ERIC Number: ED202332
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 1977-Aug
Pages: 24
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Shifting Power Relations Between Higher Education and State Government.
Nyquist, Ewald B.
In the United States, decision-making in education is becoming laterally dispersed, involving the interaction of many more variables and many more people, groups, and agencies. It is also rising to higher levels of government, including the federal government. This is correlated with relatively new sources of financial support and with accountability requirements. The traditional concept of institutional governance is endangered. The single most important factor accelerating this trend is the rapid rise of educational costs and the need for higher outlays of public funds. State budget and planning officers are beginning to play the critical role played by the Office of Management and Budget and the General Accounting Office at the national level. Legislators are also better educated than in the past. Combined with a profound mistrust of established authority, the scene is set for administrators and coordinating boards involving an ambience of hostility, distrust, ambiguity, discontent, and criticism. The decade ahead will require strong leadership in five functions: planning, evaluation, accountability, certification, and licensing; informed state and regional advisory councils; and the self-initiated correction of institutional weaknesses. In the absence of the latter and strong coordinating board leadership, authority will either flow into the hands of agencies with conflicting goals or centralized in the state budget director. A clear distinction is to be made between institutional governance and statewide coordination, which serve very different functions in higher education. (MSE)
Descriptors: Administrator Role, Educational Trends, Federal Government, Financial Support, Futures (of Society), Governance, Governing Boards, Government Role, Government School Relationship, Higher Education, Institutional Autonomy, Leadership, Power Structure, State Government, Statewide Planning
Publication Type: Reports - Descriptive; Speeches/Meeting Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Kellogg Foundation, Battle Creek, MI.
Authoring Institution: State Higher Education Executive Officers Association.; Education Commission of the States, Denver, CO. Inservice Education Program.
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A