HUMANE

Heads of University Management & Administration Network in Europe

SEMINAR

Universidad Politecnica Valencia

Friday 18^th to Saturday 19^th November 2005

Internal Structures and Quality

Abstracts

The division of labour between University Administration and Academic Departments: German Case – University of Siegen – and others.

Johann-Peter Schäfer, Universität Siegen (DE)

Speaking about the German University system means to speak about the systems of 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany with 16 different State University Laws.

But there are some principles you can find in each university.

In North Rhine-Westphalia – the state in which Siegen is situated – there are 14 Universities. They are very different. We have old Universities like Bonn or Cologne or Muenster with large and powerful academic departments (Faculties) and new universities with a different structure of smaller departments like Siegen.

In the largest department at the University of Muenster – the “Philosophische Fakultaet” (Faculty of Humanities) there are more than 17 000 students – more than at the entire University of Siegen with about 12 500 students.

So the structures of the academic departments (a.d.) are different: in some Universities – like the Universitaet Bielefeld or the Technische Universitaet Muenchen – the faculties have their own departmental administration.

In Siegen the academic departments have only very few administrative staff-members to support the heads (Dean) of the departments.

In consequence, the division of labour between the central administration and the a.d.s differs in relation to the system.

In Siegen we have a rather small central administration with flat structures. In most departments and academic fields we have only one or two specialists. Consequently we cannot establish a decentralized administration in each academic department. But we have started to install special working groups within the central administration for the matters of the individual academic departments following the principle: “one face for the customer”. But nearly all administrative issues of the academic departments are settled by the central university administration.

Some examples:

The academic departments have their own budget for research and teaching. They have, for instance, the right make their own decision on buying books or personal computers. The order, however, is carried out by the (non-academic) “finance” department of the central administration.

The academic departments have their own academic staff. Each professor has the right to choose his or her members of staff (e.g. his assistant). But the personnel department of the university administration is responsible for the procedure of employment.

The academic departments are responsible for planning and organization of teaching. They are supported by the department of “planning and controlling” of the university administration. That department works out the materials for the planning of teaching. In the same way the (non-academic) “department of academic and study affairs” organizes student services such as the enrolment of students and advises the academic departments in legal issues.

In the next years there will be fundamental changes in the organization of universities in Germany. Consequently, there will be a new system of allocation of responsibility in the university. And this will lead to other structures of management. The authority and independence of the academic departments will increase. And, therefore, the university administration will become more and more decentralized.

The central university administration will become smaller and shift into the role of a central service institution.

University Administration Centralised and Decentralised Services

Anne Kaldewaij, Vrije Universiteit (NL)

In this talk we present the structure of the Vrije Universiteit, which is not too different from other universities in the Netherlands. We will emphasize on the role of the University Administration. A short survey of the services of the administration is presented. We will have a look at the number of people involved in non scientific work at a central level and at the faculties. We will also give an idea of the budgets involved.

For a smooth, effective and efficient support of the faculties, individual staff members and students consultative structures are needed. We will discuss the ways in which staff members, students, deans, executive directors of faculties, directors of services, the registrar and the executive board are involved in these structures.

Last but not least we will discuss possible improvements of the existing structures. Specific attention will be given to the concept of Shared Service Centers.

The division of labour between University Administration and Academic Departments: An Italian case.

Guiliana Zotta Vittur, Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati (IT) and Pasquale Mastrodomenico Università degli Studi del Piemonte Orientale "Amedeo Avogadro'(IT)

The aim of this presentation is to analyse how the Italian University system copes with the division of labour between the administration and the academic departments. The University governance in Italy is slightly different from other European Universities; from a system of centralized decision making before the Eighties, some milestones dragged Universities to a modern, autonomous way of management: L. n°. 168 (1989), concerning Universities’ autonomy; L. n° 29 (1993), concerning the separation of the policies from the management; L. n° 509 (1999), concerning the new Academic Syllabus for the students, according to the Bologna Process; and, last but not least, the recent reform of the professors’ career (2005).

From these general keys and from an overview of the University of Eastern Piedmont “Amedeo Avogadro” and of the S.I.S.S.A. of Trieste – two good examples to verify how the system works in recently established Universities – we will try to lay out who is responsible for what in Italian Universities, considering that the governance bodies (the Rector, the Senate, the Council) and that the structures (Administration, Faculties and Departments) often present totally different status and roles from similar European figures. Another task is to consider how the University administration supports teaching and research and how it works together with the other Heads.

The division of labour between University Administration and Academic Departments: A French case.

Jean-Pascal Bonhotal, Université Claude Bernard, Lyon1 (FR)

Abstract not received.

Excellence in service delivery - how to enhance the delivery of services: Presentation of the results from the HUMANE and Winter School Alumni Network Questionnaire.

Esa Hämäläinen Head of Development, Central Administration, University of Helsinki

The presentation is based on a survey conducted by the Winter School Alumni Network in collaboration with HUMANE Executive Committee. Analyses of the results include ways of organising and steering services and service units, experiences of best practices in enhancing service delivery, and ideas on how to distribute this information and use it in promoting site visits of senior administrators.