on the examples of the Netherlands and Poland. The study connected theory on campus management with a concept of five dimensions of university governance (autonomy, management, participation, accountability and transparency) into an…

In recent years, school autonomy in France has become a central issue for the improvement of students´ outcomes. French principals, who have a significant responsibility for learning tasks, play an active role in decision-making. The purpose of this study is to explore the correlation between the type of school (publicly or privately-managed) and…

This discussion builds on the analyses in the chapters in this volume. As the OECD has been and remains a powerful agent in the development of public governance, and thus in education governance, the discussion is also structured on the basis of OECD governance and leadership reports. Some of the results from those reports are used but that does…

Over the course of the twentieth century, Ontario teacher education underwent substantial transformations in terms of policy, jurisdiction and design, which shifted authority from provincially controlled normal schools to more semi-autonomous teachers' colleges and finally to faculties within university campuses. In looking at these top-level…

This paper explores issues of social justice in relation to the practice of two principals from two Australian public schools. The stories of these principals are set against a policy backdrop in Australia that has seen renewed emphasis on school autonomy reform, on the one hand, and heightened external accountability and compliance, on the other.…

Charter school authorizing is a powerful strategy for making excellent public schools and educational opportunities available to all students and communities, especially those who are historically under-resourced. Done well, authorizing increases student achievement by expanding the supply of quality public schools. Because authorizing is a…